Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

First, we must eliminate federally-mandated standardized testing. The Federal budget for education needs to help schools in impoverished areas, not punish teachers and administrators for serving students in dire conditions. After high school, we should offer young people a 2- or 4-year commitment to a Civilian Conservation Corps in exchange for a scholarship to cover technical school (2 year commitment) or a 4-year degree (4-year commitment). This could be funded through a Wall Street transaction tax. Every American deserves gainful employment at a decent wage. For those who can't find a job in the private sector, we should employ the CCC to offer conservation jobs in areas that need civic engagement the most. Jobs could include tutoring, childcare for the working poor, senior care, flood control, reforestation, or urban renewal projects. This is Republicanism at its finest -- investing energy and resources into the good of our nation. Standardized testing is destroying our educational system. Washington bureaucrats should not be dumbing down education for our students who wish to go on to university, and they should not be making American education a college-or-bust choice for students. We should abolish federally mandated standardized tests and instead invest in our children's future. Let's expand our vocational and technical education programs and partner with local craftsmen who can teach our children how to work with other people in an honorable trade. Our children should be work-ready if they choose to pursue a career out of high school.

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