According to conservative radio pundit Rush Limbaugh, investing in education just leads to indoctrination. Media that Matters got the audio:
We disagree. No paranoid rhetoric about indocrination can hide the facts (via the Wonk Room):
Conservative projections on the real fiscal rate of return on public educational investments are high:10% for high quality preschool programs, 15% for innovative K-12 reforms like First Things First, and 10.3% for investments to encourage college access and graduation.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Other research has shown that increasing education levels means less incarceration, higher wages, less unemployment, and even longer life spans. Hopefully, lawmakers and the public will remember the following words of wisdom from Derek Bok, a former president of Harvard University:
“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”
Governor Mark Sanford has been all over the news this past month for his anti-stimulus position. Since governors are responsible for applying to receive the federal stimulus money allocated to their state, Gov. Sanford claimed he would reject the $8 billion that was slated for South Carolina – which, by the way, suffers from the second-highest unemployment rate in the nation- and only accept the money if he could use it to pay off state debt. This would be instead of spending it to create jobs, invest in schools, and help lift the people of South Carolina out of this economic downturn, hence the term “stimulus”.
The Economic Recovery Act allocated $11 billion for smart grid technology, which will modernize and enhance the nation’s electricity grid. Obama’s budget proposal, along with both the House and Senate budget resolutions, have addressed the need to build on these initiatives in the Economic Recovery package, by investing in clean energy and the modernization of our electricity infrastructure for improved efficiency and reliability.