Education

Congressman DeFazio has long believed that it is incumbent upon the federal government to invest in our students and schools as states struggle to provide adequate K-12 funding and affordable higher education opportunities. Quality education creates sound building blocks for future generations, yet recent trends indicate American students are falling behind their foreign counterparts in nearly all subjects.

Major Accomplishments

DeFazio Scholarships

DeFazio understands the importance of higher education and he could not have attended college without the assistance of financial aid. This is why he established a scholarship fund for dislocated workers at five community colleges in southwest Oregon. In order to fund these scholarships, DeFazio has consistently refused congressional pay increases and, instead, used them to benefit Oregonians. As of the end of 2019, DeFazio contributed $380,421 of after-tax salary toward 278 scholarships and debt reduction. He counts these scholarships among his proudest accomplishments.

In addition to his scholarships, Congressman DeFazio has been a consistent supporter of federal higher education programs such as Pell grants, federal work study, and student loan forgiveness, which helps make college more affordable.

Higher Education

DeFazio understands the need for the federal government to ensure students have affordable access to a higher education, whether that be a certificate or trade program, community college, or a four-year university. 

Rep. DeFazio strongly supports efforts that would allow tens of millions of Americans to refinance their student loans, and supports lowering student loan interest rates to the same low interest rates that big Wall Street banks get. The federal government should be investing in students, not making a profit off of them. DeFazio also supported the Income-based Repayment program, which gives graduates a flexible repayment system to avoid default. Each Congress, DeFazio introduces his own package of higher education legislation, the Helping Individuals Get a Higher Education while Reducing Education Debt (HIGHER ED) Act and the Achieving Independence through Degrees (AID) Act.

The HIGHER ED Act would provide much-needed relief to student loan borrowers overwhelmed by student debt. For example, the HIGHER ED Act would allow borrowers more time to focus on their futures, their families, their trades, and their careers by raising the minimum salary requirements for borrowers to begin making payments on their loans. It would also allow student borrowers to refinance at lower rates, cap monthly payments at 10 percent of one’s discretionary income, and forgive any remaining debt after 20 years. 

DeFazio is also a strong supporter of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF), which allows public servants such as military members, teachers, firefighters, police officers, postal workers, and more the opportunity to have the remaining balance of their federal student loans forgiven after 10 years of service. His HIGHER ED Act would improve the PSLF program and allow borrowers to have 50 percent of their debt forgiven after five years of service and all debt after 10. It would also simplify the application and certification process and correct flaws and loopholes that have prevented approximately ninety-nine percent of all public servants who have applied from receiving the loan forgiveness they have earned and been promised. 

In addition, DeFazio’s AID Act would reduce barriers to higher education by improving college affordability and accessibility. It would strengthen and improve access to Pell grants, including increasing the maximum Pell Grant award to reflect the average cost of in-state tuition, and it would prevent the Pell Grant from losing its purchasing power over time by indexing it to inflation. It would also expand Pell Grants to cover short-term workforce training programs of at least 150 hours or eight weeks at accredited institutions, in order to create new job opportunities for Oregonians looking to strengthen their position in the labor market. The AID Act would also expand Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligibility for students, simplify the process for applying for federal student aid, and increase funding for and reform the Federal Work-Study and Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant programs to ensure that more funds go to students with the most need. 

Early Childhood Development

Congressman DeFazio has been a strong supporter of increasing federal funding levels and federal resources to Pre-K programs, such as Head Start. Early childhood education, nutrition, health care and family support services are critical for our nation's youth. Often these programs are not just about schooling, they are about meeting the needs of young children and their families. 

Moreover, it is clear to DeFazio that wages have remained flat while the cost of childcare has skyrocketed. There is a clear lack of access to affordable, high-quality childcare. That’s why DeFazio has cosponsored legislation to ensure universal, affordable access to childcare for working families across the nation. 

K-12 and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

DeFazio has always supported funding for our schools and continues to fight for increased investment in public education. He believes public school decisions should be left to local schools because they know more about the individual needs of their students than the federal government. 

DeFazio has long advocated fixing the Elementary and Secondary Education Reauthorization Act, commonly referred to as No Child Left Behind. When the federal government imposes mandates on local schools, then the federal government should follow through on promised funding to fulfill those mandates. That’s why DeFazio voted for the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which returned power over standardized testing and education plans back to the states, and replaced counterproductive accountability systems with commonsense standards. The ESSA also protected funding for low-income schools and ensured that minority and disadvantaged students were accounted for in measuring student success. 

DeFazio has also championed federal funding for school construction and modernization. He is a champion of the Rebuild America’s Schools Act – legislation that would provide robust investment to rebuild and modernize our nation’s crumbling school infrastructure. He supports the inclusion of these funds as part of job creation legislation. 

In addition, DeFazio has long advocated for providing robust funding for Title I and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) programs to support Oregon’s highest-need schools and students, including expanding access to special education in public schools. Over the years the federal government has deeply underfunded Title I, and it has never met the promise it made in IDEA to fund 40 percent of the average per pupil expenditure for special education. 

DeFazio believes the continued lack of full federal funding for Title I and IDEA is unacceptable and unfair to our public schools, who are already straining from severe budget cuts. Fulfilling the federal government’s funding pledges would go a long way toward freeing up our schools’ budgets so they are able to tackle other important needs, such as enhancing teacher recruitment and pay, reducing class sizes, supporting music and arts classes, and much more. That’s why DeFazio supports legislation to establish a glidepath for Congress to fulfill its promise of fully funding these programs.