Our Neighborhoods, Our Schools

Although education is a national issue, we all know that any progress must begin locally in our neighborhood schools. That is why I will work to ensure funding for our classrooms so they are not denied the opportunity to experiment and try out new programs and methods to improve our students’ education.

I believe that we should explore longer academic years and lengthening the school day to provide our children with a safe and nurturing environment while making sure that any educational gains made during the year are not lost during an idle summer. Additional classroom instruction hours will also bridge the gap between our students and those around the world, helping guarantee that they will find secure jobs and opportunities in the 21st century workplace.

In addition to the core academic subjects, we need to recognize the importance of supporting physical education, after-school programs and subjects like science and the arts that are so often overlooked.

Making College Affordable

We should never deny our children the opportunity to attend college on account of its costs. As higher education costs soar and graduates are saddled with crushing debt before they land their first job, we have an obligation to ease the burden for those who look to better themselves through education.

Although I support the current Congress tackling the issue of low-cost student loans with the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, we need to go further. I would propose easing the pressure and weight of student loans for recent graduates and young professionals by making student loans effectively interest-free by making interest accrued on student loan debt 100% tax deductible.

I would also expand student loan forgiveness programs that reward young graduates who accept teaching positions in our most needy schools or volunteer for public service to better our neighborhoods.

The Failed Promise of No Child Left Behind

No Child Left Behind (“NCLB”) was intended to bring accountability and the forces of market competition to education in order to improve education for all children. Instead, it is having devastating impacts on many of those schools that have the greatest need for improvement. Unfortunately, NCLB focuses on the use of testing to define failure, and failure is the one thing we have precisely too much of in our educational system.

Our schools are forced to spend their limited resources to focus on tests that do not prepare our students for the future. In an effort to avoid having federal funds cut off, the pressure placed on students and teachers have led to an increase in drop-outs and in a new category known as “push-outs.” Many struggling students are actually nudged out of the system in order to keep their scores from negatively impacting the overall school score.

It would make far more sense to focus NCLB on funding support for those schools with the least resources. It’s clear that schools with lower teacher-student ratios are more successful, and that it is harder for schools with disadvantaged student bodies to recruit or especially to retain good teachers. Rather than focusing on ways to punish failing schools, NCLB should use tests the way they have traditionally been used: to identify educational shortcomings in order to direct additional resources where they are needed.

The fundamental issue facing this district is one of effectiveness. This district needs a representative who can be an engaged advocate on this issue. I intend to work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and from all around the nation on this issue. We have to change this disastrous course, which is sending so many of our children into a school-to-prison pipeline. I will work to bring our schools back to the role they were intended to play: as gateways to opportunity and success.