Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

As someone whose life was transformed by education, I understand the importance of providing all Nevadans the opportunity to receive a quality education. That is why I have fought to provide resources for Nevada's schools, colleges, and universities and worked to make higher education affordable and accessible to more Nevada students. I remain committed to addressing Nevada's high dropout rate, concerns with the No Child Left Behind Act, and ensuring that Nevada students are prepared for college or a career.

Supporting Nevada's Teachers, Public Schools, Colleges, and Universities
A well-educated and prepared workforce is key to rebuilding our economy. This is why I helped pass the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act), which provided nearly a half a billion dollars in funding directly to Nevada's schools, colleges, and universities. These funds were responsible for saving several thousand educator jobs and creating hundreds more. They also helped prevent increased class sizes, a reduction in special education services, and the loss of other, essential school services. In 2010, when school districts in Nevada and all across the country faced the very real prospect of having to lay off thousands of teachers as the new school year began, I led the Senate in passing legislation to help avert these layoffs by providing $10 billion to assist states and local school districts retain or hire teachers. Nevada schools received about $80 million in assistance, which helped retain as many as 1,400 teacher jobs across our state. In addition, over the course of my time in the Senate, I have secured millions for essential programs at our K-12 schools, and over a half a billion dollars for research and projects at Nevada's colleges and universities.

Preparing Nevada's Students for the Global Economy
We must ensure that our nation's students and teachers are prepared to continue leading the world in innovation, research, and technology. Towards this end, during the 110th Congress, I helped lead passage of the America COMPETES Act, to improve math and science education and increase the federal commitment to research. I was pleased to help lead passage of a reauthorization of this important legislation in 2010.

In addition, the Recovery Act included significant funding for scientific research and technology and to expand access to broadband, particularly in rural communities. These investments will help ensure that students have the skills they need to be ready for higher education and the workforce.

Keeping the Door to College Open
As a college degree becomes more important for success, increasing costs have put higher education out of reach for too many Nevadans, and strained the budgets of students and their families. Making college more affordable and accessible for Nevada's students has been one my top legislative priorities.

I was pleased that the Recovery Act helped low- and moderate-income Nevada students better afford college by increasing the maximum Pell Grant from $4,850 to $5,350 for the 2009-10 school year. To help families with the cost of college, the bill also created the American Opportunity Credit, a $2,500 partially-refundable tax credit for tuition, fees, or textbooks.

And, most recently, I helped lead passage of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, which included a major reform of the federal student loan program. The savings generated by changes in the student loan program were invested in increasing the maximum Pell Grant to $5,550 for the current school year, and to $5,975 by 2017. It also ensures that the Pell Grant will keep pace with the rising cost of college, with annual increases linked to the Consumer Price Index. Additionally, starting in 2014, college graduates in Nevada will be able to cap their loan payments at 10% of their net income through the Income-Based Repayment (IBR) program, and have their student loans forgiven after 20 years of making payments. For more information on federal student loans and the IBR program, please click here to download my "Frequently Asked Questions on Federal Student Loans" brochure.

A New Direction for No Child Left Behind
It is clear that significant changes need to be made to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). It has been vastly underfunded, accountability measures have proven far too punitive, and states have been given little flexibility in implementing the law's requirements. It has caused good schools to be labeled as failing and puts undue pressure on students and teachers to focus on passing standardized tests instead of engaging in other subjects such as the sciences, history, art, or music.

The Senate and House education committees are currently working on ways to improve NCLB -- which is now referred to by its original name, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). I am committed to a reauthorization that ensures accountability, but recognizes all levels of student improvement and growth. I am also deeply troubled by Nevada's persistently high dropout rate, and will work to ensure that ESEA contains provisions to address middle and high school improvement and dropout prevention.

I am committed to making this law work for Nevada's schools, teachers, administrators, parents, and our students. I have heard from each of Nevada's school superintendents and education leaders across the state on ways to improve ESEA. I also want to hear from you about how we can improve this law, and would welcome your concerns or suggestions about ESEA. Please click here to share your views on ESEA reauthorization.

Addressing Nevada's Dropout Crisis
Nevada has one of the highest dropout rates of any state with less than 70 percent of high school students graduating on time. For African American and Latino students, that number is closer to 50 percent. During the last Congress, I introduced the Graduation Promise Act, which would create a fund to target the high schools across the country with graduation rates under 60 percent. These schools account for nearly half of all dropouts nationwide, and this legislation would help them implement effective dropout prevention strategies and interventions. I am committed to ensuring that dropout prevention will be a top priority in reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act.

Improving and Innovating our Middle and High Schools
Each year, nearly 20,000 Nevada students do not graduate from high school-- the lost lifetime earnings in Nevada for this class total over $5 billion. I have met with educators and school leaders from across Nevada to determine why so many students continue to drop out of school. Among the challenges identified were curriculum that often lacks relevance to students' lives, large and impersonal high schools, and a shortage of guidance counselors. To help address these challenges, I introduced the Secondary School Innovation Fund Act to provide grants to encourage middle and high schools to find innovative ways to improve student achievement and increase the graduation rate.

Expanding Access to Quality Early Childhood Education
High-quality early childhood education is one of the best investments our country can make. In 2007, Congress passed the Head Start for School Readiness Act, to improve and expand the Head Start program. The legislation strengthened teacher training, improved quality, increased accountability, and expanded income-eligibility limits to allow thousands more children to take advantage of this program. In Nevada alone, over 10,000 three- and four-year-olds are eligible for Head Start programs, but only about one quarter of those participate. This legislation opened the doors to Head Start for tens of thousands of children in Nevada and across America. To build on these improvements, the Recovery Act also included significant investments for the Head Start and Early Head Start program.

Attracting High Quality Teachers to Nevada
Our children deserve great teachers in every classroom. After years of extraordinary growth, Nevada has a tremendous need for additional qualified teachers. To address persistent shortages, I worked to bring Teach for America, a nonprofit group committed to educational equality, to the Clark County School District. I am pleased to say that, as a result, several hundred new teachers are now teaching in Clark County schools.

I was also pleased that the College Cost Reduction and Access Act expanded loan forgiveness programs for graduates who spend 10 years in a public service profession, including teaching. One of the reasons many college graduates do not enter the teaching profession is because of high student loan debt. This legislation also established TEACH grants, which provide grants of $4,000 per year for undergraduate students who commit to teaching in high-need school districts.

Additionally, the Recovery Act included over $100 million in grants, which will help Nevada address teacher shortages and provide new routes to teaching for jobless individuals looking to enter the teaching field.

Fulfilling Our Promise to Students with Disabilities
Improving educational results for children with disabilities has been one of my top priorities. In 2004, Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Improvement Act, which called for the federal government to provide 40 percent of the funding towards the cost of special education. After several years of a decreasing federal share, through the Recovery Act, I helped ensure that the federal share of special education costs is at its highest level ever, and resulting in nearly $75 million for special education programs in Nevada's schools.

Providing Safe, Reliable Transportation for Rural School Children
Many rural school districts do not have safe and reliable school buses and lack the resources to buy new buses or retrofit the ones they have. This leaves children no choice but to ride in outdated, unsafe buses. I was pleased to help bring federal funds in the form of grants and low-interest loans to Nevada to retrofit and replace outdated school buses across the state. I will continue to work to create a federal program for rural districts to use federal transportation funds to purchase new buses and update their outdated buses.

Encouraging Nevadans to Serve Their Communities
I helped lead passage of the Serve America Act, to incentivize Americans to serve their communities and help tackle many of the nation's serious challenges. The bipartisan bill builds on the success of the existing AmeriCorps program by more than tripling the number of volunteers and creates new programs that focus on education, health care, clean energy, veterans, and the economically disadvantaged. The bill raised the stipend for AmeriCorps volunteers to finally match the maximum Pell Grant and created fellowships available for people 55 and older, as well as summer positions for middle- and high-school students. In tribute to victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks, the legislation designated September 11th as a day of service and remembrance.

Providing Healthy Food for School Children
I believe that nutrition is critical to the success of all children in school. That's why I was pleased to secure over $1 million in the 2008 Farm Bill to expand the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program, an increase of nearly 50% over last year. Nevada schools will receive funding to bring healthy foods into classrooms, along with nutrition education and awareness about the importance of eating healthy. The program has been operating as a pilot program serving 14 states since 2002, and is very popular among kids and parents, as well as school and food service staff.

An additional grant of approximately $679,000 was included in the Recovery Act for the Child Nutrition School Equipment Grants Program. This will provide the essential funding to schools for making improvements to school kitchens in order to handle and process healthy foods. The fund will be distributed by the Nevada Department of Education through a competitive grants process. Whether in the home or the classroom, it is important to provide an environment in which children can make good food choices. These funds will help schools all over the country offer high quality meals, and give our country's children the fuel they need to succeed in school.

Child Nutrition--School Meals
I went to primary school in a one room school house where all the grades were taught by one teacher. We went home for lunch each day and my mother did her best to make sure that my two brothers and I had a good meal in the afternoon. Even in rustic, hardscrabble Searchlight, we had a lunch that would get us through the day.

Unfortunately, not every child has that today. Especially in communities that have been hit with high unemployment and foreclosure. In Nevada there are more than 117,000 children living in poverty who don't know where they will get their next meal. The reality is sobering -- more than 60,000 women, infants and children participate in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, also known as the WIC Program. Science and good sense tell us that kids need healthy meals to succeed in their classes, be active, and lead healthy lives. The recession has taken a toll on the schools and local governments that provide a nutritious breakfast and lunch to school children and other programs that help families put good food on the table.

This is why I worked with my Senate colleagues in the 111th Congress to unanimously pass the Healthy and Hunger-Free Kids Act. This important legislation, which is now law, helps children, schools, and local government provide nutritious meals to children who otherwise would not eat breakfast or lunch. It reduces the paperwork and other red tape that cost schools money and increases the reimbursement rate so schools don't have to absorb the rising cost of food, an increase that hasn't been made since 1973. This bill also makes several other critical changes in what our children eat in school:

* Provides money for fresh food instead of cheaper, processed food.
* Supports the sourcing of local produce and school gardens.
* Removes junk food and sodas from school vending machines.
* Helps states fund obesity prevention efforts and nutrition education; programs that help children eat better, and reduce health care costs for families and the state.

The Nevadans who rely on these nutrition programs are people who never thought they would need help. The Healthy and Hunger-Free Kids Act reduces the stigma of getting help by giving WIC participants electronic debit cards, and in high-needs schools, by giving free lunch to all students so those who can't afford lunch aren't singled out. The bill also increases eligibility for free meals to children who are in foster care. It makes good economic sense and begins the work of fundamentally changing the quality of food served in our schools.

Child Nutrition--Afterschool Suppers
In the fiscal year 2010 Agriculture Appropriations bill, I made Nevada one of the 14 states authorized to operate the federally-reimbursable Afterschool Supper Program, which provides meals for children up to 18 years old who may otherwise go hungry. The Food Research and Action Center estimates that an Afterschool Supper Program serving 50 children for five nights a week during the school year could be reimbursed more than $22,000 by the federal government.

The Afterschool Supper Program is run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) under the Child and Adult Care Food Program, and it is operated by the Nevada Department of Education. In addition to cash payments, participating supper providers also have access to food provided through USDA's commodity program. Suppers are served in group settings, so there are no applications for parents or guardians to fill out.

I will continue to support nutritional programs like these in the 112th Congress. Well-fed children are happier, healthier and do better in school. Parents who have access to healthy food cook more nutritious meals. By supporting children and families through these hard times and continuing to create more opportunities to get Nevadans back to work, we build a healthier future where all children have enough to eat.

Updated July 12, 2011

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