TEXAS AFT LEGISLATIVE HOTLINE--WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009
(copyright 2009 Texas AFT)
 
* U.S. House Moves to Fund Community Colleges, Pre-K, School Facilities, College Grants
* State Board of Education to Hear "Experts" on Social-Studies Curriculum Standards
 
U.S. House Combines Community-College Aid, K-12 Facilities Money, Student Grants: The U.S. House of Representatives is close to passing a shrewdly packaged education bill that would be good news for community colleges, school districts, and both pre-K/12 and college students.
 
The bill, H.R. 3221, would save taxpayers $87 billion currently being wasted on needless subsidies to private college-loan providers. Instead college students would receive their federally financed loans directly from the U.S. Treasury, with no middlemen taking a cut.
 
A portion of the savings--$10 billion--would be invested in community colleges to bolster dual-enrollment programs, among other things. Another $10 billion would go for upgrading early-childhood programs. More than $4 billion would help school districts improve facilities. The largest chunk of the savings--$40 billion--would be used to increase federal Pell Grants that help make college affordable for low-income students. Yet another $10 billion would go to pay down the federal debt.
 
As usual these days, the House is split over the bill largely on partisan lines, with Democrats backing the legislation and Republicans opposed. But there is some Republican support. In fact, passage of the bill tomorrow--if it can get past the gauntlet of lender lobbyists--would be a particularly sweet triumph for Republican Rep. Tom Petri of Wisconsin, who since 1983 has crusaded against the enormous federal subsidies that have been awarded to banks to issue no-risk student loans. We'll give Congressman Petri the last word on the subject in this excerpt from today's preliminary floor debate:  
 
"I rise in support of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which eliminates the Federal Family Education Loan Program and moves origination of all federal student loans to the Direct Loan Program. For over two decades, I have championed direct loans as the most cost-effective way to provide student loans.
 
"But the defenders of the archaic FFEL guaranteed loan program remain confused. So let me be clear: currently we have two federal student loan programs which provide the exact same loans to students.
 
"FFEL is a federal program--not a private loan program. Private lenders make the loans with two separate subsidies from the federal government: a guaranteed interest rate that is determined through the political process--not the markets--and a guarantee against default losses. Thus, if a student defaults, the taxpayers are on the hook--not the private lender. The profits are private but the losses are socialized. FFEL is not free enterprise.
 
"Over the years, FFEL has proven to be fraught with scandal and an unreliable source of funds, and it costs billions of dollars more for the taxpayers.
 
"A writer for conservative columnist Bill Kristol's Weekly Standard magazine aptly described the FFEL program as 'a textbook example of crony capitalism.'
 
"In contrast, the Direct Loan program eliminates the middleman, lending directly from the Treasury, and all servicing and bill collection is handled by private companies operating through performance-based contracts.
 
"Over the years, there has been unanimous agreement by budget experts under both the Clinton and Bush Administrations on the excessive costs of FFEL. Earlier this year, an estimate by the Congressional Budget Office once again reiterated this conclusion when it reported that switching to 100 percent direct lending would result in nearly $87 billion in savings."
 
State Board of Education Hears From Social-Studies "Experts" Tomorrow: Just a reminder--you can tune in to video and audio of the State Board of Education meeting tomorrow, featuring testimony from the "expert" reviewers selected by SBOE members to evaluate a first draft of new social-studies standards for Texas elementary and secondary students. You'll find the link for online viewing and listening by going to http://www.texasadmin.com/cgi-bin/tea.cgi and scrolling down. 
 
Some of the reviewers are serious scholars. However, two of the "experts" due to testify are notably light on educational credentials but heavy on ideological baggage, as illustrated by the preliminary comments they have submitted in writing. One of them, a fellow by the name of David Barton, actually objects to requiring students to use standard grammar, spelling, sentence structure, and punctuation in their social-studies classes. Presumably that will leave more time for students to be told how George Washington was saved by divine intercession in a battle during the French and Indian War--a tale that Barton would have Texas students learn as fact under his proposal for a revised history curriculum. (Thanks are due the Texas Freedom Network for turning up these gems from Barton's comments on the social-studies draft standards.)