Issue Position: Economic Plan: A New Direction - Expand Opportunity, Build A Skilled Workforce
Issue Position
Issue Position: Economic Plan: A New Direction - Expand Opportunity, Build A Skilled Workforce
Jeanne Shaheen believes we desperately need a new direction on education.
A quality, public education system and affordable higher education are essential to giving our children the opportunity to take full advantage of the promise of America. More than that, it is critical to maintaining our competitiveness in the global economy and providing small business with the skilled workforce they need.
We need to make sure all Americans, up and down the economic ladder, can contribute to and benefit from technological advances. Technological advances not only create jobs for highly educated scientists and entrepreneurs, but also create jobs for people installing solar panels, energy efficiency systems, and broadband - jobs that cannot be outsourced overseas. It's estimated that 90 percent of the fastest growing jobs will require some amount of post-secondary education.
In the Senate, Jeanne Shaheen will fight to strengthen education through:
* Lifelong learning. She will push to boost lifelong learning, such as customized job training and associates degrees at our community colleges, so everyone has the skills to participate in the new innovation economy.
* No Child Left Behind. She believes we need to reform NCLB so we are providing struggling schools with the tools they need to succeed and end the unfunded mandates - costing New Hampshire alone $200 million - imposed on our schools by George Bush and John Sununu.
* Special education. Shaheen will fight to make Washington keep its promise to fully fund special education.
* Early childhood education. The research is clear: the early years of a child are critical, and expanding early childhood education is a wise investment. Our economy receives a $7 to $10 return for every dollar invested in early childhood education. Shaheen supports incentive funding to help states expand quality early childhood education programs.
* College affordability. No qualified student should be barred from higher education because of the cost. Jeanne Shaheen believes we should 1) raise the cap on federal guaranteed student loans. As tuition has skyrocketed, the maximum federal guaranteed student loan has not kept pace and students have been forced to turn to more expensive private or alternative loans to fill in the gap; 2) expand loan forgiveness for public service; 3) simplify and expand tuition tax credits. Today the federal government offers two different tuition tax credits and a tuition tax deduction - but students can only use one at a time. The system is needlessly complicated, and students and parents have a hard time figuring out which tuition tax benefit to choose. Jeanne Shaheen believes we should offer one expanded tuition tax credit; and 4) expand Pell grants.
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