I’ll admit, for a minute there last Sunday, March 21^st I was glued to CSPAN. It was the health care debate (and I’m using the word “debate” liberally—it was more like a verbal joust, with dems and reps haranguing insults at one another and the speaker having to cut pretty much everyone off).

The last time I was glued to CSPAN, David Banner and Master P were testifying to congress about stereotypes in hip hop. I wouldn’t make that up.

While nothing entirely tangible came from Mr. Banner’s and Mr. P’s testimonies, we got something awesome out of this more recent debate. You guessed it, a more comprehensive health care plan!

And little known to students everywhere—SAFRA was tucked away all nice and warm in the recent passage of this historic health care reform.

Education Week writes a fantastic wrap-up of everything the House vote approved last Sunday, but here are the basics:

“The bill rewrites a four-decades-old student loan program, eliminating its reliance on private lenders and uses the savings to direct $36 billion in new spending to Pell Grants for students in financial need.

… the bill would also provide more than $4 billion to historically black colleges and community colleges.

‘By moving to the federal government’s direct loan program, we will put the best interests of students first and make college loans more reliable and affordable,’ said Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, D-Texas, the chairman of a House higher education subcommittee.”

This week the Senate will vote to approve this same bill, but because it has been fast-tracked with health care, will only need 51 votes to be approved.

Looks like lower interest rates for student loans is on the horizon! Well done, Washington D.C.

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John, a senior at Skyline High School in Sammamish

On Monday, LEV took a whole busload of students from around the state down to our state’s capital for a crash course in education advocacy.

Aside from free t-shirts and pizza (a good thing on any day), we also had the opportunity to get together with other students from their legislative districts and brainstorm some message points to deliver to our legislators. We even took part in the gargantuan Rally for Our Future on the steps of the Capitol building, along with 4,000 other like-minded students and citizens, and heard the personal stories of people from all over the state who demonstrated the need for new revenue and the ramifications of cutting funding for education and human services.

Maria and Jesus, who attend Health Sciences and Human Services High School in White Center, rallied to protect funding for kids, schools and human services.

The day culminated in an EPIC scavenger hunt around the capitol, where the student-advocates delivered their notes to their legislators, busted out dance moves on the floor of the rotunda in the Legislative Building, and had the opportunity to sit in on the debates on the House and Senate floors.

Parents brought their kids to Olympia to remind legislators who are impacted by state budget cuts.

It was pretty incredible to be able to see some of the inner cogs and gears of our government (supposedly) working hard on…something. It was also a pretty venue for students to express their opinions on the issues.

Jesus Robles, a junior at Health Sciences and Human Services High School in White Center, was one of a handful of students who stated their beef directly in a video testimony: “My favorite part was being interviewed over the issues in my school and sending the letters to the representatives and senators,” he says.

All in all, LEV gave over 40 students the opportunity to take a direct role in their government and gain some experience in working directly with their representatives.

We met with Sen. Margarita Prentice's legislative aide, Beau Perschbacher, to talk about how budget cuts could impact their schools.

“It was really exciting to express our concerns to the people who are making the decisions,” says Bill Dow, a freshman at the University of Washington, who had the opportunity to sit down with an aide from his state Senator’s office. He adds, “And I want to get marble installed in my dorm room.” (Marble is a pretty constant feature at the capitol-and yes, that includes the bathrooms.)

Experiences like this demonstrate the ease with which concerned students and constituents can see first-hand how their state is being governed, and convey their concerns to their representatives. It was a first time for me, and I was amazed at how we could simply walk into the offices of our representatives and senators and deliver them a note with our views, or pull them out of the chamber to talk with them directly. I mean, how cool is that?!

The answer, of course, is very, very cool.

We left Olympia with a better understanding of how our state is governed and how easy it is to convey our concerns to our elected officials.

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Because League of Education Voters is celebrating and honoring democracy in a very serious way. We’re participating in it (whoooaa).  Instead of spending your first Monday of mid-winter break sleeping in and having breakfast in bed (orange juice toast to our past presidents)… you should come to Olympia with us for an action-packed day of democracy.

We’ll be meeting up in Olympia with our friends at the Children’s Alliance for:

• Advocacy and Activism 101
• identifying the issues (i.e. why you should care!)
• lunch
• RALLY AT THE CAPITOL
• and then an Epic Photo Scavenger Hunt.

Oh what, you haven’t heard about the rally yet? Well, it’s going to be pretty big. Children’s Alliance will be in the house, LEV will be in the house, the Bus, Young Democrats, Washington Student Association, Fuse, the Win-Win network… All in the house.

We’re all gathering in support of Washington State bringing in some new revenue this year. You know why? Because Washington’s broke and that means they are cutting funding to our education system. While we’re fighting to keep those cuts to a minimum, we’re also fighting to make sure Washington is getting creative with how they bring in the dough (because we need to do both!)

See, democracy can be fun. Free scenic bus tour down the I-5 corridor, free lunch, a giant rally on the steps of the capitol, and a photo scavenger hunt?

You may also learn a lil bit about the state you live in… (not a guarantee though, the learning curve is different for everyone!!)

send me an email (Maggie@educationvoters.org) if you are interested. I’ll put your name on the list, we’ll let you on the bus and get you some grub.

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1) Obama stated his commitment to making community colleges across the country more affordable

2) the Bus held Olympia in a Can (part 1 of 3)!

The first three weeks of the legislative session have been a whirlwind of topics: the budget, pre-kindergarten, the budget, race to the top, umm the budget, new revenue sources, and did I mention that people are concerned about Washington’s budget? Not so much a ‘whirlwind of topics’ … maybe more of a black hole, actually.

Amidst the furor over our 2.6 billion dollar deficit, Washington students must know one thing.  State need-grants and work study money for two and four year students are on the chopping block.

This was the hot topic last night at Grey Gallery and Lounge, where over 100 young people convened with the Bus, LEV, WSA, and UAW Local 4121 to hear and discuss how this session will affect campuses across Washington.

A few, key facts:

Washington State has over 83,000 college students receiving some form of need-based grant or work study money.

83,000 is more than a sold out Seahawks game at Qwest Field and roughly 2/3rds of all students across the state!

Cutting the state-need grant would entirely eliminate funding for 12,300 students and reduce (by more than half) the awards for 57,000 other students.

Nobody likes the idea of students taking out private loans to pay for their education-except the banks.

Check out Washington Student Association’s calendar for days of action in February and stay posted to League of Education Voters’ student Facebook page for updates on how young people can stay involved in this year’s legislative session.

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Look no further. Friends at the Washington Bus are hosting tonight! It’s called ‘Olympia in a Can‘ and yes, there will be Obama. There will be Olympia in a can. There will be legislators’ faces projected on the wall. There will be a rich and lively discussion on Washington’s budget, financial aide cuts for college students, new revenue, and how it all effects STUDENTS.

Don’t miss it!

6-8pm at Grey Gallery and Lounge 1512 11th Ave

for more details, check out hella.bus.

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