Education: The first obligation the federal government has is a  debt in the form of unfunded mandates.

One of the greatest burdens our education system faces is a lack of funding and federal mandates that are insufficiently funded. Our priorities are wrong if we consider our children and their schools to be of some lesser importance. One of the purposes of Government should be the education of its youth. Education is where our economy starts and grows. A well educated society has great strength and resilience. Our economic might comes from our highly educated masses. We all want the best for our children so why can’t we give them the best start possible.

I will work for:

1) A federal subsidy for teacher compensation to be administered by the states and local government units.

2) Complete funding of all mandated programs. Some of these commitments go back several decades. It is about time we lived up to our promises.

3) Top down re-evaluation of NCLB- No Child Left Behind. After 6 years of NCLB we should have a good idea of what is working and what is not. If the whole thing needs to be scrapped then we should get rid of it. I will support changes to the program that can make it better, including funding to levels needed just to administer the tests mandated.

4) Higher commitment to post secondary education, through grants and other programs to help public schools become more affordable to lower income citizens with a promotion of life-long learning opportunities for all.

It is time to give our schools what they need and our children what they deserve. The future does depend on them and it is our job to give them the tools and resources that they need to succeed.