SHORELINE, Wash. - It's still just an idea, but President Obama's mention of a plan to allow students to attend community college free for two years, providing they keep their grades up, is getting thumbs up from some Washington educators.
Tuition at the state's community and technical colleges has risen 38 percent in the last six years. The price tag for Obama's national proposal is $60 billion over a ten-year period, and states would be required to fund one-fourth of the program.
Karen Strickland, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Washington, says it might not be a matter of raising new funds, but redirecting financial aid dollars.
"There is a lot of money that goes into financial aid, and then, maintaining the financial aid system," says Strickland. "So I have no doubt that we have enough money that we can fund this if we want to."
She says another benefit of the plan would be a major reduction in student debt.
But the Obama plan is already being criticized for allowing some students to go to school free, even if they don't need financial assistance. Some members of Congress think it could work better in states and not as a federal program.
History professor Amy Kinsel, who serves as president of the Shoreline Community College Federation of Teachers Local 1950, says funding for community and technical colleges in Washington is partly based on how many graduates the schools turn out. When individuals drop out, it can affect the school's future - as well as students.
"It's really good to focus on community colleges," says Kinsel. "That's where the students aren't completing at the rate that we'd like to see. And those are the students who we can really make a difference with. But if they can't afford to stay in school, it's not going to happen."
Washington has state-funded Need Grants, but in the last academic year, 32,000 students who qualified didn't receive them because the Legislature didn't fully fund the program.
Beyond students' needs, Strickland thinks Congress and states should focus on societal benefits if more people are able to get ahead.
"We need people to have more training than high school in order to compete in a high-functioning economy, and in order for people to have a good quality of life and raise families," says Strickland. "So, if that's what we need, then in my mind, it's an invaluable investment to expand the system that we have."
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In rural Mississippi, where education disparities run deep, community leaders are stepping up to fill the gaps left by limited resources and geographic isolation.
Mississippi has one of the highest child poverty rates in the nation, with one in three children living below the poverty line.
Yolanda Minor, state director of Save the Children Mississippi, is at the forefront of efforts to improve education outcomes for children in some of the state's most underserved areas.
"Some of the barriers are poverty, lack of access to high-quality early education, teacher shortages," Minor outlined. "One of the biggest ones is geographic isolation."
Many families lack access to high-quality early education programs, and teacher shortages leave some students with long-term substitutes instead of certified educators. Simply getting to a school or learning center presents a challenge in many areas.
One solution has been to partner with churches and school districts to create tutoring hubs in Quitman County, where students can receive extra academic support outside of school hours.
Advocates stressed early learning investments are crucial for long-term academic success.
Nick Carrington, managing director of community impact for Save the Children, noted children who attend preschool and other high-quality early learning opportunities are more likely to enter kindergarten ready to learn. He also mentioned the early advantages often contribute to stronger reading proficiency by third grade.
"We're currently working with 25 rural communities across eight states and what's now a national network," Carrington explained. "We're learning from them and they're learning from each other to strengthen their work."
Minor pointed out making simple adjustments, such as adjusting school bus routes to bring students to different locations, has also helped increase participation.
"By having the churches act as tutoring hubs and revising the bus routes to make services more accessible to those children that may not have transportation," Minor noted.
Despite the efforts, advocates said rural education in Mississippi still lacks the funding and infrastructure needed to ensure every child starts school on equal footing. A report last year by the National Rural Education Association ranked Mississippi as one of the states most in need of increased funding to support students in rural districts and help schools attract and retain qualified teachers.
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A recent online survey revealed strong opposition among Tennessee voters toward expansion of the state's private-school voucher program.
More than 500 Tennesseans participated in the survey by the bipartisan polling firm Red America, Blue America Research.
John Davis, founding partner of the firm, said 86% of respondents believe supporting hurricane efforts is a more important priority than expanding taxpayer-funded private school voucher programs.
"When we asked a straightforward question here, 'Do you support state lawmakers diverting tax revenue away from public education used for private school vouchers?', 70% of respondents answered no, 30% yes," Davis reported. "On its face, we see a significant amount of opposition to this question."
Davis said 79% of Tennesseans do not believe it would be appropriate for Tennessee's taxpayers to be paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to private schools outside of Tennessee, which he said has happened in states with similar programs such as West Virginia and New Hampshire.
The new Education Freedom Act will provide 20,000 scholarships of about $7,075 each for private school tuition.
Mandy Spears, deputy director of the Sycamore Institute, a nonpartisan public policy research center in Nashville, said only some of Tennessee's five types of private schools may qualify and their online dashboard shows most are in urban areas, with fewer in rural communities.
"We found that 76 counties and 95 school districts did have some private schools, but that means that there are quite a few counties that don't," Spears pointed out. "Of course, that means families could travel to adjoining counties to attend a private school."
Spears noted although the program starts with 20,000 scholarships a year, it could potentially grow by 5,000 annually if there is enough interest, based on the final legislation. The slower growth aims to address concerns about rapid expansion and high costs, which differs from last year's proposal.
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By Hevin Wilkey / Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi reporting for the Kent State-Ohio News Connection Collaboration.
Some Ohio legislators want to have cameras at every highway rest stop by June 2031 to help limit human trafficking and make travelers feel safer. Last year, House Bill 473 would have given the Ohio Department of Transportation the timeline and funding to do just that.
But the bill didn't pass. It reached the House Homeland Security Committee and was declared dead once the session ended. Rep. Lauren McNally (D-Youngstown) expects to try again with a new bill soon.
Even if the bill doesn't pass again, out of 85 rest stops in Ohio, cameras will be installed at the 36 Gov. Mike DeWine plans to renovate and build by 2026. McNally expects the total price of the project to cost between $182,028 and $507,967.
"Specifically, Toledo, the Toledo Interchange area, is one of the number one places in the country for [human trafficking]," said McNally. "So anything that we can do to curb that trend we're always looking at, from a legal perspective at the State House and from a police perspective. But it also does more than that, like when we talk to the Turnpike Association, they've actually been able to solve crimes and stop crimes from happening."
She said the idea of the bill came from the Ohio Association for Justice's Women's Caucus Section specifically for human trafficking, but it also could be beneficial in other scenarios. McNally's examples included finding and securing a man with dementia and a woman forgetting her purse at a rest stop.
The bridge between McNally and the Women's Caucus was Mahoning County Juvenile Court magistrate Gina DeGenova, a former prosecutor who testified for the bill. DeGenova said she has worked on a handful of human trafficking cases and wants to help Ohio implement a solution. Six other Democratic state representatives co-sponsored HB473.
"With these cameras, we're able to capture what is going on when an actual person can't be there to witness it," DeGenova said. "Having a bird's eye view of what's going on in these locations is an extremely beneficial tool for law enforcement."
Some studies have found that cameras are one of the most effective ways to reduce crime. Swedish non-profit organization SNS learned through a series of randomized experiments that 20-25% less crime is committed when there is a surveillance camera present.
The ACLU of Ohio testified against the bill. They were concerned about the privacy of people who would end up on the recordings and if this bill would set a precedent for the government to further surveil people.
Chief lobbyist Gary Daniels said he wonders about the limitations of public records, who has access to these recordings and how long they will be kept. According to the bill, the Ohio Department of Transportation would decide. Depending on the new bill's language and how busy the ACLU of Ohio is, Daniels said he might testify against it again.
The cons of government and police surveillance on citizens' privacy outweigh the chances of deterring some crimes, Daniels said.
"If you're a human trafficker and you've got a van full of people or one person or something that you shouldn't be trafficking around, you're just going to start at the gas station an exit away or two exits away," Daniels said.
McNally understands this won't rid Ohio of crime, but it will help it.
"You slowly chip away and take away all their opportunities to do the crime," she said, "and maybe eventually you make it so hard that it does actually curb the crime itself."
This collaboration is produced in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.
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