Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

A well-educated country yields endless rewards: a better workforce, a stronger economy, and lower crime, to name a few. It must be our goal to have the best public education system in the world, and although local communities and parents clearly have the biggest role to play in educating children, I am proud to be a partner in those efforts. We need an innovative new approach to public education, one that focuses on results instead of process. Vigorous standards and holding schools accountable for meeting those standards is imperative to ensuring our children are prepared for the 21st Century. I also support freeing local schools from the unnecessary red tape and regulation that often accompanies federal funding.

At the same time, we cannot abandon our commitment to K-12 public education. I support increased funding for local schools and more efficient methods of sending federal dollars to local classrooms, so that the children who need the extra boost of federal funding receive it.

Higher education is also extremely important to the success of our nation. I am proud of the long tradition of high-quality higher education offered to Washingtonians, from the University of Washington, to Bates Technical College. We need to ensure that students continue to have access to higher education, including financial aid such as student loans and grants, and enough slots at public schools to accomodate them.

Adam's work on Education:

* Supported Impact Aid funding for school districts with smaller tax bases because of a large military presence, such as Clover Park and Franklin Pierce
* Supported education savings accounts that allow families to save money for their children's college education tax-free; also voted for a $1500 per year tax credit for each child
* Voted for legislation to increase student loans for college and to create the HOPE Scholarship
* Secured $100,000 in start-up funds for the University of Washington-Tacoma's Technology Institute
* Voted to expand training benefits for laid-off workers, and authored the Trade Adjustment Assistance Act, to improve the retraining resources available to laid-off workers
* Supported full funding of the No Child Left Behind Act, and changing the "one-size-fits-all" testing plan so that testing accurately reflects learning, and performance indicators other than test scores are included
* Authored the Empowering Local Schools Act (ELSA) that would streamline federal dollars to local schools, increase federal funding, and better target the funding to areas in need
* Along with Senator Joe Lieberman (D-Connecticut), introduced the Three R's education bill to comprehensively reform the federal role in education. Many of its provisions were signed into law a year later by President George W. Bush
* Voted to increase student loans for college and create the HOPE Scholarship.

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