Martha Kanter

Under Secretary for the Department of Education (since June 2009)

(Department of Ed)

Why She Matters

Chosen as the under secretary for the Department of Education, Kanter oversees the department's post-secondary education initiatives, and she is the first person from a community college background to take over that important post.

Kanter has said that community colleges need to be an integral part of the administration's comprehensive education plan, giving student more opportunities to obtain a post-secondary education without the high cost of a four-year institution, and she has pushed for more federal funding for community colleges. She has also proposed a handful of suggestions to make college more affordable and financial aid easier to access.

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Corrections?

Background

At a Glance

Career History: past positions...
Alma Mater: Brandeis University, B.A., 1970; Harvard University, M.Ed., 1974; University of San Francisco, Ed.D., 1989

Web site

Path to Power

Kanter went to Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. She worked as a medical staff assistant at the MIT Medical Center and then as the director of a counseling program for a community services agency in Massachusetts. In 1973, she returned to school to get a master's in education from Harvard University.

Between 1974 and 1985, Kanter held a variety of education jobs, most of which were in special education. She was a special education coordinator in Lexington, Mass., a learning disabilities specialist in New York City, a lecturer at The City College in New York and a consultant in Tarrytown, N.Y.Questionnaire filled out by Martha Kanter and submitted to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions

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The Issues

The under secretary of the Education Department is in charge of all post-secondary policies and programs. That includes access to college and other adult education programs and affordability issues, such as federal financial aid applications (FAFSA) and Pell grants.

Kanter told the San Francisco Chronicle that too few students had access to college, and her top priority would be to expand availability of higher education. "I have this sense of urgency," she said. "It's time to act."

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Community Colleges

Kanter comes from a community college background, and she wants to increase access to higher education by raising funding for community colleges. "I think it's a statement that every segment of education matters," Kanter said of her nomination, the first time a community college chief was been named to lead higher education programs on a national level. Community colleges "play a role that hasn't been well understood. We were an awfully big piece of the puzzle that was ignored for an awfully long time."

While chancellor of Foothill-DeAnza, Kanter oversaw one of the biggest community college districts in the country, with 44,000 students between two campuses. She previously was vice president of San Jose City College and vice chancellor of the California Community College Office.Asimov, Nanette, "Obama taps community college chief," San Francisco Chronicle, April 3, 2009 At Foothill-De Anza, she partnered with NASA to increase advanced science and green-tech job opportunities for her students, and pushed to make non-copyrighted textbooks available for free online to defray education costs.

Kanter has said that more federal money should go to helping community colleges, which are becoming an increasingly common avenue for high-school graduates. "If you were to invent education today, you certainly wouldn't invent what we have," she said.

Financial Aid and Other Changes

Another major obstacle to college access is affordability. Shortly after being nominated as under secretary, Kanter spoke with the San Francisco Chronicle about some of her ideas to lower the cost of higher education. She suggested that federal aid programs contact college applicants to explain what assistance might be available to them, rather than requiring the student to figure out where to apply. "Why can't the federal government send a letter back saying, 'Your student qualifies for this kind of aid?" she said.

Kanter also discussed expanding her free online textbooks plan nationwide, and said she would like to open community college libraries to high school juniors and seniors.

Workforce Investment Act

As the person at the Education Department in charge of post-secondary education, Kanter oversees not just programs for four-year colleges and universities and community colleges, but also other opportunities.

She emphasizes the importance of training people to work all kinds of jobs, from dental assistants to tech firms to lab technicians. After being confirmed, one of her first initiatives was to push for the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act, which is a federal job-training program. "The current economic crisis shows that we must think strategically and systematically about how best to invest Federal dollars to ensure that the programs under WIA assist people in obtaining the necessary skills to succeed in post-secondary education and the workforce," Kanter said during congressional testimony.

The Network

As under secretary for Education, Kanter will oversee a dozen top education offices. She will work closely with the Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development (led by Carmel Martin), the Office for Civil Rights (led by Russlynn Ali), the Institute of Education Sciences (led by John Q. Easton) and more.

The under secretary focuses specifically on post-secondary education, so she works closely with William Taggart, chief operating officer for federal student aid; John Wilson, Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and others in post-secondary education.

Campaign Contributions

Kanter donated $500 to Hillary Rodham Clinton at the start of her presidential campaign, but then donated $750 to Barack Obama after the Democratic primaries. She has also donated $200 to Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.). She has also donated more than $1,000 to local political candidates for mayor and city council in her hometown.

Additional Resources

"Departing Foothill-DeAnza chancellor confirmed as undersecretary of education," San Jose Mercury News (California), June 26, 2009
Tribble, Sarah Jane, "Chancellor stresses flexibility in teaching," The San Jose Mercury News (California), July 9, 2006
"Programs/Initiatives Archive," Archived information from the Office of the Under Secretary official Web site
Center for Responsive Politics
"Modernizing the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 to help workers and employers meet the changing demands of a global market: Testimony by Martha Kanter," Congressional Documents and Publications, July 16, 2009
Krupnick, Matt, "South Bay educator ushers community colleges onto national stage," San Jose Mercury News (California), April 7, 2009
Asimov, Nanette, "Obama taps community college chief," San Francisco Chronicle, April 3, 2009
Asimov, Nanette, "Obama taps community college chief," San Francisco Chronicle, April 3, 2009
Questionnaire filled out by Martha Kanter and submitted to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Questionnaire filled out by Martha Kanter and submitted to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions