DEMOCRATS FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION RELEASES LIST OF BOLD-FACE NAME SUPPORTERS FROM ACROSS USA

DPE Momentum Continues To Grow

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Today, Democrats For Public Education (DPE) released a list of bold-face names who signed on as supporters for the newly-launched organization. DPE is a 527 formed to show that Democrats remain united around a core set of principles to ensure public education thrives for generations to come. Since officially launching on August 19th, 2014, scores of elected officials, party leaders and activists at all levels of government - and from communities in all 50 states - have already added their names as supporters.

"In less than two months since officially launching, its no surprise that Democrats for Public Education has already enjoyed such a flood of support," said DPE Co-Chair Denise Juneau, Montana State Superintendent of Instruction. "These folks understand that a high-quality public education is an economic necessity, a moral imperative and a pillar of democracy. We believe we should be lifting up and championing public education, teachers and our neighborhood schools - by investing time, energy and resources."

Below is just a small sampling of Democrats from all across America who have signed on to support DPE:

• Parris Glendening - Former Maryland Governor
• Mark Schauer - Candidate for Governor of Michigan, Former U.S. Representative
• Lon Johnson - Michigan Democratic Party Chair, DNC Member
• Ray Buckley - New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair, DNC Vice-Chair, ASDC President
• Wallace Collins - Oklahoma Democratic Party Chair, DNC Member
• Karen Carter Peterson - Louisiana Democratic Party Chair, Louisiana State Senator, DNC Executive Committee
• Diane Ravitch - NYU Research Professor of Education, Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education
• Rita Solnet - Co-Founder of Parents Across America, Former PTA President and Former School Advisory Board Member for Palm Beach County Schools
• Alice Huffman - California NAACP President, National Board of Directors of the NAACP, DNC Member
• Doris Crouse-Mays - Virginia AFL-CIO President, DNC Executive Committee
• Minyon Moore - Former Assistant to the President, Director of White House Political Affairs and Director of White House Public Liasion under President Clinton, DNC Executive Committee, Democratic Strategist
• Maria Cardona - Former Senior Advisor and spokesperson for the Hillary Clinton for President Campaign, former Senior Vice President for the New Democrat Network (NDN), served as Deputy Press Secretary and Press Secretary at the Department of Commerce, former Communications Director the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Strategist
• Loretta Weinberg - New Jersey State Senate Majority Leader
• Martha Fuller Clark - New Hampshire State Senator, First Vice-Chair of New Hampshire Democratic Party, DNC Member
• Rich Madaleno - Maryland State Senator
• Bonnie Watson Coleman - New Jersey Assemblywoman, candidate for Congress
• Edie McClafferty - Member, Montana State House of Representatives
• Margie MacDonald - Member, Montana State House of Representatives
• Ellen Cogen Lipton - Member, Michigan State House of Representatives
• Mimi Stewart - Member, New Mexico State House of Representatives
• Joel Briscoe - Minority Caucus Manager and Member, Utah State House of Representatives
• Anita Bonds - District of Columbia Council Member At-Large, DNC Executive Committee
• Barbra Casbar Siperstein - New Jersey Democratic State Committee Vice-Chair and DNC Executive Committee
• Andres Ramirez - Vice-Chair, DNC Hispanic Caucus
• Karren Pope-Onwukwe - Attorney and DNC Member, Maryland
• Lottie Shackelford - Chair of DNC Women’s Caucus, Former Mayor of Little Rock, Arkansas
• Maggie Allen - Principal at Windsor Elementary School (Maine), DNC Member

Last month, Democrats For Public Education (DPE) released the results of a national voter survey showing voters back public education in large numbers. You can view the poll memo on its findings here.

For more information – and to sign-up as a supporter – please visit www.DemocratsForPublicEducation.com.

Calendar Project Artwork By Elementary School Students On Display at Arts Center

Middletown, N.J. (August 28, 2014) – In honor of the 350th Anniversary of Middletown, students from twelve Middletown elementary schools reproduced their artwork from the annual “My Middletown School Year Calendar Project” on 4’ x 4’ mural panels, currently displayed at the Middletown Arts Center (MAC), located at 36 Church Street in Middletown, N.J. The mural panels have been on display since the Middletown 350 Parade on June 21, 2014 and will be relocated for display to Croydon Hall for Middletown Day on September 27, 2014.

The “My Middletown School Year Calendar Project” was started in 2010 by Linda Kish, who serves
on the Board of Trustees of the Middletown Township Cultural and Arts Council. Participating Middletown elementary schools include Middletown Village, Harmony, Lincroft, Leonardo, New Monmouth, Ocean Avenue, Navesink, Fairview, Bayview, Nutswamp, Port Monmouth and River Plaza Elementary Schools. The students work with their art teachers to create artwork of places around Middletown Township. Each elementary school teacher presents the project to the fourth and fifth grade students and several entries are selected. The selected entries are then forwarded to the Middletown Arts Center, which makes the final selection of art featured in the calendar.


This year’s calendar design was created by the Middletown High School North Graphic Design Class with instructor Dorothy Bagley. The Middletown Township Cultural & Arts Council produces the calendar each year and they are posted up at Middletown schools and throughout Middletown Township.

The Calendar Project would not be possible without the work of art teachers Diane Bajor, Sharon Stafflinger, Mary Henderson, Lisa Montibello, Laurie O’Keefe, and Doreen Georgiou. Principals Kathy Sidoti and Karen Zupancic were instrumental in coordinating the multiple aspects of the project including the painting of the panels. Mrs. Sidoti and Mrs. Zupancic served as liaisons between the art teachers, students, PTAs, the Arts Center and the Township. We even had the participation of the parents who were brave enough to come trace their children’s drawings onto the aluminum surfaces. Other students also pitched in to help with the painting.

“The Calendar Project is a great collaboration between the Middletown Public Schools and the Arts Council,” said Maggie O'Brien, Executive Director of the Middletown Arts Center. “We really enjoy partnering with the schools on enriching arts programs and experiences. This year’s Calendar Project was extra-special because of our 350 Celebration and the creation of the beautiful murals. I love seeing the student’s creativity. The pictures they draw capture all that is special about Middletown. I wish we could use all of the artwork created. It gives us a very special and unique view of our township.”

A reception was held earlier this month at the Middletown Arts Center to honor the young artists and showcase their artwork to the general public. Calendar posters will be available to the public free of charge after the reception. Call 732-706-4100 for more information.


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• Photo 1: Calendar winners (from left to right): Sabrina Mendez, Victoria Povall, Chloe Zenker, Georgia T., Volunteer - unsure of name, Peyton Le Bourveau, JJ Bifulco, Richard Ens
• Photo 2: Calendar winner Sabrina Mendez and two teachers with mural
• Photo 3: Calendar winner JJ Bifulco with mural

President Obama's Weekly Address 8/24/13: Making Higher Education More Affordable for the Middle Class

WASHINGTON, DC— In his weekly address, President Obama noted that while college education has never been more important, it has also never been more expensive. That’s why the President proposed major new reforms to make college more affordable for middle class families and those fighting to get into the middle class. The President’s bold plan would tie federal financial aid to the value and opportunity that colleges provide students, encourage innovation and competition, and help Americans manage their existing student debt by allowing everyone to cap monthly payments at 10 percent of their discretionary income. The President acknowledged that these reforms won’t be popular with everyone – especially those who benefit from the status quo – but we have to shake up the current system because the path we’re on is simply unsustainable.

Making College More Affordable

From the E-Newsletter of Congressman Rush Holt:


This is a challenging moment for students and young workers in New Jersey. College has never been more crucial to our economy and to job creation than it is today – but college also is more expensive now than ever before.

As a longtime teacher, I have seen firsthand the power of higher education to transform lives, and I want to share with you the steps I am taking in Congress to make college more affordable:

Congressman Rush Holt

• Keeping College Loan Rates Low. A few years ago, I helped write a law that cut student loan interest rates from 6.8 to 3.4 percent, saving the average student borrower more than $2,000. Recently, the new tea party members in Congress sought to undo this rate cut, creating an unnecessary crisis as students sought to plan for the year ahead.  The good news is that I helped reach a compromise to ensure that rates will remain low for at least another year, helping 144,000 New Jersey students. Please know that I am supporting legislation to make the rate cut permanent.
   
• Helping Math and Science Teachers Afford College. The TEACH Grant program, created by a law that I helped write, provides up to $4,000 a year in grants – up to $16,000 over four years – for students who commit to teaching math, science, or foreign language for at least five years.
   
• Supporting Graduates Who Enter Public Service. Students who want to serve their communities as teachers, police officers, firefighters, and soldiers should not be prevented from doing so by college debt. A law that I helped write forgives student loan debt after 10 years for graduates who enter public service.

Education is key to the American Dream for individuals – and importantly, it is key to our nation’s economic future. Each of us has a stake in ensuring that the next generation of workers, business leaders, and innovators has access to the opportunities they need to learn, succeed, and create new jobs.

Resources to Make College More Affordable

Recently, I joined officials from Rutgers and the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority to talk with local students and parents about college aid opportunities.  Among the resources we shared:

• StudentAid.Ed.Gov is the Education Department’s official source for free information on preparing for and funding education beyond high school.
   
• www.HESAA.Org, the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority’s website, offers information on grants, scholarship, loans, and programs for veterans.

I am always happy to help you learn more about college affordability options or to help resolve problems with your student loans. Send a message atholt.house.gov/contact or call 1-87-RUSH-HOLT (1-877-874-4658).

Sincerely,

Rush Holt
Member of Congress

President Obama's Weekly Address: 1/31/09

In his weekly address, President Barack Obama announced that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is preparing a new strategy for reviving our financial system, and urged the swift passage of an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.

RADICAL RIGHT -- REP.CHRIS SMITH: 'OUR STUDENTS MUST FIND THE GOD OF THE BIBLE AND BIBLICAL VALUES IN THE CLASSROOM'

Think Progress-The Progress Report

At a reception in St. Paul, MN on Wednesday for Catholic Republicans, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) -- a fierce opponent of abortion -- said that he is "very concerned that many of our schools and universities have lost their way." They have become "bastions of moral relativism and moral compromise with the culture of death." As a solution, Smith suggested that "students must find the God of the Bible and Biblical values in the classroom." "Our schools need to become oases of goodness," said Smith. Smith's call for "Biblical values in the classroom" could easily be interpreted as a call for the promotion of Christianity in American schools. But, as the First Amendment Center has pointed out, "the courts have been clear that public school teachers cannot teach religion to their students or read the Bible to the class as a way of promoting their faith." Smith's comments appear to be even more radical than Rep. Steve King's (R-IA) claim last year that "every child" in American schools needs to learn "the tenets of the Christian faith." While King conceded that if "the tenets of Christianity" are to be taught in school, "other faiths" should be taught as well, Smith said no such thing.