Education Sector today released a report called Eight for 2008: Education Ideas for the Next President. Aiming to appeal to Republicans, Democrats and coincide with NCLB, Ed Sector has come up with eight possible education plans. While education, unfortunately, does not always receive a large part of the national election attention, Ed Sector offers these ideas to be included in the “ideas primary” while candidates are learning what is most important to Americans. A brief review of the report is listed below. The Full report can be found here. 1. Unlock Pre-K Door: Over matching federal grants to states to operate Pre-K for all children living in households that are have an annual income below $50,000. (Total Cost: 18.4 Billion, 14.7 Billion of Federal funds)
2. Offer Teachers a New Deal: Five billion dollars to provide incentives for hard to staff subject areas, alternative certification, mentoring programs...but no baseline salary increases. (5 Billion, 3 of which the feds already pay)
3. Create a National Corps of “SuperPrincipals": A $30 Million bid to develop a way to train principals in hard to manage schools. ($30 Million)
4. Open New Public Schools in Low Income Neighborhoods: $250,000 Million a year for four years ($1 Billion) to create a new-school-creation fund aligned with underperforming schools though NCLB. ($250,000 Million)
5. Launching Learning into the 21st Century: $120 Million to spur virtual, online learning at high schools. ($120 Million
6. Reward Hardworking Immigrant students: Fast-track immigrant, high school graduates to citizenship. (No stated cost)
7. Give Students a Good Road Map to Colleges: An easy-to-read consumer friendly college guide to sent home to 7th graders. ($28 Million)
8. Help Students Who Help Others: A loan repayment system for college grads making $31,000 or less with minimum federal loans and for those with the maximum federal loans and making $38,000 or less. ($200 - 300 Million a year)