Chris Dodd on Education Democratic Sr Senator (CT)

Parents are the first teachers

Education is the heart of who we are

A: I would say the single largest issue in many ways for us to grapple with is education, because it’s the heart of who we are, both in terms of our governance and economic strength and the future. And convincing everyone in the country of the importance and the priority of that issue is something that I think is going to be critical for the success of our country in the 21st century.

Merit pay for poor areas ok; not for better neighborhoods

Named “Senator of the Decade” by the Head Start Association

Advocate for free community-college education

A: I’m an advocate of a free community-college education, and I do that by offering a match to any state that will equal 50% of that cost. I’ll match that here. In order to release that initial portal of higher education becomes available. To talk about a free education for everyone, regardless of choice they make between private and public institutions, may be difficult, but certainly expanding Pell Grants here, providing more work-study programs, Americorps, I’ve advocated a million slots, not 150,000 that we have today, where educational benefits become a part of that. I’d provide a sliding scale of incentives, so if you choose careers that are not as lucrative as others are, that your payback of loans would be calibrated to those choices rather than insisting upon everyone paying the same amount back. And college costs are going up all the time. So I’m an advocate for indexing as well.

Incentive pay for tougher schools, but not performance pay

A: I wouldn’t use that approach. We’ve got to re-examine our whole education process, and I’m a believer that we need to have fundamental reform of No Child Left Behind, and start measuring growth, not abandoning schools that aren’t doing well, and providing far less rigid criteria when it comes to highly qualified teachers. I would like to see that we apply additional resources to teachers who will go into the tougher schools in rural or urban America, where they need better teachers coming in, and provide some additional incentives for them, including pay & including the criteria that they have to meet to do so. But I’m not in favor necessarily of giving more preference for a teacher that’s performing somewhat better. Measuring that I think is the wrong direction we’re going in. The idea of discriminating one group of teachers against another in that regard, I think is a huge mistake and I’d oppose it.

Daughter attends public school

A: My daughter goes to the public school as a kindergarten student.

Reform No Child Left Behind to invest in failing schools

Tragedy that Supreme Court overturns Brown desegregation

A: We all sort of agree clearly on appointing judges that will be supportive of precedents in our judicial history here and, obviously, overturning Brown v. Board of Education was one of the great tragedies in recent history & we need to reverse that.

Shame of resegregation has been occurring in our schools

A: The shame of resegregation has been occurring for years in our country here. The reality that our public educational system is today a segregated system and that we have not taken enough leadership over the years to understand the great damage that has done to our country.

From the earliest education opportunity to the highest level of education opportunity, this is the key to equal access to our society. It is something that can never be taken away from you if you get it. To say today that you’re going to exclude race as a means of allowing for the diversity in our communities is a major step backwards. [We need to] get back on the track to see to it that our country once again will identify with unity as a nation, blind, if you will, to the racial distinctions in our society. That’s the only way we’re going to deal with the new frontiers of the 21st century: the barrios, the ghettos, and the reservations of our society.

Highest priority is equal educational opportunity

I’m proud to have authored the first child care legislation in this country, to begin in the earliest days to make sure that parents have the assurance that there will be a quality place for their child to be, and an affordable place, an available place, and then to begin with early childhood education, to see to it that we’d have a good Head Start program.

I have walked the walk on these issues; I am committed to these issues. There’s nothing that will be a higher priority to me as president than to see to it that America’s children, from the earliest days of their arrival, certainly through the upper education branches of our educational system, have the equal opportunity. We have an obligation to guarantee an opportunity to that success. The key to that door is the education of the American child.

Voted YES on $52M for "21st century community learning centers".

Voted YES on $5B for grants to local educational agencies.

• $2.5 billion for targeting grants to local educational agencies
• $2.5 billion for education finance incentive grants

Voted YES on shifting $11B from corporate tax loopholes to education.

• Restore education program cuts slated for vocational education, adult education, GEAR UP, and TRIO.
• Increase the maximum Pell Grant scholarship to $4,500 immediately.
• Increases future math and science teacher student loan forgiveness to $23,000.
• Pay for the education funding by closing $10.8 billion in corporate tax loopholes.

Voted YES on funding smaller classes instead of private tutors.

Voted YES on funding student testing instead of private tutors.

Voted YES on spending $448B of tax cut on education & debt reduction.

Voted NO on Educational Savings Accounts.

Voted NO on allowing more flexibility in federal school rules.

Voted NO on education savings accounts.

Voted NO on school vouchers in DC.

Voted NO on $75M for abstinence education.

Voted NO on requiring schools to allow voluntary prayer.

Voted YES on national education standards.

More foreign languages courses and exchange students.

Concurrent resolution expressing the sense of Congress that the United States should establish an international education policy to enhance national security, significantly further U.S. foreign policy and economic competitiveness, and promote mutual understanding and cooperation among nations. Includes among policy objectives:
1. producing citizens with a high level of international experience;
2. promoting greater diversity of locations, languages, and subjects involved in teaching, research, and study abroad;
3. increasing participation in internships abroad;
4. invigorating citizen and professional international exchange programs;
5. supporting visas and employment policies that promote increased numbers of international students;
6. encouraging programs that begin foreign language learning in the United States at an early age;
7. promoting educational exchanges and research collaboration with American educational institutions abroad; and
8. promoting partnerships among government, business, and educational institutions and organizations to provide adequate resources for implementing this policy.

Rated 82% by the NEA, indicating pro-public education votes.

The National Education Association has a long, proud history as the nation's leading organization committed to advancing the cause of public education. Founded in 1857 "to elevate the character and advance the interests of the profession of teaching and to promote the cause of popular education in the United States," the NEA has remained constant in its commitment to its original mission as evidenced by the current mission statement:

To fulfill the promise of a democratic society, the National Education Association shall promote the cause of quality public education and advance the profession of education; expand the rights and further the interest of educational employees; and advocate human, civil, and economic rights for all.