President Obama's Leadership Brings Jobs, Assistance To Country, Ohio And Black Community, And A 3.5 Percent Increase In The Ecconomy

U.S. President Barack Obama
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

Posted Thursday, November 5, 2009
(National News)

By Kathy Wray Coleman
(Editor of The Determiner Weekly and The Kathy
Wray Coleman Online News Blog and Media Network)

President Barack Obama has announced progress in the national economy and job growth that signals a reprieve from the shortfall left by the Bush administration including 650,000 jobs, 350,000 of which are in the educational arena, according Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and White House Senior Economic Advisor Jarad Bernstein. And Ohioans and the Black community can expect to benefit from those jobs and other assistance that will come as a by product of the American Recovery and Investment Act Bernstein told The Determiner Weekly in a recent interview.

“The Black community will benefit due to nutritional assistance and subsidies for health care for job coverage,” said Berstein in response to a question from The Determiner Weekly as to how Ohio's Black community will profit aside from the jobs themselves, given that Blacks throughout the country have been disproportionately affected by the nation's economic crisis and in consideration of the fact that Ohio is a pivotal state where no Republican has won the White House without winning Ohio. “We have seen a 3.5 percent increase in the economy in the third quarter as a result of the American Recovery and Investment Act which was put in place since President Obama took office.”

He cautioned, however, that America is not out of the woods.

“We are facing a job market crisis that is truly unprecedented since the great depression,” he said.

The expert economist also said that states with the highest unemployment rates will receive the most support via a formula that is utilized in typical situations where monies and jobs coming from the federal level are allocated across the nation.

Duncan, a former CEO of the Chicago Public Schools, said that the 350,000 education jobs either saved or created by the American Recovery and Investment Act and the 3.5 billion dollars allocated for educational venues such as school grants and educational technology show that Obama is an education president who puts kids first. He stopped short of saying that all is well financially and emphasized that school districts should use monies with caution.

“We simply don't know where we will be in futures years,” he said. “ We don't have a crystal ball.”

The Determiner Weekly did not have the opportunity to inquire at that time as to whether the federal government intends to intervene in Ohio to demand that the Ohio State Legislature comply with a 2002 order from the Ohio Supreme Court to revise Ohio's system of funding education, now funded primarily through property taxes, to create a formula that is fair and equitable for all school districts throughout the state. That decision, which was the third in 11 years, came because a group of Ohio school districts sued saying that it is unconstitutional to permit the current method of funding education through property taxes to continue where school districts like the predominantly Black Cleveland Municipal School District spend less that 8, 000 per student annually while tax rich school districts like Perry County Schools in Lake County, Oh. where the Perry Nuclear Power Plant is located, spend double that figure, though children from both school districts are expected to perform at the same level on state mandated proficiency tests.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruling was levied against the Ohio State Legislature because the Ohio Constitution provides that it is responsible for providing all children in Ohio with “access to a thorough and efficient education.”