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Vol. 14 No. 13…Dedicated to the Dialogue on
Race…March 28, 2011
By John Burl Smith
The new Tea Party/Republican wave
is making itself felt in ways that most Americans who were caught up in its
rhetoric did not imagine. Most notably, its blatant attack on social services,
collective bargaining and public sector employees all under the guise of
deficit reduction has caused "buyer's remorse" among many voters.
These voters now see that the "devil is in the details." Along with
minorities -- blacks, Hispanics and other immigrants -- their lives are also
falling under the ax. Frightening for most are the cuts in education that
threaten to segregate students along class rather than racial lines and slam
shut the door on hopes for middle class lifestyles.
This new segregation will not tax
just blacks to funnel money to educate rich white children; it will rob
everyone below a certain economic level. Under the radar, many public
educational assistance programs such as the Academic Competitiveness Grant and
the SMART Grant programs that white students have relied on for years are set
to expire by July, and at the state level, such funding is being slashed
drastically if not eliminated altogether.
The
State of
Equalizing educational
opportunities is no longer a goal, now that Republicans run the state. Limiting
access and competition for space in
Democrats used press conferences in downtrodden, inner city
Democrats are concerned that changes to HOPE will disproportionately affect
families already struggling under other budget cuts, high unemployment and
reduced incomes in a sluggish economy. HOPE changes tie the amount of
scholarships to lottery revenues instead of tuition cost. Next year, a HOPE
scholarship will cover only 90 percent of tuition costs; however as tuition
costs are increasing, the scholarship will cover smaller and smaller proportion
of tuition, which will not affect the ability of children of wealthy parents to
attend school.
State Sen. Jim Butterworth (R-Cornelia), Chairman of the Senate Higher
Education Committee claims, "The cuts are a shared burden because it
reduces benefits for students regardless of their income level." However,
many testifying in opposition to HOPE changes pointed out that students of
wealthy parents receiving HOPE scholarships at the University of Georgia,
Athens, drive fancy cars, live in "mini-mansions and enjoy luxurious
lifestyles because they do not depend on HOPE money to attend school.
Compounding the problem for low income students, the U. S. House budget will
slash Pell Grants by almost 15%, reducing the maximum award to $4,705 from
$5,550. President Obama plans to eliminate summer Pell Grants and end loan
interest subsidies for graduate students.
HOPE changes also favor wealthy
students in regards to its merit-based criteria by adding the requirement of a
1200 SAT score to receive 100 percent of tuition from HOPE. High SAT scores
tend to penalize poor students who cannot afford special SAT classes as wealthy
students, whose scores are higher as a group. This gives added weight to
Democrat charges that HOPE changes amount to a wealth transfer.
Amidst protests, inside and outside the legislature, Republicans still
steam-rolled a HOPE reform package that placed the greatest burden of reform on
students rather than spreading the "shared burden" of reduced
benefits to the Georgia Lottery Corporation by mandating that it put more money
into the educational fund and incentivizing employee bonuses - ideas Deal
rejected. The Corporation currently only pays 24 percent of lottery proceeds
into the educational fund annually, which is well below the national average of
29 percent.
During committee hearing, Sen.
Nan Orrock (D-Atlanta) addressed the "big gap" between the Georgia
Lottery Corporation educational funding and the national average. "We've
been aghast at the bonuses the Georgia Lottery executives give themselves.
According to www.atlantaunfiltered.com Lottery Corporation CEO Margaret
Defrancisco made $496,776 - including a bonus of $143,276 in 2010. Republicans
rejected a Democrat amendment that would have required at least 30 percent of
lottery proceeds go to education by 2015."
Changes in HOPE scholarships will have the largest impact on future college students. High school students will now be required to have a 3.7 GPA and a 1200 SAT score in order to become Zell Miller Scholars and earn a full tuition scholarship. A full tuition scholarship is also available for every valedictorian and salutatorian in the state. Currently, students need only a 3.0 GPA to receive HOPE scholarships, but reforms raise that to a 3.3 GPA.
No matter the nature of the need
to reduce government spending,
On
March 7, 2011, the DeKalb County School Board voted to close eight schools to
avert a projected shortfall, only one school in
District 7 Board member Donna Edler fought to keep some of the proposed schools
open. Edler emphasized that more open discussion was needed between board
members and said, "I was disappointed the board was unable to meet as a
whole to discuss the plan before the vote. This is the only opportunity that
the board [has had] to discuss this plan as a [whole], I didn't think it was
sufficient. To govern effectively, I think we need to be deliberative and
debate as a board, but I think it was a foregone conclusion."
Edler expressed concerns that all
of the schools slated to close did not meet the requirements in the plan,
specifically, that of the student criteria and number of seats utilized. "
Schools on the North end such as
Medlock, which fell within the closing criteria, received differential
consideration. Flat Rock and
A hearing on a lawsuit filed by
Referring to the suit DeKalb
NAACP chapter's president Yvonne Hawks said, "The school closings will
devastate neighborhoods. You'll have more abandoned buildings which will
increase vandalism, decrease new homeownership and negatively affect local businesses."
County government should be
exploring ways to increase the viability of the Southwest part of the county,
rather than undercutting its shrinking tax base. The North and East portions of
the county are already thriving with economic development, while the Southwest
is being neglected; nothing is being done to bring jobs into the area.
As the slow inexorable
devastation of 
Transportation
Authority (MARTA) and the DeKalb School Board's closure of seven area
elementary schools, demonstrate grave disparities in service and a lack of
equity in spending
In addition to voting to close
the Scott-Candler Library, the trustees voted to eliminate Sunday openings, cut
Friday and Saturday hours at four branches, and cut night hours one day a week
at all branches in response to a 22% budget decrease. Alison Weissinger, acting
director, said system cutbacks are countywide but only the Scott-Candler branch
will be closed. Board of trustees Chair Deborah Torbush said, "The
system's 2011 budget of $12.4 million is $3 million short."
Rather than maintain current
branches, Weissinger said, "The board decided to push ahead with a $16.6
million expansion, even though the system's operational budget has remained
flat, since voters approved the $230 million bond referendum in 2005. Now the
system is 2/3 of the way through the expansion, but we don't have the people to
staff these libraries. This year, the system has 60 to 65 vacant positions that
are authorized but not funded."
According to Weissinger, "The top priority is to open three new and
expanded branches-- Stonecrest $7.7 million, Salem-Panola $4.5 million and Hairston
Crossing $4.4 (all in
Protests by area residents and a petition with 100 signatures collected by
12-year-old Sekondi Landry have forced the library board of trustees to
temporarily rescind its decision to close Scott-Candler. The board of trustees
will revisit its decision to close the library on June 30. In the interim, the
library will maintain a limited schedule. It will be open Monday and Tuesday 11
a.m. - 8 p.m. and 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday.
Should the library eventually be closed, families in the low income area around
it will go without access to books and computers.
The battle for affordable health
care continues on the national level but by this summer, residents around
Candler Road who use the Grady South DeKalb Health Center will have to travel
an extra 5.4 miles to get care. Grady Health System will close the 
He backed away from closing the center in 2009 after the DeKalb Board of
Commissioners threatened to cut the county's annual funding for
Commissioner Johnson, the
presiding officer of the DeKalb Commission said, "I asked Young for
information and analysis to support the decision to close the center but he's
not provided it." Johnson said Grady has not been able to tell him how
much of the funding provided by the county goes to running its
He said of DeKalb's 30-year
agreement to fund Grady which expires in 2013, "This time as we negotiate
a new agreement they will have to be specific about where the money given by
the county will be spent. It won't be as vague as this one."
Debt, Austerity and How to Fight Back
By
Frances Fox Piven and Cornel West
Wall Street Banks, American corporations and their political allies have
declared a one-sided war on the American people. This war is being waged at our
schools and colleges, the workplace and in our communities.
Today, Americans are working
harder and earning less while corporate profits soar. As homeowners, consumers
and students we see our wealth being stripped away by banks. Our government
plunges into debt waging trillion-dollar wars. Meanwhile, our infrastructure
erodes and climate change 
proceeds
unchecked. Schools, daycare centers, senior citizen facilities, clinics, parks
and firehouses are starved for funds so that corporations and the rich can get
billions in tax breaks!
Corporate
Spending on social needs is not the reason governments at all levels are facing
massive budget short falls. Our debt and deficit problems are a direct result
of corporate tax rollbacks, and the extortionist policies of banks and
financial institutions that are engaged in a coordinated and massive wealth
transfer from the American people to their own coffers.
The courageous actions by the
citizens in
We are on the cusp of a great
movement to resist and roll back that corporate domination by banks, energy
companies and war profiteers. To join that movement and escalate the activism
planned in the days, weeks and months ahead we are organizing a "National
Teach-in on Debt, Austerity and How People Are Fighting Back." The live
web-streamed teach-in will be held on Tuesday, April 5, 2011, at the
Speakers from schools and
communities around the country will be hosted by moderators Frances Fox Piven
and Cornel West in
Boosting College
Graduation Rate
Recently, Vice President Joe
Biden unveiled an administration plan to involve governors directly in efforts
to boost college graduation 
rates
as part of President Barack Obama's goal for the
The Education Department projects the nation will need to increase its
graduation rate by 50 percent by the end of the decade to gain the top spot.
Graduation rates among the states range from a low of 28 percent in
The Education Department has
announced $20 million in grants for innovations designed to improve success and
productivity at post-secondary schools. The administration has proposed another
$123 million in competitive funds for programs that speed learning, boost
graduation rates and hold down tuition. A second proposed program of $50
million would reward states and institutions for producing more college grads.
To improve college graduation
rates, states must significantly raise high school graduation rates and better
prepare students for college-level courses. In addition, Robert Schwartz,
academic dean at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has cautioned that
achieving a 60 percent national graduation rate will not be a panacea. His
Pathways to Prosperity Project, which released a study in February, has
concluded that the
Republican Hopefuls Criticize Public Schools
By Kay Henderson
Three potential 2012 Republican
presidential candidates expressed hostility toward the public school system 
at
a home schooling rally on Wednesday in the early presidential caucus state of
Texas Congressman Ron Paul told
the crowd government wants "absolute control" of the
"indoctrination" of children. Paul spoke along with Minnesota
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and Georgia businessman Herman Cain.
"The public school system
now is a propaganda machine," Paul said, prompting applause from the crowd
of hundreds of home schooling families. "They start with our kids even in
kindergarten, teaching them about 
family
values, sexual education, gun rights, environmentalism - and they condition
them to believe in so much which is totally un-American."
Bachmann claimed home schooling
is the "essence" of freedom and liberty. Bachmann, who home-schooled
her five biological children, lamented that she and her husband had been unable
to teach the 23 foster children who have lived in their home because Minnesota
authorities said foster children could not be home-schooled. "It is not up
to a bureaucrat to decide what is best for your children," she said,
drawing cheers from the crowd. "I am so tired of the establishment telling
us that they know best. We know best."
Cain, former chief executive of
Godfather's Pizza and another prospective Republican candidate, denounced
government involvement in education at all levels. "That's all we want is
for government to get out of the way so we can educate ourselves and our
children the old-fashioned way," Cain said.
Justin LaVan of the Network of
Iowa Christian Home Educators said it was encouraging to see potential presidential
candidates talk about the home-schooling movement. (Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110323/pl_nm/us_iowa)
Disgruntled feels: Baffled! For half a
century, I have watched as hundreds of thousands of 
Africans
died of hunger, curable diseases and thirst, as well as millions killed in
civil conflicts across that vast continent. Not once over that period has the
West, including the US, embarked on a humanitarian campaign to halt the
slaughter of the innocent on the order of a "war on terror" or even
the recently implemented no-fly zone over Libya to prevent a 'possible'
massacre of Libyans by Col. Moammar Gadhafi. Even as the
Disgruntled says: There is a glaring double
standard in media coverage of events in the Palestinian territories and
Disgruntled wants to know: I have spent a
considerable amount of time trying to figure out what makes Democrats and Republicans
see President Barack Obama differently from George W. Bush when it comes to
warfare. When Obama went to
Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes and
Telephone Calls
Email
www.nj.com...Gov. Chris Christie's deep cuts to state school aid last year left
New Jersey's schools unable to provide a "thorough and efficient"
education to the state's nearly 1.4 million school children, a Superior Court
judge has found. Judge Peter Doyne, who was appointed as special master in the
long-running Abbott vs. Burke school funding case, issued an opinion that also
found the reductions "fell more heavily upon our high risk districts and
the children educated within those districts." "Despite spending
levels that meet or exceed virtually every state in the country, and that saw a
significant increase in spending levels from 2000 to 2008, our 'at risk'
children are now moving further from proficiency," he said. The Abbott vs.
Burke case landed back in court after the
Email
www.marketwatch.com...Civil War erupts, led by super rich...By Paul B.
Farrell...Yes, "there's class warfare, all right," warns Warren
Buffett. "But it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're
winning." Yes, the rich are making war against us. And yes, they are
winning. Why? Because so many are fighting this new American Civil War between
the rich and the rest. Not just the 16 new GOP governors in
Email...www.oregonlive.com...In
House food cuts, it's women and children first...By David Sarasohn...The Women,
Infants and Children program (WIC) provides support and food vouchers for
pregnant women and children in their first four years, and also does health
checks and refers kids for medical and other services. WIC's offerings include
milk -- whole milk until the second birthday, low-fat afterward -- and fruits
and vegetables. In a tough economic time, WIC provides proven health and
nutritional benefits to about half the country's infants and their families.
Naturally, the new House of Representatives wants to cut it. HR1, the House's
proposed budget to get us to Sept. 30, would cut WIC $752 million from last
year's level. If funding stays at the House's proposed level for the next year,
calculates Zoe Neuberger, senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities in Washington, DC, "approximately half a million fewer
women and very young children could receive WIC benefits and services"
than last year.