Our founding fathers wrote the constitution – our founding document – with the intent that education be the province of states, not the federal government. That being said, No Child Left Behind was passed before my time in Congress and is likely here to stay.
This measure needs major reforms – it was written for inner-city schools, not rural Wyoming – and we need to make sure our interests are considered in the reauthorization of this program. For one, we cannot continue to have unfunded mandates forced upon our state’s education system. Wyoming and her people, not Washington bureaucrats, know best how to help our students compete nationally.
Additionally, adequate yearly progress should track individual student’s growth, not groups of students that are statistically incomparable to each other. This is important to ensure improvement for all students – from those in special education programs to those in gifted and talented ones.
As for Higher Education, I support measures to help students attend college and universities, like Pell Grants and student loans. Wyoming has an advantage over the rest of the country – we have low tuition rates and Hathaway scholarships that are available to our students. I will continue to work towards making a college education attainable and affordable for all who wish to pursue it.
I further believe our colleges and universities are centers of excellence for the basic and applied research America needs to stay competitive in science and engineering, as well as job retraining. As I work to reduce federal spending to pay down the debt, I must still find room in the budget to support advancements in these critical areas, especially at this unique time in our country’s economic progression.
