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A teenage gunman murdered 15 people in one of the world’s worst high school massacres. Tim Kretschmer, murdered nine of his former school mates as well as three female teachers near Stuttgart. Police said the tool would have been even higher had it not been for the sacrifice of three teachers who stood in the killer’s way in order to protect students.

The killings are the second worst school killings in Germany’s history. The worst occurred in April 2002 when an expelled student killed 16 people before killing himself.

Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, according to press reports,describe the murders as “incomprehensible.”

While schools are safer than they have ever been, school violence, is nothing new nor is it “incomprehensible”. There have been a string of school killings both in the United States and in Europe. As in many cases, the killer(s) have notified people in advance of the killings. For any educator dealing with the possibility of school violence, I suggest reading the two major American studies done regarding school violence, “The School Shooter Report” published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and “The National Threat Assessment Report” published by the United States Secret Service. Both are available on line. I will in a future “Franklin’s Thoughts” summarize both.

Till next time.

A number of readers have asked if I could sum up what President Obama has indicated are his plans for education. Rather than summarizing (and getting it wrong) I am posting his entire speech. Please be aware that these are only his plans. Will Congress and the teacher unions go along? Only time will tell.

The source of America’s prosperity has never been merely how ably we accumulate wealth, but how well we educate our people. This has never been more true than it is today. In a 21st-century world where jobs can be shipped wherever there’s an Internet connection, where a child born in Dallas is now competing with a child in New Delhi, where your best job qualification is not what you do, but what you know — education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity and success, it’s a prerequisite for success.

That’s why workers without a four-year degree have borne the brunt of recent layoffs, Latinos most of all. That’s why, of the 30 fastest growing occupations in America, half require a Bachelor’s degree or more. By 2016, four out of every 10 new jobs will require at least some advanced education or training.

So let there be no doubt: The future belongs to the nation that best educates its citizens — and my fellow Americans, we have everything we need to be that nation. We have the best universities, the most renowned scholars. We have innovative principals and passionate teachers and gifted students, and we have parents whose only priority is their child’s education. We have a legacy of excellence, and an unwavering belief that our children should climb higher than we did.

And yet, despite resources that are unmatched anywhere in the world, we’ve let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short, and other nations outpace us. Let me give you a few statistics. In 8th grade math, we’ve fallen to 9th place. Singapore’s middle-schoolers outperform ours three to one. Just a third of our 13- and 14-year-olds can read as well as they should. And year after year, a stubborn gap persists between how well white students are doing compared to their African American and Latino classmates. The relative decline of American education is untenable for our economy, it’s unsustainable for our democracy, it’s unacceptable for our children — and we can’t afford to let it continue.

What’s at stake is nothing less than the American Dream. It’s what drew my father and so many of your fathers and mothers to our shores in pursuit of an education. It’s what led Linda Brown and Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez to bear the standard of all who were attending separate and unequal schools. It’s what has led generations of Americans to take on that extra job, to sacrifice the small pleasures, to scrimp and save wherever they can, in hopes of putting away enough, just enough, to give their child the education that they never had. It’s that most American of ideas, that with the right education, a child of any race, any faith, any station, can overcome whatever barriers stand in their way and fulfill their God-given potential. (Applause.)

Of course, we’ve heard all this year after year after year after year — and far too little has changed. Certainly it hasn’t changed in too many overcrowded Latino schools; it hasn’t changed in too many inner-city schools that are seeing dropout rates of over 50 percent. It’s not changing not because we’re lacking sound ideas or sensible plans — in pockets of excellence across this country, we’re seeing what children from all walks of life can and will achieve when we set high standards, have high expectations, when we do a good job of preparing them. Instead, it’s because politics and ideology have too often trumped our progress that we’re in the situation that we’re in. For decades, Washington has been trapped in the same stale debates that have paralyzed progress and perpetuated our educational decline. Too many supporters of my party have resisted the idea of rewarding excellence in teaching with extra pay, even though we know it can make a difference in the classroom. Too many in the Republican Party have opposed new investments in early education, despite compelling evidence of its importance. So what we get here in Washington is the same old debate about it’s more money versus more reform, vouchers versus the status quo. There’s been partisanship and petty bickering, but little recognition that we need to move beyond the worn fights of the 20th century if we’re going to succeed in the 21st century. (Applause.)

I think you’d all agree that the time for finger-pointing is over. The time for holding us — holding ourselves accountable is here. What’s required is not simply new investments, but new reforms. It’s time to expect more from our students. It’s time to start rewarding good teachers, stop making excuses for bad ones. It’s time to demand results from government at every level. It’s time to prepare every child, everywhere in America, to out-compete any worker, anywhere in the world. (Applause.) It’s time to give all Americans a complete and competitive education from the cradle up through a career. We’ve accepted failure for far too long. Enough is enough. America’s entire education system must once more be the envy of the world — and that’s exactly what we intend to do.

That’s exactly what the budget I’m submitting to Congress has begun to achieve. Now, at a time when we’ve inherited a trillion- dollar deficit, we will start by doing a little housekeeping, going through our books, cutting wasteful education programs. My outstanding Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, who’s here today — stand up, Arne, so everybody can see you. (Applause.) I’m assuming you also saw my Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis. (Applause.) But Secretary Duncan will use only one test when deciding what ideas to support with your precious tax dollars: It’s not whether an idea is liberal or conservative, but whether it works. And this will help free up resources for the first pillar of reforming our schools — investing in early childhood initiatives.

This isn’t just about keeping an eye on our children, it’s about educating them. Studies show that children in early childhood education programs are more likely to score higher in reading and math, more likely to graduate from high school and attend college, more likely to hold a job, and more likely to earn more in that job. For every dollar we invest in these programs, we get nearly $10 back in reduced welfare rolls, fewer health care costs, and less crime. That’s why the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that I signed into law invests $5 billion in growing Early Head Start and Head Start, expanding access to quality child care for 150,000 more children from working families, and doing more for children with special needs. And that’s why we are going to offer 55,000 first-time parents regular visits from trained nurses to help make sure their children are healthy and prepare them for school and for life. (Applause.)

Even as we invest in early childhood education, let’s raise the bar for early learning programs that are falling short. Now, today, some children are enrolled in excellent programs. Some children are enrolled in mediocre programs. And some are wasting away their most formative years in bad programs. That includes the one-fourth of all children who are Hispanic, and who will drive America’s workforce of tomorrow, but who are less likely to have been enrolled in an early childhood education program than anyone else.

That’s why I’m issuing a challenge to our states: Develop a cutting-edge plan to raise the quality of your early learning programs; show us how you’ll work to ensure that children are better prepared for success by the time they enter kindergarten. If you do, we will support you with an Early Learning Challenge Grant that I call on Congress to enact. That’s how we will reward quality and incentivize excellence, and make a down payment on the success of the next generation.

So that’s the first pillar of our education reform agenda. The second, we will end what has become a race to the bottom in our schools and instead spur a race to the top by encouraging better standards and assessments. Now, this is an area where we are being outpaced by other nations. It’s not that their kids are any smarter than ours — it’s that they are being smarter about how to educate their children. They’re spending less time teaching things that don’t matter, and more time teaching things that do. They’re preparing their students not only for high school or college, but for a career. We are not. Our curriculum for 8th graders is two full years behind top performing countries. That’s a prescription for economic decline. And I refuse to accept that America’s children cannot rise to this challenge. They can, and they must, and they will meet higher standards in our time. (Applause.)

So let’s challenge our states — let’s challenge our states to adopt world-class standards that will bring our curriculums to the 21st century. Today’s system of 50 different sets of benchmarks for academic success means 4th grade readers in Mississippi are scoring nearly 70 points lower than students in Wyoming — and they’re getting the same grade. Eight of our states are setting their standards so low that their students may end up on par with roughly the bottom 40 percent of the world.

That’s inexcusable. That’s why I’m calling on states that are setting their standards far below where they ought to be to stop low- balling expectations for our kids. The solution to low test scores is not lowering standards — it’s tougher, clearer standards. (Applause.) Standards like those in Massachusetts, where 8th graders are — (applause) — we have a Massachusetts contingent here. (Laughter.) In Massachusetts, 8th graders are now tying for first — first in the whole world in science. Other forward-thinking states are moving in the same direction by coming together as part of a consortium. And more states need to do the same. And I’m calling on our nation’s governors and state education chiefs to develop standards and assessments that don’t simply measure whether students can fill in a bubble on a test, but whether they possess 21st century skills like problem-solving and critical thinking and entrepreneurship and creativity. That is what we’ll help them do later this year — that what we’re going to help them do later this year when we finally make No Child Left Behind live up to its name by ensuring not only that teachers and principals get the funding that they need, but that the money is tied to results. (Applause.) And Arne Duncan will also back up this commitment to higher standards with a fund to invest in innovation in our school districts.

Of course, raising standards alone will not make much of a difference unless we provide teachers and principals with the information they need to make sure students are prepared to meet those standards. And far too few states have data systems like the one in Florida that keep track of a student’s education from childhood through college. And far too few districts are emulating the example of Houston and Long Beach, and using data to track how much progress a student is making and where that student is struggling. That’s a resource that can help us improve student achievement, and tell us which students had which teachers so we can assess what’s working and what’s not. That’s why we’re making a major investment in this area that we will cultivate a new culture of accountability in America’s schools.

Now, to complete our race to the top requires the third pillar of reform — recruiting, preparing, and rewarding outstanding teachers. From the moment students enter a school, the most important factor in their success is not the color of their skin or the income of their parents, it’s the person standing at the front of the classroom. That’s why our Recovery Act will ensure that hundreds of thousands of teachers and school personnel are not laid off — because those Americans are not only doing jobs they can’t afford to lose, they’re rendering a service our nation cannot afford to lose, either. (Applause.)

America’s future depends on its teachers. And so today, I’m calling on a new generation of Americans to step forward and serve our country in our classrooms. If you want to make a difference in the life of our nation, if you want to make the most of your talents and dedication, if you want to make your mark with a legacy that will endure — then join the teaching profession. America needs you. We need you in our suburbs. We need you in our small towns. We especially need you in our inner cities. We need you in classrooms all across our country.

And if you do your part, then we’ll do ours. That’s why we’re taking steps to prepare teachers for their difficult responsibilities, and encourage them to stay in the profession. That’s why we’re creating new pathways to teaching and new incentives to bring teachers to schools where they’re needed most. That’s why we support offering extra pay to Americans who teach math and science to end a teacher shortage in those subjects. It’s why we’re building on the promising work being done in places like South Carolina’s Teachers Advancement Program, and making an unprecedented commitment to ensure that anyone entrusted with educating our children is doing the job as well as it can be done.

Now, here’s what that commitment means: It means treating teachers like the professionals they are while also holding them more accountable -#8211 in up to 150 more school districts. New teachers will be mentored by experienced ones. Good teachers will be rewarded with more money for improved student achievement, and asked to accept more responsibilities for lifting up their schools. Teachers throughout a school will benefit from guidance and support to help them improve.

And just as we’ve given our teachers all the support they need to be successful, we need to make sure our students have the teacher they need to be successful. And that means states and school districts taking steps to move bad teachers out of the classroom. But let me be clear — (applause.) Let me be clear — the overwhelming number of teachers are doing an outstanding job under difficult circumstances. My sister is a teacher, so I know how tough teaching can be. But let me be clear: If a teacher is given a chance or two chances or three chances but still does not improve, there’s no excuse for that person to continue teaching. I reject a system that rewards failure and protects a person from its consequences. The stakes are too high. We can afford nothing but the best when it comes to our children’s teachers and the schools where they teach. (Applause.)

Now, that leads me to the fourth part of America’s education strategy #8211- promoting innovation and excellence in America’s schools. One of the places where much of that innovation occurs is in our most effective charter schools. And these are public schools founded by parents, teachers, and civic or community organizations with broad leeway to innovate -#8211 schools I supported as a state legislator and a United States senator.

But right now, there are many caps on how many charter schools are allowed in some states, no matter how well they’re preparing our students. That isn’t good for our children, our economy, or our country. Of course, any expansion of charter schools must not result in the spread of mediocrity, but in the advancement of excellence. And that will require states adopting both a rigorous selection and review process to ensure that a charter school’s autonomy is coupled with greater accountability #8211- as well as a strategy, like the one in Chicago, to close charter schools that are not working. Provided this greater accountability, I call on states to reform their charter rules, and lift caps on the number of allowable charter schools, wherever such caps are in place.

Now, even as we foster innovation in where our children are learning, let’s also foster innovation in when our children are learning. We can no longer afford an academic calendar designed for when America was a nation of farmers who needed their children at home plowing the land at the end of each day. That calendar may have once made sense, but today it puts us at a competitive disadvantage. Our children — listen to this — our children spend over a month less in school than children in South Korea — every year. That’s no way to prepare them for a 21st century economy. That’s why I’m calling for us not only to expand effective after-school programs, but to rethink the school day to incorporate more time -#8211 whether during the summer or through expanded-day programs for children who need it. (Applause.) Now, I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas. (Laughter.) Not with Malia and Sasha — (laughter) — not in my family, and probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom. If they can do that in South Korea, we can do it right here in the United States of America.

Of course, no matter how innovative our schools or how effective our teachers, America cannot succeed unless our students take responsibility for their own education. That means showing up for school on time, paying attention in class, seeking out extra tutoring if it’s needed, staying out of trouble. To any student who’s watching, I say this: Don’t even think about dropping out of school. Don’t even think about it. (Applause.)

As I said a couple of weeks ago, dropping out is quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country, and it’s not an option — not anymore. Not when our high school dropout rate has tripled in the past 30 years. Not when high school dropouts earn about half as much as college graduates. Not when Latino students are dropping out faster than just about anyone else. It’s time for all of us, no matter what our backgrounds, to come together and solve this epidemic.

Stemming the tide of dropouts will require turning around our low-performing schools. Just 2,000 high schools in cities like Detroit and Los Angeles and Philadelphia produce over 50 percent of America’s dropouts. And yet there are too few proven strategies to transform these schools. And there are too few partners to get the job done.

So today, I’m issuing a challenge to educators and lawmakers, parents and teachers alike: Let us all make turning around our schools our collective responsibility as Americans. And that will require new investments in innovative ideas — that’s why my budget invests in developing new strategies to make sure at-risk students don’t give up on their education; new efforts to give dropouts who want to return to school the help they need to graduate; and new ways to put those young men and women who have left school back on a pathway to graduation.

Now, the fifth part of America’s education strategy is providing every American with a quality higher education -#8211 whether it’s college or technical training. Never has a college degree been more important. Never has it been more expensive. And at a time when so many of our families are bearing enormous economic burdens, the rising cost of tuition threatens to shatter dreams. And that’s why we will simplify federal college assistance forms so it doesn’t take a Ph.D to apply for financial aid. (Applause.)

That’s why we’re already taking steps to make college or technical training affordable. For the first time ever, Pell Grants will not be subject to the politics of the moment or the whim of the market #8211- they will be a commitment that Congress is required to uphold each and every year. (Applause.) Not only that; because rising costs mean Pell Grants cover less than half as much tuition as they did 30 years ago, we’re raising the maximum Pell Grant to $5,550 a year and indexing it above inflation. We’re also providing a $2,500-a-year tuition tax credit for students from working families. And we’re modernizing and expanding the Perkins Loan Program to make sure schools like UNLV don’t get a tenth as many Perkins loans as schools like Harvard.

To help pay for all of this, we’re putting students ahead of lenders by eliminating wasteful student loan subsidies that cost taxpayers billions each year. All in all, we are making college affordable for 7 million more students with a sweeping investment in our children’s futures and America’s success. And I call on Congress to join me and the American people by making these investments possible. (Applause.)

This is how we will help meet our responsibility as a nation to open the doors of college to every American. But it will also be the responsibility of colleges and universities to control spiraling costs. We can’t just keep on putting more money in and universities and colleges not doing their part to hold down tuitions. And it’s the responsibility of our students to walk through the doors of opportunity.

In just a single generation, America has fallen from 2nd place to 11th place in the portion of students completing college. That is unfortunate, but it’s by no means irreversible. With resolve and the right investments, we can retake the lead once more. And that’s why, in my address to the nation the other week, I called on Americans to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training, with the goal of having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by the year 2020. And to meet that goal, we are investing $2.5 billion to identify and support innovative initiatives across the country that achieve results in helping students persist and graduate.

So let’s not stop at education with college. Let’s recognize a 21st century reality: Learning doesn’t end in our early 20s. Adults of all ages need opportunities to earn new degrees and new skills — especially in the current economic environment. That means working with all our universities and schools, including community colleges — a great and undervalued asset — to prepare workers for good jobs in high-growth industries; and to improve access to job training not only for young people who are just starting their careers, but for older workers who need new skills to change careers. And that’s going to be one of the key tasks that Secretary Solis is involved with, is making sure that lifelong learning is a reality and a possibility for more Americans.

It’s through initiatives like these that we’ll see more Americans earn a college degree, or receive advanced training, and pursue a successful career. And that’s why I’m calling on Congress to work with me to enact these essential reforms, and to reauthorize the Workforce Reinvestment Act. That’s how we will round out a complete and competitive education in the United States of America.

So here’s the bottom line: Yes, we need more money; yes, we need more reform; yes, we need to hold ourselves more accountable for every dollar we spend. But there’s one more ingredient I want to talk about. No government policy will make any difference unless we also hold ourselves more accountable as parents — because government, no matter how wise or efficient, cannot turn off the TV or put away the video games. Teachers, no matter how dedicated or effective, cannot make sure your child leaves for school on time and does their homework when they get back at night. These are things only a parent can do. These are things that our parents must do.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced that Hispanics now make up about one-fifth of all K-12 students. In addition, one-fourth of the nation’s kindergartners are Hispanic.

This ethnic shift in school enrollment are most evident in the West. States such as Arizona, California, New Mexico and Nevada are seeing an influx of Hispanics due to immigration and higher birth rates. Minority students in that region exceed non-Hispanic whites at the pre-college grade levels, with about 37% of the students Hispanic. Hispanics make up 54% of the students in New Mexico, 47% in California, 44% in Texas and 40% in Arizona.

In 2007, more than 40% of all students in K-12 were minorities “” Hispanics, Blacks, Asian-Americans and others. That’s double the percentage of three decades ago.

In colleges, Hispanics made up 12% of full-time undergraduate and graduate students, 2% more than in 2006. Still, that is short of Hispanics’ 15% representation in the total U.S. population.

Minorities are projected to become the majority of the overall U.S. population by 2042. For minority kids, that shift is seen coming in 2023, seven years earlier than the previous estimate, from 2004. The accelerated timetable is due to immigration among Hispanics and Asians, and declining birth rates among non-Hispanic whites.

Other released data include:

More Hispanic kindergartners in 2007 were U.S.-born than foreign-born, assuring them of citizenship that will make them eligible to vote by 2020.

About 58% of children enrolled in grades K-12 are non-Hispanic whites, a group that represents 66% of the U.S. population. After Hispanics, Blacks were the second-largest minority group enrolled in K-12 (15 percent), followed by Asians (4 percent).

Fifty-three percent of Hispanic 4-year-olds were enrolled in nursery school, compared with 43% in 1997 and 21% in 1987.

1. What are the implications of the results of this survey?
2. What can be done to prepare these students who have difficulty with learning subject material as well as the language?
3. How do we get the parents of these students involved in the schools?
4. How do we improve the system when the majority of the students will be from minority households?

If you are an educator faced with talking to a potential dropout or their parent, you need to be aware of a recent study.

Students were randomly selected or rejected for the Youth Challenge program. Nine months after participants left the program, they were 36 percent more likely than those in the control group to have obtained a G.E.D. or a high school degree. They were more than three times as likely to be attending college and 9 percent more likely to be working full time.

The Youth Challenge program graduates more than 7,000 students from sites in 28 states. The program is run by the National Guard and is held mostly on military bases. They do not accept students with felony record and expel students who fail a drug test, steal or fight. Participation is voluntary. About 20 percent of those enrolled dropout, mainly in the first two weeks.

With President Obama’s emphasis on having every student graduate, as educators we need to be aware of successful alternatives to students dropping out.

It depends on who counts and how they count!

Tulsa World (www.tulsaworld.com/site) in an article by education reporter Andrea Eger, reported that the state of Oklahoma didn’t report “more than 1,000 state dropouts because of the way the agency defines its dropout rate. Many of these dropouts are exiting the classroom before they even reach high school.” The state doesn’t include them if the student hasn’t reached the ninth grade or is 19 years or older.

We need a national dropout measure. Many states do not report students who dropout of middle school. Some states only count those who dropout in the senior year. Some states report students who are in prison as dropouts while others do not.

Educators and researchers are aware that the largest group of students who dropout are transitional students — those students who are transferring from middle to high school (from the 8th or 9th grade to high school). Until we start accurately reporting who drops out and when we will continue to have schools and district “fudge’ the data.

Fifteen months ago today I began a blog in “Franklin’s Thoughts” and sent out my first newsletter. Since then 140,261 people have visited my website.

Back then I was not sure if there would be a second blog. I really was not sure I would be able to sustain it. But I have and it has been a rich and rewarding experience. It has kept me in touch with people who are interested in children, potential school dropouts, at-risk learners and education in general. There are very few educational blogs and I am glad that the educational community has accepted mine. I have had people forwarded to my website from my publisher, Eye on Education, the National Dropout Prevention Center, focus.ac, success4teachers.com, Amazon.com and a number of other sites and I would publicly like to thank them.

I know that not everyone who visits the website, spends a great deal of time reading it. But, I get 10-15 people commenting on each. Some challenge my views, many add their own perspective, and all are encouraging.

When I wrote the first, I was concerned that people would be highly critical. Did I get it right? Will people like it? Is the topic relevant? I worry much less about that now. Readers really like the letters in which reflect on the topic that most interest me.

If something is bothering me, I like to write about it. It forces me to research what others have said on the subject and in the process of reading and writing, I solidify my own views.

As expected, most readers come from the United States (63%) and Canada (4%) but people in MOROCCO, the PHILIPPINES, INDIA, UNITED KINGDOM, REPUBLIC OF KOREA, , BRAZIL, SPAIN, GERMANY, MALAYSIA, AUSTRALIA, SINGAPORE, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, MEXICO, IRELAND, SOUTH AFRICA, FIJI and FRANCE round out the top 20.

To readers, this website is copyright free and you should feel free in using any material you need to help you in helping children. Keep sending me comments, suggestions on what you would like to see my thoughts about and feedback, ([email protected]) both positive and negative. I do like to know that there are people who are reading this. Stay well, and stay in touch.
Franklin

The Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce Education Committee conducted a mini-summit at the Chamber’s Office on February 9, 2009. About 20 members of the committee attended the mini-summit.

“¢ Dropout problem has resulted in increased crime in our neighborhoods
“¢ Students’ attention span is short; this results in impatience
“¢ We need to provide more alternative schools
“¢ The social fabric of our society is disintegrating; this results in lack of direction for students
“¢ We are testing too much in the schools
“¢ Middle school students cannot see beyond themselves; difficult to get them focused.
“¢ Students learn differently, and this challenges teachers to teach differently.
“¢ Students do not see relevance in the curricula.
“¢ Bring business representatives to the classroom.
“¢ Information technology is not being used enough in the classrooms.
“¢ We need more career preparation classes.
“¢ Parents do not come to the schools to help the teachers.
“¢ We should require two years of national service from each student; we coddle our students too much.
“¢ The social norms have shifted; respect and responsibility seem to be lost.
“¢ We live in an entitlement society; students are not motivated.
“¢ There is quite a bit of apathy among our young people.
“¢ The parents are leaving too much of the responsibility of bringing up our youngsters to the schools.
“¢ Place financial resources into promoting parental responsibility.
“¢ Schools should market their services to the students; treat students as customers/clients.

The Census Bureau has reported that the percentage of American households with children under 18 living at home last year hit the lowest point “” 46% “” in half a century.

The trend reflects the aging of the Baby Boom generation and younger women having fewer children.

MORE STATS:
Few Americans live outside state where they were born.

In 2008, about 35.7 million families (46%) had children under 18 at home, down from 52% in 1950. The percentage peaked in 1963, when about 57% of families had children under 18 at home.

The data also show that about 67 million opposite-sex couples lived together in 2008; roughly one in 10 (6.8 million) were not married.

He adds that the economy will continue to affect family size: When cash-strapped workers have fewer dollars to feed another mouth, couples are likely to have fewer children, or none.

“¢There about 5.3 million “stay-at-home” mothers and 140,000 such fathers.

“¢The median age at first marriage was 27.4 years for men and 25.6 for women.

“¢Fewer women in their mid- to early 40s had children in 2008 (20%), up from 10% in 1976.

“¢The percentage of children with two parents at home varies: 85% of Asian children have two parents at home vs. 78% of white, 70% of Hispanic and 38% of black children.

The data come from the Census’ most recent Current Population Survey. It was conducted early last year with responses from about 100,000 American addresses.

A shift in family demographics could spell changes in local politics: Childless couples could be less willing to fund schools, for example, than other public needs. In addition with the population aging, many seniors do not support property tax increases to finance schools and school building.

I believe that it is imperative that school and school union leaders reach out to the community – businesses, chambers of commerce, policy makers and seniors to finance education. Obviously, it is not only the children (who will fund future community and senior services) who are at stake but the future of educators all over the nation.