Subject: [big campaign] McCain's Hispanic Education Problem: Spending Cuts Would Ravage U.S. Schools
From: "Adam Jentleson (CAPAF)" <[email-masked]>
To: "big campaign" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:02:59 -0400
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

One small problem with McCain's NCLR speech: his huge tax breaks for big
corporations and the very wealthy will require huge cuts in critical
education programs.  

McCain's Hispanic Education Problem: Spending Cuts Would Ravage U.S.
Schools
<http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/07/14/mccain-hispanics-schools/>

Today at the National Council on La Raza, John McCain is giving a speech
outlining his plan for addressing the education challenges Hispanics
face in the United States:

	Today, studies show that half of Hispanics entering high school
do not graduate with their class...We need to shake up failed school
bureaucracies with competition; hold schools accountable for results;
strengthen math, science, technology and engineering curriculums;
empower parents with choice; remove barriers to qualified instructors,
attract and reward superior teachers, and have a fair but sure process
to weed out incompetents.

The problem is not with his words. But a look at John McCain's record
and policy proposals - including draconian spending cuts
<http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/04-22-08-m
ccain-and-poverty.pdf>  needed to pay for his corporate tax cuts
<http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/04/15/mccain-econ-speech/>  -
have disturbing implications for Hispanic students (and, really, every
student). Here are some highlights from a new report
<http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2008/mccain_hispanic_ed.ht
ml>  from the Center for American Progress Action Fund:

	-McCain Would Imperil Education Funding: McCain's massive budget
hole would require deep cuts in education funding, as much as a forty
percent reduction in non-defense spending. And McCain's record shows he
is willing to let education priorities fall by the wayside: he has
consistently voted
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00343>  against
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00322>  resources
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=107&session=1&vote=00103>  for higher teacher quality,
Hispanic drop-out prevention, and after-school programs that improve
student performance. He has also consistently undermined effective
efforts at accountability by refusing to fully fund
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=108&session=2&vote=00035>  the No Child Left Behind Act.

	-McCain Would Slash Head Start Programs: McCain has promised a
discretionary spending freeze that would slash cut funding for Head
Start by over $968 million. And the massive deficits his tax plan would
rack up could increase pressure for across-the-board cuts that would
slash Head Start's budget by an additional $1.6 billion, and drop over
170,000 children from the rolls
<http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/04-22-08-m
ccain-and-poverty.pdf> . Hispanic students make up 34% of all kids
enrolled in Head Start, and the programs have been shown to dramatically
reduce the gaps <http://www.nber.org/papers/w5805>  in test scores
between Latino students and non-Hispanic Whites.

	-McCain Would Keep College Out Of Reach: Federal Pell Grants
have been called the "first course of action
<http://www.collegescholarships.org/grants/hispanic.htm>  for Hispanic
students from low-income households." Half
<http://nces.ed.gov/das/library/tables_listings/show_nedrc.asp?rt=p&tabl
eID=319>  of all Hispanics who attend four-year colleges receive Pell
Grants to help pay for school, compared to 16 percent-to-17 percent of
whites, and 37 percent-to-45 percent of African Americans. But Sen.
McCain voted with the Bush Administration
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=104&session=1&vote=00220>  to cut the value of Pell
Grants, and has consistently
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=106&session=2&vote=00029>  voted
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=107&session=1&vote=00153>  against expanding access or
increasing their value. McCain also skipped his vote and denounced the
DREAM Act
<http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071024/NATI
ON/110240046/1002&template=printart>  which would have provided a path
to citizenship for undocumented young high school graduates, brought to
the U.S. before their sixteenth birthday, who are pursuing a college
education or military service.

	-McCain Would Cut Community College Funding & Vocational
Training: The majority of Hispanic students in higher education are
"enrolled in two-year institutions, while the majority of white, African
American and Asian/Pacific Islander students are enrolled in four-year
institutions." And yet, McCain voted for cuts
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00098>  to vocational education
funding, and voted
<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cf
m.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00331>  against letting the value of
Perkins loans (the "largest direct aid initiative to community colleges
<http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/01/26/biz_biz2jobtrain.html> ")
increase with college costs. Furthermore, his plan for a discretionary
spending freeze would cut
<http://www.nea.org/newsreleases/2008/nr080417b.html>  $1.7 billion from
community learning centers, and $3.7 billion from career and technical
education grants.

Read the full report here
<http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2008/mccain_hispanic_ed.ht
ml> . More on the implications of McCain's policy proposals for U.S.
Hispanics here
<http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2008/mccain_latinos.html>
. 

http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/07/14/mccain-hispanics-schools/
-----
Adam Jentleson
Communications and Outreach Director
The Hyde Park Project, Center for American Progress Action Fund
202-247-8614

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