Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

"Light and liberty go together."
--Thomas Jefferson, 1795

Education is an investment in the future of American families and the middle class. A quality education leads to quality jobs and allows people to provide well for their families. Without a strong, accessible, affordable educational system, the middle class cannot stay strong and help our economy grow. From early education to college access and affordability, an investment in our students is one from which that we, as a nation, will see great returns. As a member of the House Committee on Education and Labor, I am working on a number of efforts to reinvest in education, because education is the key to progress.

On February 17, 2009 the President signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 (H.R. 1). Through this legislation, historic investments were made in education. ARRA included significant increases in funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and programs that focus on improving achievement for the financially disadvantaged (Title I), both of which have been traditionally underfunded. These additional dollars are essential in meeting our commitment to ensuring a quality K-12 public education for all students.

I continue to have reservations about the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). NCLB is a program with worthy intentions, but a large unfunded mandate and some unreasonable requirements, which have imposed heavy burdens on states and schools. In 2007, at my request, House Committee on Education and Labor Chairman George Miller (D-CA) came to New Hampshire to listen to concerns raised by teachers, principals, school board members, and superintendents. This roundtable discussion was frank and productive, and Chairman Miller received a great deal of feedback about the problems our state has with the implementation of the law. I am still working to restore the flexibility and fairness that schools and communities need.

We know that helping our young learners prior to kindergarten is also essential. ARRA provided additional monies for Head Start and Early Head Start, funding that builds on the improvements made by the Improving Head Start Act of 2007 (H.R. 1429). Additionally, legislation (see H.R. 3221 below) recently passed by the House creates an Early Learning Challenge Fund in order to promote quality standards and outcomes in early education programs. These and other early education programs are key to putting our children on the path to academic success, both in their K-12 and their college careers.

As we work to ensure that our graduating high school seniors have the tools to succeed in college and beyond, we must ensure that each student is able to access education, regardless of their financial background. I remain committed to expanding the access and affordability of a higher education. Unfortunately, a college education is increasingly out of reach for a large percentage of students. About half of all students qualified for college cannot afford to attend a four-year college, and nearly a quarter can't afford any institution of higher learning, according to the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance. For those who do go, the average New Hampshire student who graduated in 2008 had over $25,000 in student loans, according to a study published in December 2009 by the Project on Student Debt.

Building on the significant investments made in the 110th Congress through College Cost Reduction and Access Act (H.R. 2669) and the Higher Education Opportunity Act (H.R. 4137), I cosponsored the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA) of 2009 (H.R. 3221). Once signed into law, SAFRA will invest more than $88 million in New Hampshire, increasing the Pell Grant scholarship to $5,550 in 2010 and to $6,900 in 2019. It also invests in our community college infrastructure and strengthens and expands the successful Perkins Loan program. I worked hard to secure language that would ensure that we made these investments while preserving a role for our local non-profit servicers who play a valuable role in our communities -- benefiting both students and our local workforce. (Click here for more information about SAFRA.)

The GI bill is an enormously successful example of what happens when millions of Americans are given tuition assistance for higher education. Millions were able to enter the middle class, including my father, a World War II Navy veteran, who went to college on the GI bill. So it was a real pleasure to be an original cosponsor of the GI Bill for the 21st Century (H.R. 5740). The new GI Bill provides full, four-year college scholarships for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, on a par with the educational benefits available after World War II. It covers the cost of the most expensive in-state public college, and allows the transfer of unused education benefits to a spouse or children. I am proud of this legislation, signed into law on June 30, 2008, which will provide today's veterans the same bridge to education that the World War II generation had.

We also needed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (H.R. 2669), which represents the largest investment in higher education since the original GI bill, to help the middle class of this and the next generation. I was proud to cosponsor the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (H.R. 2669), which was signed into law on September 27, 2007. It makes college more affordable for middle-class students and families by reducing interest rates on subsidized federal Stafford Loans for undergraduate students. This reduction will save the average student in New Hampshire more than $2,500 over the life of his or her loan.

In June 2007, I introduced a bill (H.R. 2700) to stop the U.S. Department of Education from making harmful changes to the Upward Bound program, which helps low-income, first-generation, and minority high-school students. These changes would have interfered with the effectiveness and delivery of this valuable program. During the Higher Education reauthorization in the 110th Congress, I worked very hard and succeeded in ensuring that the bill included a provision similar to H.R. 2700. At a celebration of this success at the University of New Hampshire-Durham in July of 2008, I had a chance to meet the Upward Bound students, program staff, and university officials. I believe that my job in Congress is to make sure that these students have the same opportunities as everyone else in this great country.

The Higher Education Opportunity Act (H.R. 4137) also includes a provision to provide for more flexible student financial aid consideration when families care for an adult dependent. A constituent who had contacted my office brought the need for this important change to my attention. Working together through the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, we were able to expand the discretion given to school financial aid administrators when they put together student financial aid packages. My provision allows school financial aid administrators to consider expenses incurred by families who are caring for an adult dependent, when calculating a student's financial aid package.

We passed the Improving Head Start Act of 2007 (H.R. 1429), which reauthorizes Head Start and provides 10,000 more children with access to Head Start services. The Head Start program offers the nation's most at-risk children a chance to succeed in school. It truly is a "head start" for those who badly need one.

As Thomas Jefferson famously noted in 1816, "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." We must continue this investment in education for the sake of our future prosperity.

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