Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

Jennifer is a product of public education from elementary through law school, and both her children attend Loudoun County Public Schools. She believes strongly that every Virginian deserves a high-quality public education from their first day of pre-k to their college graduation. In the State Senate, she has advocated to eliminate unnecessary standardized tests and modernize the manner in which our kids learn and are taught. She passed legislation that will stem the school-to-prison pipeline by establishing alternatives to long-term and short-term suspensions which disproportionately affect minorities and students with disabilities. Jennifer also opposed reckless efforts by Republicans to take away local control of schools. Her strong support for education earned her the "Solid as a Rock" award from Virginia Education Association and the endorsements of the Loudoun and Fairfax Education Association PACs in her State Senate campaigns.

Jennifer is proud of the quality and standing of Virginia's public colleges and universities, but she knows college tuition is too high, and often a college degree is out of reach or leaves students with crippling debt. In the State Senate, Jennifer has sponsored bills that would create a Student Loan Refinancing Program, which will give students opportunities to refinance their loans, and the Office of Qualified Education Loan Ombudsman, which will create a resource for borrowers and oversight of loan services in Virginia. She has also supported bills that give victims of on-campus sexual violence more resources and give colleges and universities tools to prevent more assaults.

In Congress she will fight against Betsy DeVos' attempts to strip funding from public schools and hand it over to private schools. She will remain a dedicated advocate for improving educational access and resources for low-income students and children with disabilities. Jennifer will also support policies that raise teachers' pay and benefits, promote STEM courses and careers, and incentivize career and technical training.

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