Issue Position: Right for Education

Issue Position

Choice, Access and Accountability

Education prepares us for life and for work. Education is an investment and should be approached as such by government. Even as an investment, education must be accessible and accountable. K12 education is charged with graduating students ready for the workforce or post-secondary education. Currently, approximately 30% of the state's high school graduates need remediation in math and/or reading. We owe it to ourselves and to our children to implement measures to reduce or eliminate the need for this remediation.

Most of today's jobs and the jobs of the future require some post-secondary education. Many of our students, including adult learners, are unable to relocate to attend school. More online learning brings the classroom to geographically-bound students, many of whom are employed and caring for families. Universities and community colleges have recently completed an inventory of the numbers of graduates per program, ensuring that the state's investment in higher education results in workers needed for current and future jobs. Additionally, performance measures are being developed that will tie to a percentage of future state funding. Increasing the number of graduates in critically-needed fields and increasing efficiency in operations are examples of performance that will be rewarded. Making more college coursework transferrable among all public higher education institutions will save money and time for students, as well as providing the job market with more prepared workers.

Many local and regional barriers can be eliminated and needs addressed by encouraging the creation of education-business partnerships, particularly ones that speak to the P20 (preschool through adult learning) pipeline.

We have a right to an education that prepares us for life and for work.

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