Issue Position: Strengthening Education

Issue Position

I hear from a lot of people tremendous concern about the quality of our public education system. Now we all like our own neighborhood school. We think our own kid's teacher is the best. I certainly think my second grader's teacher is the best. But if we step back and take a close look, we're not competing adequately with the rest of the world. We are not making the investments necessary so that our kids can compete in what is truly a global economy. We have to make investments in public education, but we also need education reform. Changing the way teachers are trained and compensated. Providing more effective curricula, making sure that class sizes are small and that student learning is assessed properly.

One specific area that I am concerned about and that I have been already been working on is early childhood education. We need to make major investments to ensure that kids are healthy and ready for school. Half the kids that arrive at kindergarten aren't prepared and they never catch up. It's really very compelling research. I support major investments in making sure that kids have social and emotion skills and are just ready for the academic learning once school starts. Because if they are not, they just aren't going to catch up. It's not just the early learning, it's the whole school system that we have to invest in. You can count on me to make it a top priority.

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