Education Secretary Duncan Travels to Las Vegas to Address Federal Student Aid Conference and Lead Education and the Economy Town Hall

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will visit Las Vegas on Tuesday, Nov. 29, where he will deliver remarks at the Federal Student Aid (FSA) Fall Conference and conduct a town hall on education and the economy.

At 9 a.m. PT, Duncan will give remarks on containing the cost of college and student debt at the annual fall conference of the Education Department’s FSA office.  Participants include some 8,000 financial aid professionals representing more than 2,000 postsecondary schools across the country.

Other seminars and workshops during the FSA conference, which runs from Nov. 29-Dec. 2, include up-to-date information on FSA programs, policy updates, procedures affecting customers and partners, and sessions on technology to improve practices for supporting aid applicants and recipients.  A full agenda can be found at: http://fsaconferences.ed.gov/lasvegas1.html.

At 10:15 a.m. PT, Duncan will host a Town Hall at the College of Southern Nevada’s Cheyenne Campus on Education and the Economy.  Moderated by Dan Klaich, chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education, Duncan and five other panelists will discuss education issues impacting student achievement and economic competitiveness before some 250 state and local education stakeholders.  A press availability with Duncan and the other panelists will be held at 11:25 a.m. PT.

In Nevada, the American Jobs Act would provide:
--$258.3 million to support an estimated 3,600 teacher jobs for one year; 
--$168.3 million for K-12 school modernization projects, including $153.9 million for Clark County schools, supporting an estimated 2,200 jobs statewide; and
--$39.1 million for community college modernization projects, supporting an estimated 500 jobs.

“As a country, we desperately need this legislation,” Secretary Duncan said.  “America stands at a crossroads: we can roll the dice and hope to educate America’s kids amid teacher layoffs and dilapidated school buildings, or we use this opportunity to give our students the world-class education they deserve—with a strong teacher corps working in modern facilities.  We need it for our kids.  We need it for our teachers.  We need it to put people to work.  And, we need it to ensure a bright future of our nation.”

Overall, the President’s American Jobs Act plan will invest $30 billion in enhancing the condition of schools—with $25 billion going to K-12 schools for repair, renovation and modernization.  While the bill would help finance long overdue repairs, it would also create needed jobs and help put hundreds of thousands of Americans back to work.

For more on the American Jobs Act of 2011, see http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/reports/american-jobs-act.pdf.
A fact sheet specific to Nevada can be found here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/THE_AMERICAN_JOBS_ACT_Impact_NV.pdf