Education

The twenty-first century has brought profound changes to the ways in which we do business both at home and abroad. As information, goods, and people flow seamlessly across borders at previously unimaginable speeds, we must rethink how to best equip our students for success in this new and global job market.

Investing in education puts us on a path towards long-term economic prosperity and secures the future competitiveness of our workforce.  A college degree, community college associate degree, or trade skills training is one of the strongest ways to increase and solidify the middle class. Higher education in whatever form must be accessible and affordable.

My priorities include:

• Expanding college access to all students. I am committed to continuing funding for programs that improve access to higher education, particularly for low-income and disadvantaged students. This is why I’ve joined the newly-formed Senate TRIO Caucus, a bipartisan group of senators who support federal TRIO programs, such as Upward Bound, which provide disadvantaged students support in the college application process and throughout the pursuit of their degrees.

• Improving the affordability of higher education. As the costs associated with higher education continue to rise, I remain committed to support funding for Pell Grants, which are a cornerstone of federal financial aid policy and currently assist over 9 million low and moderate-income students. As more students take on loans to finance their education, I support creating sensible protections for students as well as the development of targeted loan forgiveness programs for teachers and doctors who go to work in underserved communities.

• Reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Schools Act. It’s time for Congress to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Schools Act (ESEA). I support a reauthorization effort that relies less on competitive grant funding – which is often out of the reach of small rural schools with limited grant writing experience – and provides more sensible metrics for measuring student and institutional success.

• Supporting funding for geography. I have joined with members of the Maine congressional delegation in co-sponsoring the Teaching Geography is Fundamental (TGIF) Act. As it stands, geography is the only one of the nine core academic subjects identified in the 2001 reauthorization of ESEA (No Child Left Behind) that does not have a dedicated funding stream. The TGIF Act remedies this oversight and ensures that geography remains an essential, funded component of elementary and secondary education.

• Increasing support for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. When the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) was enacted in 1975, Congress committed the federal government to funding 40% of the costs associated with educating disabled children. Unfortunately, the federal government has struggled to meet that commitment, never surpassing 19%. I support increasing funding for IDEA to alleviate the burden faced by so many schools across the country and ensuring that the federal government comes closer to honoring its promise to disabled students.
• Safeguarding our schools. In the aftermath of the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, it has become apparent that we need to improve the safety of our schools. One element of a broader effort to address this issue is investing in security-related capital improvements at our schools. This is why I am cosponsoring the School Safety and Campus Enhancements Act, which reauthorizes the Secure Our Schools Grant Program. This program is supported 50/50 by matching local and federal funds and helps over 1,400 communities cover the cost of security-related capital improvements at schools, such as locks, lighting, and reinforced doors.

• Keeping student loan rates at a reasonable level for ALL students. The cost of higher education in this country today is too high. As elected officials we have an opportunity to provide our students with reasonable and predictable student loan interest rates to help them in their financial planning. To that end, I am proud to introduce a bipartisan compromise, the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act with Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV), Richard Burr (R-NC), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Tom Carper (D-DE), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and Dick Durbin (D-IL). Our bill seeks to lower interest rates for 100% of borrowers who have taken out, or will take out, a new federal student loan after July 1, 2013. This is a long-term, market-based solution that will lower and cap interest rates for every student taking out a loan and finally get Congress out of the business of setting rates. This type of good faith, give-and-take compromise is exactly how Congress should work for the country. As Congress prepares to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, I look forward to working with my colleagues to find ways to address the skyrocketing cost of college and to alleviate the outstanding student debt burden carried by individuals across the country.