[ Issues ]

Education

Private School Vouchers

The UAW supports the right of parents to send their children to private or religious schools. But we oppose the use of public funds to do so. This is because public funding of private or religious education transfers precious tax dollars from public schools, which are free and open to all children, accountable to parents and taxpayers alike, and essential to our democracy, to private and religious schools that charge for their services, select their students on the basis of religious, academic, family or personal characteristics, and are accountable only to their boards and clients.

President Bush and GOP congressional leaders are continuing to push various proposals for private and religious school vouchers. Whether a national voucher program or a small-scale pilot project, and whether disguised as “opportunity scholarships” or “portability” plans, vouchers would drain essential resources from public education while offering little choice or benefit to the majority of students. Instead of concentrating resources and efforts on improving public schools for the 90 percent of American children who attend these schools, vouchers would divert public dollars to private and religious schools that educate just 10 percent of the nation’s students.

Vouchers encourage fly-by-night schools and provide less accountability for public resources than public schools. Private and religious schools have almost complete autonomy with regard to how they operate, who they teach, what they teach, how they teach, how they measure student achievement, how they manage their finances and what they are required to disclose to parents and the public.

Vouchers do not offer parental choice; in fact private schools can favor or exclude students based on gender, religion, ability, conduct and special needs.

Every serious study of voucher plans has concluded that vouchers do not improve student achievement. The official study of Cleveland’s voucher program, by Dr. Kim Metcalf, found no achievement gains for voucher students compared to students in public schools.

The American people have consistently rejected vouchers at the polls. Every time a voucher proposal has been put to the voters, it’s been voted down by a wide margin.

Public schools are improving without vouchers. Competent, caring teachers, backed by supportive parents and administrators, are producing exciting gains in student achievement in public schools across America, through a variety of successful and innovative programs.

True equality means giving children the ability to attend a good public school in their neighborhood. A pure voucher system would encourage economic, racial, ethnic and religious stratification in our society. America’s success has been built on our ability to unify our diverse populations.

Action

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (No Child Left Behind Act)

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), renamed the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), established laudable goals, high standards and accountability for the learning of all children. However, the UAW believes this law must be improved and federal lawmakers need to provide adequate funding if NCLB is to achieve its goals.

Ensuring that all children have highly qualified teachers and that struggling schools have the tools to make improvements can’t be done on the cheap. Research indicates that recruiting highly qualified teachers for hard-to-staff schools requires improving the physical plant, providing up-to-date textbooks and other learning resources, implementing proven curricula, attracting and retaining exemplary administrative staff and providing professional development and financial resources for teachers.

Congress knew that the goals of NCLB could not be achieved without accountability and additional resources. Unfortunately, the Bush administration and GOP congressional leaders have consistently underfunded NCLB. It is clear that the funding has been far short of what is necessary to get the job done, and what Congress anticipated would be required.

In addition, it has become apparent the NCLB has created obstacles to helping students and strengthening public schools because it focuses on punishments rather than assistance. In particular, harsh penalties are imposed on schools that fail to get a predetermined percentage of their students to a “proficient” level. As a result, many schools are facing funding cuts for failing to meet the proficiency targets, and thus could wind up with even fewer resources for school modernization, class size reduction, tutoring and other vital programs.

In 2007 Congress began to consider legislation to reauthorize NCLB/ESEA. Because of the many complex issues, this process will continue during 2008. The UAW and our education allies will be urging the House and Senate to approve legislation that authorizes adequate funding for NCLB programs. In addition, we will be urging Congress to make sure this legislation includes needed improvements, including provisions that will:

• Provide multiple measures of student learning and school effectiveness instead of the current one-day snapshot based solely on standardized tests.

• Reward progress over time to improve student achievement at all levels.

• Recognize individual needs of students (special education; English language learners).

• Reduce class size to help students learn.

• Increase the number of highly qualified teachers in our schools;

• Provide financial incentives to teachers who teach in hard-to-staff schools.

• Allows teachers who have achieved certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards to be deemed “highly qualified”.

• Provides flexibility for teachers of multiple subjects, including special education and rural educators.

Action

Class Size Reduction and School Construction

While many education reform proposals remain controversial, reducing class size to allow for more individualized attention for students is strongly supported by parents, teachers and education researchers. Teachers with small classes can spend time and energy helping each child succeed. Smaller classes also enhance safety, discipline and order in the classroom. When qualified teachers teach smaller classes in modern schools, kids learn more. It’s common sense, and the research proves it works to increase student achievement.

The benefits of smaller classes are now widely acknowledged. Tennessee’s Student Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR) project showed that those enrolled in small classes as youngsters were more likely to graduate on time, complete more advanced math and English courses, complete high school and graduate with honors.

In a four-point plan to ensure that all children are educated to their full potential, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching President Ernest L. Boyer called for reducing class size to no more than 15 students per teacher for the early elementary grades. The National Association of Elementary School Principals also recommends a student-teacher ratio of 15 to 1.

In addition to reducing class size, the technology environment in today’s public schools needs to be improved. For students to thrive in a world enabled by information technology, we must give them the skills to make sense of and use this technology. Teachers and students need access to laptops and pocket PCs, digital cameras and microscopes, Web-based video equipment, graphing calculators and even weather-tracking devices.

• More funding is needed at all levels to make sure that the technology available to educators and students is compatible with and on the same level as technology in general use outside of schools.

• Teacher education programs need to embrace educational technology and help prospective teachers use it effectively in the classroom.

• Technology should be deployed and applied equitably among all students and educators, regardless of geography or demographics.

In addition to upgrading the technology environment in our public schools, general school construction and modernization programs are urgently needed.

A report entitled, “Building Minds, Minding Buildings: Turning Crumbling Schools into Environments for Learning,” urges concerted and immediate action at the federal, state and local levels. Research unequivocally shows that poor school building conditions are a serious threat to the health and academic performance of students. Achievement is significantly lower in schools with poor conditions. Likewise, asthma induced by mold and other indoor air quality problems is an increasingly prevalent school health issue and a major contributor to student and staff absenteeism. Things don’t have to be this way. Schools can be modernized or built from scratch using proven, cost-effective and eco-friendly solutions. Many schools already are meeting these high standards, serving as models to others. The UAW and our education allies believe that healthy, well-maintained schools that are conducive to learning cannot be reserved for select communities; they must be part of the academic environment for every American student.

Action

Higher Education

One of the priorities for House and Senate Democrats after regaining control of Congress was legislation to expand higher education opportunities for working families. The UAW and a broad coalition of student, education and labor groups supported this initiative. Thanks to this support, by the fall of 2007 Congress was able to give final approval to legislation that cut in half the interest rate on student loans, and also significantly expanded Pell grants. These much needed improvements will help millions of low- and moderate-income students be able to afford to go to college. These improvements were paid for by cuts in subsidies to private student loan lenders.

Meanwhile, a GAO report has documented widespread abuses in student loan programs, including private lenders giving funds or other perks to schools in exchange for loan volume. Unfortunately, the Bush administration has been asleep at the switch in providing provide oversight over these programs. As a result, in 2007 the Senate approved legislation that would clean up the relationships between lenders and schools and prevent a continuation of these abuses. Late in the year similar legislation began to move in the House. However, at the time this paper was written it was unclear whether Congress would be able to complete action on this measure by the end of the year.

Action

Tuition Assistance Benefits

The UAW has negotiated tuition assistance benefits for workers at the Detroit-based auto companies and many other firms. These programs have been critically important in helping workers to get the education and training that is so critical in this global economy.

Under Section 127 of the Internal Revenue Code, these employer-provided tuition assistance benefits are exempt from taxation. For many years, the UAW and a broad coalition of labor, business and education groups had to lobby to get the Section 127 tax exemption extended every few years. Thanks to the efforts of this coalition, the tax bill that was enacted in 2001 finally made Section 127 permanent. However, the provisions of the 2001 tax bill will sunset at the end of 2010, and Congress will once again need to take action to maintain the tax exemption for tuition assistance benefits provided by employers to workers.

Maintaining this tax exemption is important for several reasons. First, this protects workers from being subjected to a significant tax increase. Second, this encourages employers to continue these important benefits. For these reasons, during 2008 the UAW will continue working with our allies to urge Congress to take steps to ensure that the tax exemption for employer-provided tuition assistance benefits (Section 127) does not sunset at the end of 2010.

At the same time, the UAW will be working to expand this tax exemption to cover tuition benefits for post-secondary education for the children of workers. Our union has negotiated these benefits for the children of workers at the Detroit-based auto companies and other major employers. As a result, UAW members have received millions of dollars in tuition benefits to help pay for the costs of post-secondary education for their children. But under the tax code, these tuition benefits are considered taxable income, thereby triggering additional tax liability for workers.

The UAW believes that the tax code should be amended to exempt children’s tuition benefits from taxation, just like the tuition benefits for the workers themselves. Although the UAW believes federal and state governments need to provide direct assistance to families to help pay for post-secondary education, we believe employers also can pay an important role. To encourage such employer tuition assistance programs, Congress should make employer-provided tuition benefits for the children of workers exempt from taxation.

Action