As with many other students, I am having a difficult time paying my student loans. With the every increasing prices of just about everything, it has been hard to make ends meet. I am asking for politicians to create legislation which allows working people the opportunity to have pre-taxed income deducted from their paychecks and for the funds to be applied directly to Federal Student Loan balances. I am not asking them for a "bailout", just an opportunity for me to pay them down with the money that I am earning. I know pre-taxed contributions are removed for FLEX spending plans and retirement funds. I would like to request that students may take up to 12,000 a year in pre-taxed money that is electronically sent to the Federal Student Loans Department. This is a solution that will help lower student loan defaults and allow working citizens to survive financially.

As an educator myself, I have spoken to countless teachers who feel they spend more time assessing their students than teaching them since NCLB went into effect. Children report feeling stressed out by 'the big test'. Research has not shown substantial gains in schools since NCLB was instated. Why keep torturing children and teachers? We know that smaller schools produce better learning. Research has shown this for years. Why not invest our money in creating smaller schools instead.

There are millions of deaf and hard of hearing people in the USA, who are unable to understand your videos because they are not close-captioned. Or, if they are, the close-captioning does not make any sense!

I go to Lady Bird Johnson Middle School where the passing periods are three minutes long. Passing periods are too short, every year they become more shorter. Teachers expect us to go to the restroom during passing periods but that dosnt really gives us enough time. What if our class is on the other side of the school? and its an emergency to use the restroom? We need to change our passing periods.

Schools in our district have been laying off teachers every year, and cutting services for students steadily, from class size increase to eliminating important educational programs, and now furlough days for schools. Yet, they spend millions on purchasing new curriculum material and staff training associated with these new purchases. How is that justified?

Stop states from implementing race based education policies on children. Florida Board of Education approved a 5 year strategic plan to discriminate against minorities.

The New Hope Solebury School Board is currently considering closing the Lower Elementary School, moving these students to the Upper Elementary School, and possibly moving fifth grade students to the Middle School. Although there are currently empty classrooms at both elementary schools, there is not enough space to easily accommodate all students at the main campus without significant changes at the Upper Elementary School and Middle School. We need to ensure that the School Board is doing a complete analysis to determine what is best for our young children, and not making drastic changes for small financial gain. Parents and community members should be involved in this process to understand the rationale for these significant changes.

Public schools are in shambles across America. The only way we can fix it is by making our elected leaders experience what we go through as parents of public school students. To make them accountable, all elected officials must be required to send their children to public schools in their area as a part of their pledge to serve the community they get elected to represent.

It's about keeping church and state, science and religion separate. I have taught in both a parochial and a public school and strongly believe in such a separation and that representatives of government to whom we entrust that separation to be objective.

I have a student loan that increases in amount every month. I will never have it paid off, I will never be able to discharge it in bankruptcy, even though the amount now owed is four times my yearly salary. Student loans are exempt from bankruptcy and cannot be discharged regardless of the ability of the debtor to pay except in instances of terminal illness or death. A judge may decide a debtor does not have the ability to pay any other debt, and discharge it, but those who hold student loans have a special protection from the government that allows them to divert social security payments, child-support payments, and garnish wages. It's time to take away that special protection for the banking industry and put student loans on a level field with all other consumer debt.

My petition is about wearing uniform and why do students have to wear them everyday.

(Please post your department in the "Comments" section. Non-UW faculty members, please sign our complementary petition at http://signon.org/sign/response-to-uws-fall instead.) We, the undersigned faculty members, wish to express our grave concern over the continuing lack of resolution of the fees dispute with the graduate student union. Graduate students have brought to our attention the fact that the independent arbitrator’s finding in favor of the union several months ago has still not been implemented, and this delay has caused serious financial hardship for our students. We greatly value the work that academic student employees perform; indeed, the University would quickly cease to function without it. Moreover, recruitment for next year’s class of graduate students, actively underway right now, will be seriously harmed if this matter is not resolved promptly. We urge the immediate resolution of this pressing issue and look forward to seeing the graduate students’ employment contract upheld in a fair manner.