New Education Secretary Makes First Appearance on a College Campus
For his first official visit to a college, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan chose the nation’s largest and most diverse community college: Miami-Dade College.
Mr. Duncan, who spoke there on a panel today with Jill Biden, the community-college professor who is Vice President Joseph Biden Jr.’s wife, touted the recently enacted economic-stimulus law and highlighted the role community colleges will play in the nation’s economic recovery and competitiveness.
He also empathized with the fiscal challenges facing Florida’s colleges and universities, which have been forced to cut jobs and student aid in the face of deep reductions in state education spending. “You are all too familiar with the challenge of trying to serve your students amid this economic crisis,” he said.
But the new secretary was noncommittal when asked if the Education Department would grant Florida a waiver that would allow it to receive .5-billion in federal stimulus dollars to offset the state cuts. Under the stimulus legislation, states must maintain education spending at levels set in the 2006 fiscal year to receive a share of the money. Florida has not done that, so it must apply for a waiver.
“Let’s just say that we want to help,” he said, according to the Palm Beach Post. —Kelly Field
news by Chronicle of Higher Education / chronicle.com