Cradle-to-Career Plan by Obama and Duncan

As revealed in Arne Duncan’s letter today (posted below), the Obama administration is determined to take over each and every bit of family, local, and state control literally from cradle-to-career.

I sent the following message to my two Texas Senators, John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison. Please read this e-mail carefully and contact all Congressmen, state legislators, and policymakers whom you know. We must not allow the federal government to control all children cradle-to-career.

Even as we speak, legislation is pending in the Senate that would allow the U. S. Department of Education to control all federal student loans. Presently, students can choose between getting direct-lending loans or getting federal loans through private banks. These types of loans put students closer to the people making their loan decisions, and better communication and customer service occur.

Can you imagine the glut and the breakdowns in communication that would occur if all students needing federal loans had to go through impersonal loan officers in the U. S. Department of Education in Washington, D. C.?

As Sen. Lamar Alexander stated recently, "The Department of Education in Washington will not be able to serve students as well as 3,000 lending institutions."

Not only would confusion rule, but the federal government would get to set the criteria that decides which students get the loans and which do not. Let’s remember that the federal government has already made a mess of Social Security, Medicare, the U. S. Postal Service, Cash for Clunkers, Stimulus jobs, and on and on.

To: Senators Cornyn and Hutchison

From: Donna Garner

Re: Cradle-to-Career

Date: 1.29.10

Senator Cornyn, I am in possession of a letter sent by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan just this morning, 1.29.10. In this letter he clearly spells out the "cradle-to-career" plan that Obama/Duncan are quickly putting into place.

I have begged you to address the federal takeover of the public schools through Common Core Standards and the Race to the Top. So far I have not heard our conservative leaders in Congress voice their total outrage over this federal takeover of K-12.

Now we are seeing that the Obama/Duncan plan will extend literally to all our children.

It was not enough for Obama/Duncan to control our K-12 public school children's minds through national standards, national tests, national curriculum, and a national database. Now they have revealed their plan to extend the federal government's control over our youngest children while at the same time controlling which high-school graduates will get student loans.

Please take the time to read carefully what Duncan sent out this morning. I trust that you and your fellow Senators will fight against such a cradle-to-career effort.

From: "Duncan, Arne" <Arne.Duncan@ED.GOV>

Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:08:35 -0600

Subject: [ED_Review] President Obama's FY 2011 Budget

Dear Education Stakeholders:

By now, I expect you’ve heard the good news. In his State of the Union address, President Obama called for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) – “when” we reauthorize, not “if,” he emphasized – and, at a time when most government spending is frozen, the President proposed a significant increase in discretionary spending for education in his fiscal year 2011 budget.

The President’s budget continues and expands his commitment to provide a cradle-to-career education for all of America’s children. It provides a massive increase in student aid – $156 billion in fiscal year 2011, up from $98 billion in 2008. That’s enough to provide federal assistance to nearly 15 million students, or 3 out of 5 students currently enrolled in higher education. The budget also will make it easier for borrowers to repay their loans, lowering income-based repayments and cutting the length of their repayments.

In K-12 education, the President will propose a $4 billion increase, including the previously announced $1.35 billion request to make Race to the Top a permanent program. Of that increase, $1 billion would be made available through a budget amendment when Congress completes an ESEA reauthorization consistent with the President’s plan.

The budget also supports enactment of pending legislation that would provide $9.3 billion over 10 years for the Early Learning Challenge Fund, providing competitive grants to states that expand quality early learning experiences from birth through kindergarten entry.

Along with the increases, the budget will require us to work smarter and more efficiently. We expect to save billions by switching from the Federal Family Education Loan program to the Direct Loan program. In K-12 education, we will provide states and districts more flexibility by consolidating 38 programs into 11, and we will cut six programs that are ineffective or duplicative.

The budget will set the stage for ESEA reauthorization but there is still much more work ahead. With a bipartisan group of members of Congress, our goal is to develop an accountability system built on greater transparency, incentives and rewards, and a focus on turning around persistently underperforming schools.

We can’t wait to make these reforms. Right now, 25 percent of our students fail to graduate high school, and as many as 60 percent of college freshmen need remedial education. Millions of jobs are unfilled for lack of qualified applicants. The President and I know that we need to educate our way to a better economy. I am honored to be working with you to make it happen.

Sincerely,

Arne Duncan

Donna Garner - Wgarner1@hot.rr.com

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