Two sides of the coin on education

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Last week, President Obama and Governor Cuomo gave their annual addresses on the nation and state, and both focused a good portion of their speeches on education.

While both placed a heavy emphasis on charter schools, they were far apart on other issues.

When it comes to education reform, Cuomo seems to be one step ahead of the president — not only have his policies made our education system stronger, but they have helped middle-class families by allowing for tax credits that make private school more affordable and help families with overbearing student loan debt.

Obama began his discussion of education policies by touting the fact that more kids are graduating from high school and college than ever before. Surprisingly, he did not include any mention of universal preschool education for 4-year-olds, something his administration discussed at length last year.

Instead the president tied education to the economy, and discussed how he would make higher education more affordable for the masses. He said he would be sending a bill to Congress that would lower the cost of community college — to zero. That’s right, community college would be free for the masses.

According to the Obama administration, 9 million full- and part-time students would benefit. The proposal is set to cost $60 billion. Republicans have already shot it down, with House Speaker John Boehner saying that more spending and taxes would be detrimental to middle-class families.

The president needs to look at the bigger picture. Community college tuition is already heavily subsidized for poor and working-class students. Right now, more than 60 percent of the cost of community college is covered not by tuition, but by various forms of government aid at the federal, state and local levels.

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