Washington Informer

The NAACP, in confronting the myriad debilitating issues facing public education nationwide, has released a report that contained four core areas in which the education sector should concentrate its efforts.

Those four areas are pre-kindergarten preparation, increased effective teaching, longer school days and school years and, finally, targeted education spending, where the proceeds from smart investments would go to the neediest students.

NAACP leadership and members of the greater education community publicized the report during a press conference and call-in on Thursday.

“This report is a resource and roadmap for grassroots activists who want education reform in their community; our status as world leader in education is slipping,” said NAACP Education Director Beth Glenn, noting that America has steadily slid down the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s list, in regard to math, reading and science. “We want to improve the education system. If the United States is to remain competitive in the global marketplace, we must have a strong and innovative workforce. To attain that workforce, we need to educate students at a higher level than in the past.”

 The NAACP further explained the four-pronged approach in the report. The first element, “Prekindergarten Prep for Achievement,” suggests that higher quality, universal prekindergarten programs that better prepare students for school; the second, “Effective Teaching,” seeks to better prepare teachers and make ensures that only the most qualified teachers lead classrooms.

“More Time, More Learning,” points to both a longer school day and an extended school year, while “Targeted Spending for Widespread Success” points to the better usage of the limited resources schools and school district have.

“If America is going to lead the world in this century the way we did the last, we must lead the world again in education,” said NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous. “’Finding our Way Back To First’ is the road map for our activists, the communities they serve, and the nation as a whole. Our proposition is simple: if every public school does what the best schools do, every child will be able to get a great education. The NAACP has pushed America toward greatness before, and with this plan as our guide our army of advocates will do it again.”

United States Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan hailed the department’s longstanding relationship with the civil rights organization, and said it is is now beyond the time to act for the sake of children in the public school system.

“We need to approach this with a tremendous sense of urgency. While there are many individual success stories, we really have a crisis on our hands,” Duncan said, adding that the NAACP can play a unique role in advocacy. “A 25 percent drop-rate means a million students leave school for the streets every year, and in the African-American and Latino communities, the rate is 50, 60 percent. It devastates entire communities.

“Folks aren’t going to agree on everything, but our common enemy is academic failure,” Duncan continued. “We have to do this with a sense of urgency, and I am looking forward to a continued partnership with the NAACP.”

Anyone listening to or following the news about the so-called “fiscal cliff” knows that Congress and the White House are in the midst of yet another battle over the budget. Part of the cliff is the Bush era tax cuts that are set to expire for all Americans by the end of the year. President Obama wants to retain them for the first $250,000 of income earned, while the Republicans favor extending the cuts for all and looking for revenues from closing tax loopholes and capping deductions.

During a speech in the White House to middle class Americans, President Obama urged citizens to contact their representatives in Congress and tweet using the hash tag #My2K to explain what the $2,000 increase in taxes the average Americans will see on January 13 would mean to them.

The other part of the cliff is this thing called “sequestration” which could result in significant job losses, federal government furloughs and end to some government contracts.  Sequestration is a process of automatic across-the-board cuts under which budgetary resources are permanently canceled to enforce budget policy goals.

 Given that a substantial number of African Americans and some Latino Americans work in the federal government, these groups already suffering from double digit unemployment could  be made to bear the brunt of sequestration cuts. According to a 2010 study by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Blacks make up almost 1 in 5 non-postal federal employees, or 17.5% while Hispanics 7.7%.

So these two groups, it stands to take the heat of layoffs , furloughs,  reduction in hours and elimination of cost of living allowances and raises.

Let’s rewind a bit. Recall last year around this time, Congress assembled a “super committee” of half Democrats and half Republicans and tasked them to come up with a deficit reduction plan. When they weren’t able to come up with the plan, a default, the sequestration, went into effect. Half of the cuts will be to defense spending and the other half non-defense spending.

The first set of cuts will take effect on Jan. 2, 2013 and will continue for 10 years.  Over that time, spending will reduce by a total of $1.2 trillion. Further, a substantial chunk, approximately $109 billion will be reduced this coming fiscal year 2013 unless Congress passes an alternative plan.

The White House released a report last month that enumerates the programs to be cut. Below is a sampling of what is coming down the pike and part of the $984 billion dollars in programs that will be severed between January 2013 and October 2021.

Federal agencies will have to consider furloughing employees. Salaries from Architect of the Capitol, GAO, Court of Appeals for DC Circuit, Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Labor, Transportation and Small Business Administration among others will be cut.

Federal Workers and Contractors  could lose their jobs and contractors. One report  estimates 65,000 federal workers and 96,000 contractors face being let go.

Department of Justice cuts will eliminate approximately 10 percent of existing positions, including 3,700 agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Agency, Alcohol Tobacco and Firearm agency, and US Marshals; and 975 attorneys. This loss will be added to the already existing 6,000 vacant positions. Federal assistance to state and local law enforcement has already been reduced significantly, with cuts ranging from 25 to 61 percent for critical programs.

The National Institutes of Health, which supports scientists in every state, will lose ability to award between 2,500 to 2,7000 grants to universities and medical centers.  In 8 states, these cuts will be in excess $100 million.  Labs can be expected to shut down, scientists laid off, and local businesses that support research centers to close.

 The Department of Education cuts will total over $4 billion. In particular, Title I grants to high-poverty school districts will be cut by more than $1 billion. Such cuts will impact 4,000 schools that serve over 1.6 million disadvantaged students.  About 16,000 teachers will lose their jobs.  Programs for disabled students, after school programs, and college financial aid and support services will be cut. Funding will also be cut for students with disabilities, teacher quality, after school and college financial aid and support services

The Federal Aviation Administration would lose $1.1 billion in funding, which would require over 2,000 employees to be laid off, including over 1,200 air traffic controllers. FAA could be expected to close 246 air traffic control towers, and would not be able to replace more than 600 safety and aircraft certification inspectors lost through attrition.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will suffer cuts that would limit its ability to respond to incidents of terrorism and other catastrophic events.

Notwithstanding, the most popular and well known low income programs are exempt from cuts under sequestration including: Child Nutrition Programs, the Children’s Health Insurance Fund , the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, Family Support Programs, Federal Pell Grants, Grants to States for Medicaid, Payments for Foster Care and Permanency , Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the Supplemental Security Income Program , Temporary Assistance for Needy Families , Social security beneficiaries, Military personnel salaries at the president’s discretion upon notification to Congress, the Veterans Administration, the Unemployment Trust Fund, Compensation of the President, Payment to Military Retirement Fund and Payments to Social Security Trust Fund, among several other programs.

There are some who think falling off the cliff would be good for political reasons, while some fiscal conservatives believe it is the right thing to do, even if there will be a pinch. However, several economists say the impact could be further losses in the nation’s credit rating and another plunge into a recession.

Ideally, Congress will use these last 33 days in session to come to a “grande bargain” that is reasonable and doable.

The U. S. unemployment rate finally dropped below 8 percent to 7.8 percent (.3 percentage points) last month, giving hope for a slowly recovering economy and a slight boost for the re-election of President Barack Obama. Unemployment in the Black community, which is now 13.4%, also showed slight improvements over the past year.

President Obama, still smarting from criticism of his first debate performance, boasted on the new jobs numbers, but said it’s just a start. He called on Congress for help.

“While there’s more work to do, America’s businesses have added 5.2 million jobs over the past 31 months and the unemployment rate is at the lowest level since the President took office,” he said at a campaign event in San Francisco this week. “To keep our country moving forward, Congress should act on the President’s plan to keep taxes low for 98 percent of the American people, rather than holding it hostage to give more budget-busting tax cuts to the wealthiest 2 percent.”

Though the Black unemployment rate remains extremely high compared to the White unemployment rate which is well below the national average, it also shows signs of recovery when measuring the decrease since last year.

The Black unemployment rate at this time last year was 15.9 percent overall, 16.6 percent for Black men, 13.2 percent for Black women, and 43.6 percent for Black teens. Currently, the rates for African-Americans are 13.4 percent overall (2.5 percent drop from last year); 14.2 percent for Black men (2.4 percent drop from last year); 10.9 percent for Black women (2.3 percent drop from last year); and 36.7 percent for Black teens (6.9 percent drop from last year).

The lowest Black unemployment rate over the past decade was 7.0 in April of 2000 during the Clinton presidential administration.

Comparatively, the White unemployment rate at this time last year was 7.9 percent overall, 7 percent now (.9 percentage point drop); 7.7 percent for White men last year, 6.6 percent now (1.1 percent drop); 7.1 percent for White women last year (.8 percentage point drop), 6.3 percent now, (.8 percentage point drop); and 21.2 percent for White teens last year, the same rate now.

The lowest White unemployment rate over the past decade was 3.4 percent in January of 2000, also during the Clinton administration.

Democrats are applauding the much-needed reduction in the unemployment rate as Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney says it’s far too slow.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, in its monthly report Oct. 4, gave additional good news:

“Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 114,000,” the BLS reported on its home page at bls.gov. “For the first 8 months of the year, the rate held within a narrow range of 8.1 and 8.3 percent. The number of unemployed persons, at 12.1 million, decreased by 456,000 in September.”