United Faculty of Florida president Tom Auxter gave U.S. education officials visiting Orlando a short list of priorities to guide them as they consider tightening rules governing student aid and other federal higher education programs. "We propose changes in orientation and policy to alleviate the burden of student debt, to address the academic staffing crisis, and to dispel the myth that standardized testing is a solution to problems in higher education," he told representatives from the U.S. Department of Education who convened in Florida on Nov. 2 at one of four hearings held around the country this fall.

The hearings followed the Sept. 26 release of a report from the Commission on the Future of Higher Education, a panel appointed by U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings last year. The commission made recommendations on topics such as college affordability and federal aid policy, accreditation, standardized tests and institutional accountability. While those recommendations may influence the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, which has been stalled in Congress for several years, the timing of the hearings suggests that the department wants to use a process called "negotiated rule-making" to implement changes by fine-tuning federal regulations.

Many students have spoken at these hearings about the burden of student debt and the limitations it places on career and life options. That topic was first on Auxter's list, as he criticized an older generation's willingness to abandon its responsibilities to the next generation. He endorsed a "Five-Point Plan for Fair Loan Payments," a proposal generated by the Project on Student Debt, a coalition to which the AFT belongs.

Auxter saved his choice words for the failure of the Spellings commission to address the academic staffing crisis caused by institutions relying on temporary, contingent faculty to do the work of teaching, service and research formerly done primarily by well-supported, full-time faculty. Among other things, he described model legislation that the AFT is proposing in some state legislatures that would guarantee prorated pay and benefits for part-time faculty.

Auxter also blasted the idea of creating a national standardized test for college students, citing the disastrous experience with the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. FCAT is a high-stakes test that has succeeded in dumbing down the state curriculum and limiting the academic skills—beyond test-taking—of Florida’s high school graduates. [Barbara McKenna]

To read Auxter's testimony, go to www.aft.org/higher_ed/washwire/auxter_spellingstestimony.pdf.

December 15, 2006