Reaching the American Dream through Education
Education is the single most important factor when it comes to equalizing opportunity and ensuring our children are able to achieve a better future. A well-educated society is paramount to our global competitiveness and national security.
I believe we have a duty to ensure quality and equal availability in our educational system. We must invest in the resources necessary to ensure our system features highly-trained teachers, full funding for educational programs and affordability for American families of all backgrounds. Once out of K-12, I believe it is imperative that we provide an opportunity for all of our children to earn 2 or 4 year college degrees.
This goal is of particular importance to me because I was a slow reader in grade school. My teachers pushed and helped provide me with the opportunity to reach my peers, graduate high school, and then attain my college diploma. As the first in my family to graduate from college, this opportunity set a new standard and opened doors to me that I never knew existed. Without the chance to go to college, it is difficult to assume that I would be where I am now. College provides a launch pad for our children's futures and every child deserves this chance.
To give our public schools, educators, and families the support they deserve, we need to address problems such as a lack of adequate funding, crumbling schools and the increasing cost of a college education. Furthermore, we need to address the negative results of No Child Left Behind and make vast improvements to this law.
Priorities
• Despite good intentions, the implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has strayed far off course, overwhelming schools and teachers due to inadequate federal funding. Too much weight is placed on standardized tests and I believe that progress should be measured more fairly, comprehensively, and accurately. I also believe that we need to elevate the teaching profession by providing teachers and principals with support they need. We are currently facing a teacher shortage crisis that cannot be reversed without providing higher salaries, access to mentoring, and increased opportunities for career growth.
• I am also concerned by the number of school buildings in need of physical improvements. In 2000, the National Center for Education Statistics concluded that 75 percent of our nation's schools were in various stages of disrepair. Since then, the Bush administration has failed to provide any direct funding for general school construction in its budgets over the last eight years. Schools have been forced to rely on state and local funding for most repair or renovation projects.
• I am a strong advocate of affordable higher education and fully believe that every person who can attend college should have the opportunity to do so. Making college more affordable is particularly important during a time when the cost of attending college continues to skyrocket. According to a recent College Board report, tuition and fees at four-year public institutions have increased 31 percent – after inflation – over the last five years.
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Accomplishments
• I continue to work with my colleagues to develop legislation that reflects the recommendations shared with me by students, parents, teachers, principals, and superintendents. However, if the NCLB reauthorization language does not invoke significant reforms, I will be extremely hesitant to support it. As a parent of three children, I remain committed to my belief that education reform must help students and educators without undue impediments and bureaucratic processes.
See what has happened most recently
• I am a co-sponsor of H.R. 3021, the” 21 st Century High-Performing Public School Facilities Act,” because I believe that the federal government should help pay to fix these essential school buildings. Every child deserves to learn in a stimulating and safe school environment. This legislation authorizes $6.4 billion for school renovation and modernization projects for fiscal year 2009, and ensures that school districts quickly receive funds for projects that improve schools' teaching and learning climates, health and safety, and energy efficiency.
See the bill as introduced
• My commitment to providing every student with access to an affordable college education is reflected in my strong support of H.R. 2669, the “College Cost Reduction and Access Act” which was signed into law on September 27 , 2007. This bill helps millions of students and families pay for college at no new cost to taxpayers, providing the single largest investment in higher education since the GI Bill by boosting college aid up roughly $20 billion over the next five years.
See the bill as passed; Press Release on H.R. 2669 • I am proud to say that with my support, the University of California , Merced is the 10th campus in the prestigious University of California system. UC Merced is diverse , growing and committed to those ideals that serve the state, nation and world through education , research and public service.
UC Merced Website ; Press Release on UC Merced development |
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