Education
A Plan for Comprehensive Educational Reform Traditional to split education into 2 main components; K-12--- higher ed, including 2-year colleges, public colleges, and private universities/. Now add pre-school. Review Current structure Pre-k, patchwork, no central funding, very expensive, inhibits workforce participation, etc. K-12 varies by state, but approx. 60% local property tax, 32% state funds, 8% federal funds Higher ed; public univ. varies, about 35-50% state, balance private funds; Limited vocational and apprentice programs for non-college bound Concrete Proposals: Universal child payments to families to be used as payment for staying home or put to childcare expenses. (CHOICE) Many options. Rand Corp. study estimates about $2B a year for universal pre-k; also estimates benefits of between $2 and $4 for every $1 spent, depending on assumptions made. K-12; states have not gotten back to pre-2008 levels. Need full funding % of GDP: 2009 3.9%; now 3.1% about $150 billion shortfalls from the previous funding level, based on 2018 GDP of ~$20 T Need a more equitable approach to charter schools that drain funds from public schools; particularly need to look at on-line and for-profit schools. Various inequities in charters create a financial strain on public schools with little if any gain; Study by Independent Media Institute highlighted severe financial problems in systems where charters have grown; singled out Boston, and Chicago city schools, as well as state wide problems in PA, MI, NC and CA. All experiencing financial drain on education due to unequal treatment of charters and public schools. Public/Private partnership including unions to build a national program of paid apprenticeship an entry to high paying no-college careers. Higher Ed Public 2 and 4-year colleges and univ. tuition-free Schools must be fully accredited States must provide at least 50% of tuition cost, as in the past, but now about 35% (Sanders’ bill proposes 2/3:1/3) Intuitions may not raise tuition year over yr by more than the pace of inflation. The federal government pays the balance, based on in-state tuition Schools must roughly reflect the ethnic makeup of the population by adopting equitable admissions procedures; e.g. accepting top 10% of all high school graduates.