Friday headlines are swirling around the gloomy jobs picture—over a half million jobs were lost in December, pushing the unemployment rate to 7.2% and making 2008 the worst year for jobs since 1945. Calgon, take me away!
The good news is Obama's on the case, working hard before officially taking office to lay the groundwork for recovery. On Thursday he called on Congress to act boldly and quickly on his proposed $800 billion stimulus plan, which includes infrastructure spending, a doubling of alternative energy production in three years, and tax cuts—a plan he thinks will save three million jobs.
But his plan also includes a longer-term investment feature: resources for education. Hooray!
In the prepared text he released before delivering his stimulus stump speech, Obama wrote: "To give our children the chance to live out their dreams in a world that's never been more competitive, we will equip tens of thousands of schools, community colleges, and public universities with 21st century classrooms, labs, and libraries. We'll provide new computers, new technology, and new training for teachers so that students in Chicago and Boston can compete with kids in Beijing for the high-tech, high-wage jobs of the future." It gives ya shivers!
Education on his mind
Even before Thursday educators were excited about Obama's campaign pledge to invest $10 billion into early education. Some of his platform is built around the idea that every dollar spent on children when they are really young returns multiple dollars back to society and reduces the need for spending on other various public services. One controversial but frequently mentioned study on this point from the 1960s—the Ypsilanti study—showed about $15,000 spent over two years on a child returned about $244,000 per child 40 years later.
A brief snapshot on education costs
The latest stats show that public schools spend about $9,138 per student, a number that varies from state to state because most funding for education comes from state and local dollars. The Constitution actually puts the responsibility of K-12 education in state’s hands. New York spends the most: $14,884; Utah spends the least: $5,437. The federal government contributes just 10% to the costs, about $500 billion a year and just a fraction of what the government will spend to fix the economy.
Meanwhile as the number of college graduates holds steady around 30% of the population, the cost of higher education continues to rise. The average college costs for tuition and room and board are $14,000 for in-state students and $25,000 for out-of-state kids at public universities. The average at private universities is $34,000 per year. Princeton says it wants to raise next year's tuition 3% as the economy weakens and its endowment plunged, and certainly more schools will follow suit.
Financial aid requests are already up 16%. Just this week The Princeton Review released a list of the 100 “Best Value” colleges, including a rank of the top 10 public and private values. Top public: University of Virginia. Top private: Swarthmore College. See the list.
The big picture
Whether or not more spending for education comes from the stimulus package, the education conversation is gathering steam despite the economic woes. Major philanthropists like Bill Gates have put their energy behind helping schools, as studies show U.S. students lagging behind international peers in math and science. Reformers like Michelle Rhee in D.C. are making waves, attempting to tie school performance closer to teacher pay. Even President Bush pushed for education as a key focus going forward in one of his last speeches in office, touting No Child Left Behind, which is likely to be revamped.
