Education

For the record: It is time to end No Child Left Behind.

Our nation faces serious educational challenges to keep America competitive in the world. We need to create an education infrastructure that makes schools safer, and helping all schools be the cutting edge of technology.

In Congress I would work to expand early childhood education for all children.

We must end No Child Left Behind and start over with another program that is appropriately funded and restores local control to school districts. NCLB is tearing apart the seams of our classrooms because standards punish poor schools and reward good ones—further exacerbating educational disparities.

The federal government should be a good partner with states not just hand down penalties to underperforming schools—that do even further harm to those who are at the bottom of the education ladder. It gives a false sense of accountability. The legislation is a failure because the measures of accountability are far too punitive and it fails to recognize schools that make incremental progress.

As the president of the Colorado State Senate, I saw first-hand how NCLB robbed school districts of local control and created unfunded mandates.

I believe we must keep public money in the public school system and have fought efforts to create a voucher system.

The federal government has not upheld its commitment for funding, especially for learning disabled. They have provided only 17% of of Title I funds. We are not getting our fair share and it must change.

Raised by a teacher, the value of a good education is ingrained in my heart. Education is the key to success in this fast-changing world. If the students of today are to grow up to be leaders of tomorrow, it is our responsibility to make sure that they have the tools necessary to succeed. Together we worked for the passage of Amendment 23 and Referendum C. Adequate school funding is critical to our ultimate success.

Our children often need support to pay for their college educations. We need to make our public institutions worthy of our best students with a system that helps all of our students grow from kindergarten to a college degree regardless of what city they live in or how much money their parents make. We need well-trained, well-paid teachers in the classroom. We need sensible testing that is focused on serving students so that we can take an active role in helping struggling schools, not just punishing them.

I defended public education throughout my time in the Colorado State Senate. I worked to protect local control and believe that locally elected school boards should be making critical decisions about their schools –not the state or the federal government.

Because of my record supporting public education and I have been endorsed by teachers of the 2nd Congressional District.