EDUCATION

As we compete in an increasingly global economy, a strong and comprehensive education has become a requirement. From pre-school through college, we must make sure that our students are receiving the highest quality education possible. I am working hard in the 110th Congress to expand educational opportunity and improve educational quality.

Head Start:

A strong education requires a solid foundation. For many families in Western North Carolina the only opportunity for that educational foundation comes from the federal government’s Head Start program. Started under President Lyndon Johnson, the Head Start program has provided millions of American children a foundation in reading, writing, and arithmetic.

As a proud product of the Head Start program in Swain County, I know first hand the benefits that the program provides.

1. The 110th Congress reauthorized Head Start in order to ensure its effectiveness in the years ahead. The Head Start reauthorization will also improve teacher qualifications by ensuring that half of the teachers nationwide will have a college degree by 2013; help more programs offer full-day classes and year-round services; and improve coordination between Head Start programs and local early education programs to better meet the needs of working families.

While reauthorizing the Head Start program I offered an amendment, which passed the House, that commended community and faith-based organizations for their success in developing and running Head Start programs. This amendment also ensured the continued participation of these organizations in Head Start.

If you are interested in learning more about Head Start for your children click here.

No Child Left Behind:

Congress is currently working on the reauthorization and improvement of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). I applaud the goals of NCLB, however after speaking with school administrators, teachers, and students I believe that the law must be amended before it is reauthorized.

First, NCLB must stop being an unfunded mandate passed down to our local schools from the federal government. When NCLB was originally passed local school districts were assured that full and proper funding would be provided to meet the new federal regulations and requirements. However, that funding was never appropriated. Our local school budgets are already strained, without this additional burden from the federal government.

Second, we must introduce more fairness and flexibility into the law and reward schools when they succeed. It is important that success be measured by more than test scores in reading and math, so that the development of students and school performance can be determined on a more fair, comprehensive, and accurate basis. We must also adjust NCLB so that it fully takes into account the fact that students with disabilities and students learning English present unique challenges to schools and districts. NCLB should help schools address those challenges, while still holding schools accountable for the progress of all students.

Finally, we must continue working to ensure that students in rural and urban districts are being taught by teachers with expertise in the subjects being taught. Teacher mentoring, continuing education, and other programs to attract and retain the best and brightest of the teaching field must be a part of NCLB’s reauthorization.

Expanding College Aid:

Every year over 90,000 students at North Carolina’s 4-year public colleges and universities rely on need-based loans to pay for their education. The typical North Carolina student finishes his or her education with more than $13,000 in debt.

As we compete in the global marketplace of the 21st Century, we must invest in our children’s education. It is our responsibility to ensure that no student is denied the opportunity to attend college because of cost. The return we see from each dollar that we invest in our children’s education is immeasurable. It is one of the greatest investments we can make for our future.

That is why I was proud to join with colleagues from both sides of the aisle in the 110th Congress to pass and have signed into law the College Cost Reduction Act, HR 2669. The College Cost Reduction Act is the single largest investment in financial aid for college students since the GI Bill was passed in 1944, and it will help thousands of North Carolina students and families pay for college – and does so at no new cost to U.S. taxpayers.

We also raised the maximum value of the Pell Grant scholarship by $1,090 over the next five years, reaching $5,400 by 2012. This increase fully restores the purchasing power of the Pell Grant, which in recent years had been frozen at $4,050. Nearly 6 million low- and moderate-income American students, including more than 146,000 students in North Carolina, will benefit from this increase.

The bill also cuts interest rates in half on need-based student loans, reducing the cost of those loans for millions of student borrowers. The College Cost Reduction Act cuts interest rates from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent in equal steps over the next four years. Once fully phased-in, this will save the typical student borrower – with $13,800 in need-based student loan debt – $4,400 over the life of the loan.

The President signed the College Cost Reduction Act into law on September 27, 2007.

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Congressman Shuler chairs a hearing in the Small Business Subcommittee on Rural and Urban Entrepreneurship

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