Education

Mitt Romney's Five-Point Plan

Energy Independence

Romney’s Five Point Plan Included North American Energy Independence. According to The Los Angeles Times, “Achieve North American energy independence by increasing access to domestic fossil fuels, streamlining regulations and the permitting process, drilling offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and approving the Keystone oil pipeline from Canada. ‘No. 1, we’re going to take advantage of our energy, and that’s going to create millions of jobs.’” [The Los Angeles Times, 9/15/12]

Romney Supports Ideas Similar To President Obama

Romney And Obama Had Similar Energy Plans Favoring Expanding Drilling And Natural Gas Development. According to The Washington Post, “Here are some of the highlights of the energy positions of Mitt Romney and President Obama. There are similarities. Both candidates favor expanded oil and gas drilling and support the development of natural gas resources, even with the use of controversial hydraulic fracturing techniques. Obama says he favors an ‘all of the above’ strategy and wants to further reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil. Romney says he would aim for ‘North American energy independence,’ leaning heavily on increased imports from Canada and higher U.S. output.” [The Washington Post, 9/11/12]

Romney Supports Ideas Benefitting Wealthy Oil Companies

Central Part Of Romney’s Energy Plan Is Deregulating Oil And Gas Industry. According to Huffington Post, “A central part of the plan is taking the power to permit and license new onshore drilling on federal lands out of the hands of the federal government and putting it into the hands of the states. That means that states like Alaska or North Dakota, which is enjoying a massive oil boom under the current regulatory regime, would be able to allow drilling on federal lands with no oversight from Washington. North Dakota stands out, in particular, as it is where Romney’s top energy adviser, oil billionaire Harold Hamm, is making his fortune. Hamm, whose stump speech is only three words, ‘Beat Barack Obama,’ has given $985,000 to Restore Our Future and raised money for the Romney campaign. He would profit greatly from this change in policy as his company, Continental Resources, would be freed to drill beyond the Bakken fields in North Dakota using techniques including hydraulic fracking and horizontal drilling.” [Huffington Post, 8/24/12]

Improve Education

Romney’s Five Point Plan Included Improving Education Through School Choice And Changing Teacher Hiring. According to The Los Angeles Times, “Improve education and job training, in part by increasing school choice and changing the way teachers are hired and evaluated. ‘We’ve got fix our schools.... It’s time for us to put the kids and the parents and the teachers first, and the teachers union behind.’” [The Los Angeles Times, 9/15/12]

Romney Deferred Education Funds To States For Private School Vouchers

Romney’s Education Policy Gave Federal Funds To States But Did Not Force Or Encourage Them To Expand School Choice. According to a Time op-ed, “Romney and other Republicans know they’re using a great talking point when they complain that the President is against allowing poor kids in Washington’s beleaguered public schools to attend better schools, especially when Obama’s own kids attend a highly-regarded private school in the city. But as policy, Romney’s blueprint is pretty weak soup because it doesn’t force — or even do much to encourage — states to expand choice. It merely says that federal dollars will defer to states and cities that decide to allow private-school vouchers.” [Time, Op-Ed, 6/14/12] Romney’s Education Policy Was Similar To “Pro-Voucher” Report From The Hoover Institution. According to The New York Times, “Mr. Romney’s policy seems closely inspired by a pro-voucher report issued in February by the conservative Hoover Institution. Five of eight members of a task force that produced the report are among the 19 education advisers the Romney campaign named last month. Once thought to be moribund, the voucher movement was revived by gains Republicans made in the 2010 midterm elections. Fourteen states since then have introduced or expanded private school vouchers, according to the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice.” [The New York Times, 6/11/12]

Romney’s Open-Enrollment Mandate For School Districts Were More Burdensome Than No Child Left Behind

Romney’s Open-Enrollment Requirement Had “Massive” Loophole Because Transfer Student Capacity Could Not Be Easily Verified. According to a Time op-ed, “There’s a massive loophole that lets everyone off the hook. The one tantalizing part of Romney’s proposal is his requirement for states to adopt open-enrollment policies that disregard school-district boundaries for public schools. That would be a big deal for poor parents. Open enrollment in theory would give inner-city kids and other kids stuck with lousy school options the chance to attend better public schools elsewhere. But there are two problems. First, as my former colleague, Erin Dillon, showed in a 2008 Education Sector analysis, there are just not enough good schools within a reasonable distance for these kids to commute to. Romney’s proposal also leaves a loophole wide enough to render the open-enrollment provision meaningless because it hinges on schools having sufficient ‘capacity’ to accept transfer students. That’s the same hazard that doomed No Child Left Behind’s public-school choice provisions. Don’t want students transferring in? Then make sure you have no capacity, a metric that is difficult to verify.” [Time, Op-Ed, 6/14/12] Romney’s Open-Enrollment Policy Would Require A “More Invasive Mandate” On States Than No Child Left Behind. According to a Time op-ed, “And in case you slept through the last several years, Republicans are against heavy-handed federal intervention in schools right now. They want to scrap the 10-year-old No Child law, which merely required states to come up with school accountability systems. It’s politically inconceivable that a President Romney would replace that law with a much more invasive mandate on states to essentially scrap school district boundaries and have a federal hand in deciding which students get to attend which schools.” [Time, Op-Ed, 6/14/12] Read the full report after the jump.

BRIDGE BRIEFING: Ryan And K-12 Education

The Ryan Plan Would Reduce Education Funding By Over $115 Billion Over 10 Years, Undermining Critical Education Programs

Office Of Management And Budget: The Ryan Plan Would Cut Critical Education Programs By Reducing Department Of Education Funding By More Than $115 Billion Over 10 Years. According to a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee press release, “Ryan's Plan Cuts Critical Education Programs. ‘The Department of Education would be cut by more than $115 billion over a decade. 9.6 million students would see their Pell Grants fall by more than $1000 in 2014, and, over the next decade, over one million students would lose support altogether. This would derail bipartisan education reforms and deeply undermine K-12 education and college opportunity [...] Roughly two million slots in Head Start would be eliminated over the next decade -- cutting 200,000 children from the program in 2014 alone.’ [OMB, 3/21/12]” [Targeted News Service, 3/25/12] The Oregonian: The Ryan Plan Would Cut Investments In Education And Training By 53 Percent. “According to the Center for American Progress, the Ryan plan would ‘disinvest’ in education and training by 53 percent, diverting resources away from primary and adult education, career and technical training, community colleges, postsecondary education and student aid, at a time when our world educational status is already in perilous decline.” [The Oregonian, 5/2/11]

BRIDGE BRIEFING: Ryan And Higher Education

Ryan Told Student He Should Work Three Jobs Instead Of Relying On Federal Student Loans

Philadelphia Inquirer: Ryan Told A Student That He Should Work Three Jobs In College Instead Of Relying On Grants. According to a Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial, “It should be remembered that Ryan, a frequent critic of Pell Grants, is the same congressman who suggested to a college student in October that instead of relying on grants he should do what Ryan did - work three jobs to pay for college. The congressman is to be congratulated on his work ethic, but if he believes it is a model for success in college for everyone, he is sorely mistaken.” [Philadelphia Inquirer, Editorial, 2/21/12]

BRIDGE BRIEFING: Romney And Higher Education

Romney Does Not Care About College Affordability

Romney Said “College Is Not Right For Everybody.” According to Fox News, during an interview on “Hannity,” Romney was asked by Sean Hannity: “Do you think that it’s in everybody’s best interest to get a degree or are people better off going to specialized schools to become a mechanic or an electrician or a plumber? What do you think?” Romney replied “Not everybody is going to go to college, of course. And people have different courses in their life they want to pursue. College is not right for everybody. Some folks have other ambitions and want to go in different directions. So, we want people to have freedom in this country and opportunity to pursue their happiness and the way they think.” [Fox News, 2/28/12] Romney Suggested Students Facing Rising Tuition Costs Should Get A Scholarship Or Join The Military. According to a New York Times op-ed, “There wasn’t a word about the variety of government loan programs… There wasn’t a word urging colleges to hold down tuition increases… And there wasn’t a word about Pell Grants, in case the student’s family had a low enough income to qualify… Instead, the advice was pretty brutal: if you can’t afford college, look around for a scholarship (good luck with that), try to graduate in less than four years, or join the military if you want a free education.” [New York Times, 3/5/12] Romney Told College Students To Borrow Money From Their Parents, Rather Than The Government, To Pay For Higher Education. According to KSL, “Personal responsibility has long been the backbone of many conservative principles, so when Romney told students to borrow from their parents rather than Uncle Sam, it doesn't come as much of a surprise. ‘Take a shot, go for it, take a risk, get the education, borrow money if you have to from your parents, start a business,’ Romney told college students in Ohio. The statement is in context of a story where a friend of his borrowed $20,000 from his parents.” [KSL, 4/30/12]

BRIDGE BRIEF: Romney On The DREAM Act

Romney Said He Would Veto “The DREAM Act.”  According to the Des Moines Register, “Romney said he would veto the ‘Dream Act’ if Congress passed it. The controversial proposal would open paths to legal residency for illegal immigrants who were brought into the country as children, stayed out of trouble and entered college or served in the military.” [Des Moines Register, 12/31/11]

Romney Promised To Veto The DREAM Act. According to Huffington Post, “Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney doubled down on Monday on his opposition to the DREAM Act, a bill that would aid undocumented young people and that is heavily supported by the Latino community. ‘I’ve indicated I would veto the DREAM Act if provisions included in that act say that people who were here illegally -- if they go to school here long enough, if they get a degree here -- then they can become permanent residents,’ he said during a GOP debate in South Carolina, in response to a question about how his immigration views would play with Latino voters. ‘I think that’s a mistake.’ Romney previously said he would veto the bill to provide legal status to some undocumented immigrants as long as they came to the U.S. as children, kept a clean criminal record and either attended college or joined the military.” [Huffington Post, 1/16/12]

BRIDGE BRIEFING: Mitt Romney & Higher Education

Romney Does Not Care About College Affordability

Romney Said “College Is Not Right For Everybody.” According to Fox News, during an interview on “Hannity,” Romney was asked by Sean Hannity: “Do you think that it’s in everybody’s best interest to get a degree or are people better off going to specialized schools to become a mechanic or an electrician or a plumber? What do you think?” Romney replied “Not everybody is going to go to college, of course. And people have different courses in their life they want to pursue. College is not right for everybody. Some folks have other ambitions and want to go in different directions. So, we want people to have freedom in this country and opportunity to pursue their happiness and the way they think.” [Fox News, 2/28/12] Romney Suggested Students Facing Rising Tuition Costs Should Get A Scholarship Or Join The Military. According to a New York Times op-ed, “There wasn’t a word about the variety of government loan programs… There wasn’t a word urging colleges to hold down tuition increases… And there wasn’t a word about Pell Grants, in case the student’s family had a low enough income to qualify… Instead, the advice was pretty brutal: if you can’t afford college, look around for a scholarship (good luck with that), try to graduate in less than four years, or join the military if you want a free education.” [New York Times, 3/5/12]

Supports Paul Ryan’s Plan Cutting Pell Grants For 1 Million Students

Romney Supported Federal Budget Cutting Pell Grants By 25 Percent. According to New York Times, “That may be because Mr. Romney supports the House Republican budget, which would cut Pell Grants by 25 percent or more at a time when they are needed more than ever.” [New York Times, 03/05/12]

BRIDGE BRIEFING: Mitt Romney & K-12 Education

Romney Believes Smaller Class Sizes Are Harmful

Romney Thought Efforts To Reduce Classroom Size “May Actually Hurt Education More Than It Helps.” According to his book “No Apology” Romney wrote, “In The United States, then, the effort to reduce classroom size may actually hurt education more than it helps.” [Romney, No Apology, Pg. 216]