First-term Republican governors who have tried to reformhigher education by cutting state support and increasing academic autonomy have had little success and face significant opposition from lawmakers, university leaders and the public, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. In his first two years in office, Gov. Tom Corbett, R-Pa., attempted to slash funding for the state university system by 50 and later 30 percent in order to meet campaign promises of closing a $4 billion budget gap without raising taxes, The Chronicle reported. Both initiatives failed, with legislators settling on a 20 percent cut. The governors of Wisconsin, Ohio, Nevada and Florida all Republicans elected in 2010 have proposed similar legislation that either failed or proved ineffective, according to The Chronicle.
Swing state voters have named education and health care "extremely important" issues in this year's presidential election, Inside Higher Education reported on Thursday. A study conducted by the College Board surveyed 200 voters indicating that they are in nine swing states and showed approximately equal voter emphasis on education across party lines, with more than half of the voters willing to pay higher taxes for education. Voters disagreed, however, on the role of the federal government in education, with Democrats supporting a more active role and Republicans believing that states should be given greater latitude to effect change, according to Inside Higher Ed.
A federal panel charged with providing recommendations for improving and regulating teacher preparation programs failed to reach a clear consensus by Wednesday night, according to Inside Higher Education. The panel represents a shift toward evaluating teachers based on their students' performance on standardized tests, and a proposal to rate teachers on a four-level scale received support from both college negotiators and representatives from alternative programs like Teach for America, according to the report. Two of the most contentious items under debate include value-added scores, which measure teacher impact on student improvement, and an initiative to evaluate teacher preparation programs by their job placement rate, student loan repayment rate and retention rate at the schools that originally hired them, according to Inside Higher Ed. If the committee does not reach a consensus, rules governing teacher preparation programs will fall to the Department of Education, Inside Higher Ed reported.
