Standardized tests are crippling education the high costs of testing materials and the high stakes of the test on teachers, students, and parents is causing our educational system to be completely overwhelmed.

The average college student graduates with a staggering amount of debt. Many grads are able to find work in their chosen field but the salaries for college grads don't justify the cost of higher education. I myself have held a job in my field for almost 6 years & my salary doesn't allow me to support myself or pay off my student loan. Companies still want cheap labor & it's wrong to require someone to have a degree & pay them close to what they could make without one. We have minimum wages in place for hourly workers and a system needs to be put in place for the salaried workers. Higher education in America is turning into a expensive joke.

Tuesday, Oct. 2nd, 2012 Kerry Meade, Ligon Middle School (LMS) parent, will speak to the Wake County Board of Education Members requesting express busing be reinstated for those families where (LMS) is their choice list magnet school. These families live in Holly Springs, Cary, and Apex.

Non-educators have made the decision to add hours and days of school. Young students need time to relax and recharge in order to be creative, deep thinkers. After homework, they have little if no time for relaxation or creative play. With both a longer school day and year, students are not at their best for learning.

Our son, Nick, passed away unexpectedly, two months before he was set to graduate, after five years of engineering school. His life was just beginning at 24 years of age. He was an honor roll student and employed as a writing center tutor, helping other students with their papers. He was selected to attend the Undergraduate Research Day at the Missouri Capitol to share his research on space trash with lawmakers. He worked very hard at everything he tried. Because Nick was considered out-of-state his first two years in college, tuition was very high and we had to take out additional cash loans thru MOHELA, Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority. These loans were taken out for the 2006-2007 school years and interest accumulates daily. We have contacted MOHELA repeatedly and escalated the matter, to see if these loans could be forgiven but they will not budge. Retired and on a fixed income, we should not have to worry about how we are going to repay such large sums of money. We recently read about other families that have been in this same situation through the online petition process and SignOn.org. Because light was shed on this issue, Citibank has changed their status and has agreed to forgive student debt, when the student has died. As of January 2011, CITI made a policy change where any death of a primary borrower would be forgiven upon receipt of the death certificate and review of the case. Could MOHELA do the right thing and change their policy? MOHELA should institute a policy change of student loan forgiveness when the student dies and stop going after family members. Please help by signing this petition. To make a difference, we need as many signatures as possible, so please share this petition with all of your friends or post it to Facebook.

2 billion dollars of OUR money is given to the BIG 5 oil companies every year. These companies are raking in record profits. That money woul dbe better spent by hiring teachers in math and science to improve scores in public schools.

Public education all across America is under attack. Their plan is simple, make teachers & teachers' unions appear to be the reason public schools are failing in America, then use that anger to privatize America's most successful public resource. Please sign our petition in support of Teachers, their Unions and their support of educating America's children.

We recognize that creativity is required to solve the complex challenges society faces, and that Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) alone may not be enough. The flexible thinking, risk taking, and creative problem-solving techniques that are taught through art and design are needed for innovation in today's changing world. We encourage the support of House Resolution 319: Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that adding art and design into Federal programs that target the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields encourages innovation and economic growth in the United States.

This petition is to keep an IB school program for a local grade school, Hayden Meadows. The program called PYP is under attack by a minority in the community who feel the education program is linked with the U.N. and a conspiracy to teach children to think globally and undermine their Christian American values. They are claiming the results of the program are not justified by the cost which has been proven not so by test scores alone.

I have young male customers intersted in learning the barber trade and they often ask me how they can get started in the industry.Well they offer cosmetology to students here in Anne Arundel County but not barbering. We support and have employeed young girls from the program over the years. However, my concern is for the young men who want to be barbers. They have to wait to attend a barber school after high school whereas the girls have cosmetology training throughout high school and graduate high school as liscensed cosmotoligists. I think it is unfair and as a business owner could benefit from having a pool of young energetic barbers to choose from when necesarry.

Chicago currently has an appointed Board of Education hand-picked by the mayor. The recent teachers strike in the city of Chicago has shown that the current board is interested in privatizing and dismantling public education. We need to elect and hold board members accountable through the democratic process.

The Chicago teachers strike is over. Mayor Emanuel and his "education reform" allies are spending a huge amount of money bombarding the airwaves with propaganda that is misleading and untrue. It's time to end the commercials and have these rich donors give the money to causes (non-ideological causes) that improve the lives of Chicago's children.