help desk - sentence structure

Alicia took an earlier bus than she needed to, for she didn’t want to be late.

Is this sentence simple or complex?

Over Sixty Percent Remedial

Our state paper had an article today about how 60% of the kids entering our community college system need at least one remedial class. Fifty percent need at least 2. (I think this is true nationally.) It also says that these kids run the greatest risk of dropping out. There are other issues since the graduation rate is only 10%.

The state Education Commisioner says that "... we need more college-educated adults ..." and that "...even if they don’t go to college, they need a level of skills to be successful in life." and also “We have to understand that this builds over time, from the very first day of elementary school, ...”.

The community college gives a standard test to all incoming freshman. The state tests (K-12) align with this standard (it's pretty low), but K-12 schools still allow students to move on to the next grade without meeting the low proficiency grade-level cutoffs. What do they think is going to happen? If they place the entire onus of success in education on the kids (and parents), then how do they think they are going to fix the problem?