Last December, Congress passed a tax reform plan that has already brought relief to businesses and citizens everywhere. Even so, some crucial pieces are still missing—like making sure the individual tax cuts stay permanent.
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Recalling Reagan’s words: “When they graduate high school, they are prepared neither for work nor higher education.”
WASHINGTON, DC — Precisely 35 years after A Nation at Risk was released this month in 1983, student achievement is either flat or dropping for many US students, according to the results of the latest National Assessment of Education Progress, known as the Nation’s Report Card. Scores from the 2017 NAEP administration saw no significant change from the prior 2015 assessment, save for a one-point increase in 8th grade math scores.
The results should startle Americans:
• READING PROFICIENCY or ABOVE: 4th grade — 37 percent; 8th grade — 36 percent
• MATH PROFICIENCY or ABOVE: 4th grade — 40 percent; 8th grade — 34 percent
• MATH PROFICIENCY DECLINED IN 10 STATES
Officials report that at the basic level, students have made considerable progress since the 1990s, from 50 percent to 80 percent in 4th grade math, for example. However, basic levels are not acceptable for competency in work or life.
“This month 35 years ago, extraordinary findings and bold recommendations for action catalyzed a nation. These scores are a sobering reminder that we remain a nation with far too many children and young adults poorly educated, unprepared to enter college or the workforce, and ultimately, unable to achieve the American Dream of living a rewarding, prosperous life,” said Jeanne Allen, Founder and CEO of the Center for Education Reform.
“The NAEP scores show that the need for a fundamental transformation of American education has never been greater, or more urgent.”
In 1983, within days of the release of the Nation at Risk report, President Ronald Reagan told the nation, “Our education system, once the finest in the world, is in a sorry state of disrepair … 13% of our 17-year olds are functionally illiterate, and among minority students it’s close to 40%. More than two-thirds of high school students can’t write an essay.”
“This ‘sorry’ state still largely exists today,” added Allen.
CER Research Fellow Dr. Cara Candal, who has studied NAEP trends, noted that even when math scores rise in middle school, they later stagnate or fall in high school, a critical point in learners’ lives as they seek college admissions and to become productive adults preparing to enter the workforce. “Not only are these flat 4th and 8th grade reading and math scores case for alarm, but between 2005 and 2015, 12th grade math and reading scores were also stagnant or showed decline — with very slight upticks in some years and subsequent downward trends.”
The only bright spot in the data released by the National Assessment of Educational Progress today is Florida and Puerto Rico. Florida, in particular, saw unprecedented gains statewide and in two of its largest districts, Miami and Duval counties.
“When innovation and opportunity are kindled, educational success follows,” said Allen. “A Nation at Risk called on us to expand both — it’s high time we responded.”
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Perdue Commits to One Federal Decision Framework for Environmental Reviews and Permits for Infrastructure Projects
(Washington, D.C., April 9, 2018) – Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with other Trump Administration cabinet secretaries and leaders of federal agencies, committing to following the President’s One Federal Decision framework for processing environmental reviews and permits for major infrastructure projects. Under the direction of President Donald J. Trump, One Federal Decision will drive infrastructure projects to meet environmental standards, but complete the review and permitting process in a reasonable amount of time.
“This MOU will eliminate the potential for conflicting decisions, so that project sponsors don’t get one answer from agency and another answer from another agency. In agriculture, we’ve gotten some of those mixed signals before, and they’re very frustrating,” Secretary Perdue said. “President Trump is making good on his promise to free our economy from needless regulations and bureaucratic delays, and One Federal Decision is another example.”
Many of the major projects the U.S. Department of Agriculture is involved in can be very complex and require input and decisions from many other federal agencies. Projects like the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines, which require extensive research and inter-agency coordination, are challenging under the old system. Those challenges force agencies to wait extended periods for multiple redundant reviews before making decisions which, in some cases, are unrelated to the information being gathered, causing costly project delays, confusion about who is responsible for making decisions, and conflicting outcomes from multiple agency decisions.
President Trump established the policy of One Federal Decision for the federal government’s processing of environmental reviews and permits for major infrastructure projects in Executive Order 13807. Under One Federal Decision, Executive Order 13807 requires that each major infrastructure project have a lead federal agency that is responsible for navigating the project through the process, all Federal agencies to sign one “Record of Decision” (for purposes of complying with the National Environmental Policy Act), and relevant Federal agencies to issue the necessary permits for the project within 90 days of the signing of the Record of Decision. Executive Order 13807 established a 2-year goal for the completion of the environmental review and permitting processes for the signature of the Record of Decision and issuance of the necessary permits.
In signing the MOU, Perdue joined Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, and Secretary of the Army Mark Esper. Additional signatories to the MOU including the Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and the Acting Executive Director of the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council. These officials signed the MOU pursuant to a joint memorandum issued by Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Mary Neumayr, the Acting Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality.
Under the MOU, the agencies commit to working together to make the necessary environmental and permitting decisions for major infrastructure projects with a goal to complete the entire process within 2 years. In general, the MOU commits agencies to processing their reviews in accordance with the following 4 principles:
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