Franken called for a $5,000 tax credit to help people pay for college.
"Why not a $10,000 tax credit? Why not $20,000?" asked Barkley. "Who's going to pay for this? We're broke. I'm not going to pander to people."
Franken responded that the money spent would be equal to just a few weeks of the Iraq war and could be financed by reducing tax breaks for millionaires.
Source: 2008 MN Senate Debate reported in Star Tribune
Oct 17, 2008
No Child Left Behind law must be dramatically reformed
The No Child Left Behind law must be dramatically reformed or scrapped altogether. I'm for accountability, but I'm not for the deeply-flawed NCLB system. I once read about something called McNamara's Fallacy. It goes like this:
The first step is to measure whatever can be easily measured. This is OK as far as it goes. The second step is to disregard that which can't easily be measured or to give it an arbitrary quantitative value. This is artificial and misleading.
The third step is to presume that what can't be measured easily really isn't important. This is blindness. The fourth step is to say that what can't be easily measured really doesn't exist.
In other words, instead of trying to measure what's important, we end up deciding that whatever's easiest to measure is most important. If we're going to keep No Child Left Behind, we have to stop falling prey to McNamara's Fallacy.
Source: Campaign website, www.AlFranken.com, "Issues"
May 14, 2008
Ideas for educational reforms that measure performance
Here are a few of the reforms I'm for:
End arbitrary performance standards and replace them with models that measure and reward progress achieved during the school year;
Encourage more flexibility in measuring student achievement. Allow
teachers to participate in the evaluation of their students' progress over the course of a year instead of at a single point in time (for instance, by assembling student portfolios);
Reading comprehension and math skills tests only measure reading
comprehension and math skills (and test-taking skills). We should measure critical thinking, teamwork, creativity, and other important skills. And we have to reverse the narrowing of our curriculum that has de-emphasized science, art, civic, and
physical education;
Stop duplicative testing. While we need to measure student progress, too many districts have overlapping state & federal tests. We should audit tests at the district, state & federal level to ensure that this doesn't happen.
Source: Campaign website, www.AlFranken.com, "Issues"
May 14, 2008
Fight to end unfunded mandates on education
When I get to Washington, someone is going to have to explain to me why we have unfunded mandates. It's unconscionable that the federal government fails to live up to its commitments.
Right now, the federal government only pays for 19% of special education costs--after promising to cover 40%. When I get to the Senate, I'll fight to end unfunded mandates.
Source: Campaign website, www.AlFranken.com, "Issues"
May 14, 2008
Invest in early childhood education
It's impossible to guarantee every child an equal opportunity in life--there are just too many factors (parents, economic status, talent) beyond our control. But we can & should guarantee every child a fair chance, and invest in early childhood education
A child who's been read to by the age of 5 has twice the vocabulary of a peer who hasn't. Investment in early childhood education more than pays off in the long run. It's time we invested in the earliest part of life instead of building more prisons.
Source: Campaign website, www.AlFranken.com, "Issues"
May 14, 2008
Restore Pell Grants
We should restore Pell Grants so that every American family can send its children to college without incurring a crushing burden of debt.
When my wife's sisters were attending college on Pell Grants, a full Pell Grant paid for 90% of a college education. Today, it's less than 40%.
Source: Campaign website, www.AlFranken.com, "Issues"
May 14, 2008
Forgive loans for pledge to teach in under-served areas
Here's an idea I heard from a student in Mankato: Let's create an ROTC-style program for teachers. If a student pledges to teach a needed subject in a designated needy area for a certain amount of time (say, math in a poor rural district suffering
from a shortage of math teachers), the federal government could forgive some or all of that student's loans.
Source: Campaign website, www.alfranken.com, "Issues"
Mar 9, 2008
Improve low-performing schools instead of punishing them
Stop including English language learners in measurements of progress before they're proficient in English. And don't punish a school simply because one "cell"--such as special education students--fails to meet a benchmark.
Instead of
punishing low-performing schools, use research-based interventions to help them improve. Give them the resources to hire, develop, and retain the best teachers by offering increased pay, safe working conditions, and sufficient support staff and facilitie
Source: Campaign website, www.alfranken.com, "Issues"
Mar 9, 2008
Fully fund our public schools
We have to fully fund our public schools. We owe it to our states, and more importantly, we owe it to our kids to provide them with the same opportunities I had growing up.
Every public school in America should have small class sizes, well-
maintained facilities, plenty of school supplies, & more support staff.
Teachers should be paid as the professionals they are.
Parents shouldn't have to pay "activity fees" for their kids to play sports or participate in arts or music programs.
Source: Campaign website, www.alfranken.com, "Issues"
Mar 9, 2008
