Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

I believe in the transformative power of education. I am living proof of it. I would not be where I am today without the high-quality education I received from Lowell Public Schools and the scholarship I earned to Georgetown University. High quality public education is the key to unlocking our nation's true economic potential, creating new opportunities, and ensuring the American Dream is still attainable for all. Congress needs to make education a priority, from cradle to career.

We need affordable early childhood care and education for all.

Too many families struggle to afford the skyrocketing costs of early childhood education and care. As the mother of two young girls, I know firsthand the challenges facing parents today. I don't need to see another study to know that investing in early education is the necessary foundation to building a healthy, happy, and prosperous life. Congress needs pass to comprehensive legislation for families that not only makes daycare more accessible and affordable, but also ensures that programs like Head Start are fully funded.

We need to protect and strengthen our public schools.

I am not only a product of public schools, but I am also a parent of public school students. Strong public schools are the backbone of our education system and require more funding and resources to ensure our children are achieving academic success. Charter schools are part of our education system, but I will fight to make sure that the funding for public schools is not diverted to charters. Now more than ever it is critical to support public schools. We have an unqualified Secretary of Education in Betsy DeVos who is trying her best to promote charter schools at the expense of public schools. That is wrong and I will oppose it when I get to Washington.

We need a mindset shift when it comes to education.

College was the right choice for me, but it is not always the right the path for everyone. We have too tightly tethered a college degree to the American dream and it has cost us. We have a generation of students buried under $1.4 trillion in student loan debt with no promise of getting out from under it.

As I travel across the communities of the 3rd District, I have heard from many employers -- manufacturers in particular -- who are unable to fill high-skilled and high-payingpositions. There is a major skills gap that four year colleges and universities are not suited to address. We need to promote vocational training, trades, apprenticeships, community college and certificate programs, and expose our students to these opportunities at an earlier age. These programs will provide young people with the tools and training they need to secure good paying jobs without the burden of student loan debt.

We need to solve the student loan debt crisis and make college more affordable.

Student loan debt has become a crisis and it's time for Congress to take action. Too many students are defaulting on their loans while colleges are building up their campuses and hiking the cost of tuition. These institutions need to be held accountable. We also need to expand targeted aid and grants for students who can't afford the price of college.

Below are some of the legislative measures I will support in Congress:

Early Childhood Education:

One of the greatest investments this country can make is in a strong early childhood educational system. According to the National Education Association, these investments reap valuable life-long benefits. Individuals who are exposed to quality early education are more likely to graduate from high school, own homes, have successful marriages, and will have a higher earning potential later in life. They are also less likely to commit crimes. In Congress, I will fight for:

Free, universal full-day kindergarten
Research and experts alike suggest full-day kindergarten is key in effectively educating our children, as well as leveling the playing field for all students. By implementing full-day kindergarten, it is forecasted that we could add up to $70 to $180 billion annually in additional revenue to our economy as a result of closing the achievement gap and improving the all-around performance of our students.

Full-day kindergarten saves our country money. For every $1 invested in these programs, $3 is saved by the government. Finally, full-day kindergarten allows parents to get back to work faster, saves them money on costly babysitting and daycare services, and contributes to the health of our nation's economy. Only 13 states, plus the District of Columbia make full-day kindergarten mandatory. It's time for full-day kindergarten to become a reality across the country.

Affordable and accessible early childhood care and Pre-K services
A 2016 study by the Economic Policy Institute found that the average cost of Pre-K and childcare is more expensive than the in-state tuition cost of state universities in 23 states.6 In Massachusetts, the average cost of childcare for a 4-year-old is more than $12,000 annually. Infant care in Massachusetts is even more expensive, costing parents an average of $17,062 annually.
This is a financial burden affecting too many families in our district. Congress needs to take action on this issue to ensure children have access to high-quality Pre-K education that doesn't break the bank.

This is why I support aspects of the Universal Pre-kindergarten and Early Childhood Education Act of 2018, sponsored by Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), specifically the portion of the bill that would create grant programs for states to fund expand universal Pre-K services. I also support the Child Care for Working Families Act sponsored by Rep. Bobby Scott (D), which would help subsidize the cost of childcare for low-income families.

I support all measures aimed at increasing a family's access to early childhood care and education through better access to subsidies. Only 17 percent of families take advantage of child care subsidy programs. I support increasing funding for such subsidies and removing barriers such as, income eligibility limits, co-pays, long-waiting periods, and other red tape that prevent our children from getting the education they deserve.

K-12 Education:

The success of our country begins and ends with a strong public education system. Our public education needs help on many fronts. Our government has an obligation to our students to properly fund public schools, teachers and infrastructure. We must prevent charter schools and other privatization programs from siphoning valuable resources away from our public school students. In Congress I will fight to:

Protect public schools and hold charter schools accountable
This administration is dead-set on privatizing our education system in favor of charter schools, vouchers, and school choice programs. I will not stand for it. Charter schools are a disaster for cash-strapped municipal governments and a tool to perpetuate inequality in our society. These institutions take valuable resources away from the public education system; funding that is desperately needed by local school districts, and diverts these dollars to schools that serve a select few. I voted against charter school expansion on the Massachusetts' ballot in 2016. I will do the same in Congress.

Increase teacher pay and collective bargaining rights
We need to protect our teachers. I was so moved by the walkouts held by teachers in West Virginia, Oklahoma, and North Carolina. Teachers deserve to be paid fair wages. Their work is too important. They shouldn't need to get second jobs in order to make ends meet. I will advocate for increased teacher pay at all levels of education, including early childhood education. The average salary for a preschool teacher is only $28,570.11 We must invest in better wages for teachers and put more money into professional training so that we continue to evolve our education system.

Improve school safety
Like so many parents across the country I worry about sending my children to school. I worry about their safety. I am shocked that some members of Congress believe arming teachers is the answer. This is NOT the solution. We can make our schools safer by increasing security presence at schools, investing in training for school faculty and staff, implementing advanced surveillance technologies, securing entryways and teaching emergency protocols, but most importantly, by enacting common sense gun reform. My strong stance on gun control is why I earned the Moms Demand Action Gun Sense candidate distinction.

Help our most vulnerable schools and students
Schools in low-income areas face challenges associated with poverty that affect our education system, including hunger, anxiety and trauma, not to mention students who struggle because English is their second language. We need to invest in wrap-around programs that serve diverse populations so that they thrive in school. In Congress, I will fight to protect and increase Title I funding for our low-income schools as well as support the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act and Community Eligibility Provision, which subsidize healthy meals for children. No child in this country should go to school hungry.

I also support the full 40 percent funding of the IDEA Act (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) to provide valuable resources and educational opportunities to our students with disabilities. In recent years, this program has only been 15 percent funded, forcing states to pick up a substantial burden. President Trump has made it clear he wants to cut funding for special education programs, an abhorrent notion that I will fight in Congress.

Investing in more pathways to a quality education:

I attended Lowell High School. I graduated with roughly 540 students. Not all of my classmates were in the pursuit of college. College is the right path for a lot of people, but not everyone. We need to expose alternative paths that lead to jobs and make those paths as noble as college. In Congress, I will work to:

Promote early exposure to trades, vocational, and apprenticeship programs.
Today, we are facing a skills gap in our communities because more kids are opting to go to college than to learn a trade. We are experiencing a shortage of machinists, plumbers, electricians, and carpenters. Vocational and trades education leads to good paying jobs with benefits and gets our students into the workforce quickly, without excessive loan debt. In Massachusetts, our vocational schools are among our best public schools. A sample of over-enrolled vocational schools in Massachusetts demonstrated better graduation rates than traditional high schools, comparable MCAS scores, and students were 5 percent more likely to earn industry credentials.

Unions, industry, and government should collaborate to design more programs that expose more students to trades, vocational and apprenticeship programs at an early age. This will increase students' chances of choosing an educational path that works for them. I support a number of bills to accomplish this goal, including: the Youth Access to American Jobs Act of 2017 by Rep. Rick Larsen (D) which would require the Department of Education to award grants to schools to expand access to vocational programs, as well as the American Apprenticeship Act by Senator Amy Klobuchar (D), which would use federal funds to make apprenticeship programs more affordable. I also support the Apprenticeship and Jobs Training Act of 2017 by Senator Maria Cantwell (D) that provides tax credits for businesses that adopt apprenticeship programs.

Engineering our education system to meet the demands of our economy

I believe we need to understand our economy -- present and future -- and reverse engineer our education system so that we are linking educational programs to the jobs that we will attract and retain in our regional economy. Not all jobs in today's economy require a traditional, 4-year college degree. In addition to vocational and trades programs, we should expand certificate programs at community colleges that provide students with the credentials they need to enter the workforce at a faster rate. Our community colleges and vocational schools are incredible assets in the community that should be leveraged by industry as educational and training centers; focused on giving people of all ages the skills that they need for employment.

College Affordability:

The cost of college education has spiraled completely out of control resulting in an entire generation struggling to pay off their student loan debt, with no real promise of getting out from under it. The average student loan debt for the class of 2017 was $39,400, representing a six percent increase from 2016.20 We can't expect someone to start a family or buy a home with that kind of debt. In Congress, I will work to:

Hold private universities accountable for student loan debt
The cost structure of private institutions has escalated to epic proportions. Some colleges have seen a 3X increase in just 25 years. As a mom who has been through the admissions process now three times, I see an arms race underway, where colleges are competing against each other on amenities -- world class gyms, 5-star dining halls, and dormitories that rival fancy hotels. These costs are being passed on to our children and it is time to hold colleges accountable for the tuitions they are charging.

In Massachusetts, we publish the default rates for students at colleges and universities. Default rates are an indicator of whether or not a graduate is prepared for the workforce. If too many students are defaulting from an institution, it tells us something about the performance of that school in terms of preparedness for the job market. I believe that we need to incentivize these institutions to focus as heavily on job readiness and placement as they do on admissions, and for those schools with student loan default rates far above the national average, hold them accountable.

The federal government has a long history of forgiving and restructuring student loan debt. But the government is not responsible for these exorbitant tuition prices. We should require expensive institutions with high default rates to foot this bill. This would force schools to re-examine their tuition rates and shift resources toward preparing students for life after college.

Make college more affordable for everyone
Rather than giving tax breaks to the wealthiest members of society, the federal government needs to implement measures that will make a college education more affordable for working and middle class families. I will work to preserve and expand Pell Grants and increase the amount provided under the American Opportunity Tax Credit. I also support the Student Loan Fairness Act by Rep. Karen Bass (D), which caps interest rates on federal loans and establishes the "10/10 Loan Repayment Plan," reducing payment amounts to 10 percent of the original loan principal.

Education is the most powerful lever we have in closing the income inequality gap in this country. We need to invest in a stronger public education system, which means investing in our teachers, who nobly serve on the front lines and prepare our children for the future. We need to dispense with the notion that a college education is only path to the American Dream and think practically about how to prepare all of our students for the jobs of today and tomorrow. We need to make it affordable to attend college and put a stop to the debt pile up after graduation. I am living proof of how a great education can make your dreams come true. In Congress, I will make it my mission to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to achieve their own dream.

It begins with a great education.

Source