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Kirsten Gillibrand on Education

Democratic Senator (NY)

 


College tuition in exchange for public service

Tell every young person in this country that if you do a year of public service, you could have two years of community college or state school free. We know that we have lots of service industries desperate for young workers. If you open up public service to those industry groups and incentivize young people to commit a year or two to that, it's going to not only create pipelines into new jobs but change the heart of these kids in a generation.
Source: NPR Morning Edition, "Election 2020: Opening Arguments" , May 23, 2019

Strongly support education, but one size doesn't fit all

I think we need a much broader approach to fixing our public school education system than just charter versus non-charter. When a child shows up to school hungry, it means making sure you have breakfast program, a lunch program, maybe even a dinner program. If a child has to walk through a bad neighborhood to get to school, or there's gang violence in their community, they need to have after school program, and we need to have summer school. They need to have internships. I think you need to have a solution that is broad based enough to meet the needs of all public schools. We want all public schools to rise in all parts of the country. We need to support our teachers. We need to make sure that we fully fund special ed.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls , Apr 9, 2019

Make public higher education debt-free

Source: PBS News hour on 2020 Presidential hopefuls , Jan 16, 2019

More funds for NCLB and early education

Source: 2006 Senate campaign website, gillibrand2006.com, “Issues” , Nov 7, 2006

Voted YES on additional $10.2B for federal education & HHS projects.

Veto override on the bill, the American Competitiveness Scholarship Act, the omnibus appropriations bill for the Departments of Departments of Education, Health & Human Services, and Labor. Original bill passed & was then vetoed by the President.

Proponents support voting YES because:

Rep. OBEY: This bill, more than any other, determines how willing we are to make the investment necessary to assure the future strength of this country and its working families. The President has chosen to cut the investments in this bill by more than $7.5 billion in real terms. This bill rejects most of those cuts.

Opponents recommend voting NO because:

Rep. LEWIS: This bill reflects a fundamental difference in opinion on the level of funding necessary to support the Federal Government's role in education, health and workforce programs. The bill is $10.2 billion over the President's budget request. While many of these programs are popular on both sides of the aisle, this bill contains what can rightly be considered lower priority & duplicative programs. For example, this legislation continues three different programs that deal with violence prevention. An omnibus bill is absolutely the wrong and fiscally reckless approach to completing this year's work. It would negate any semblance of fiscal discipline demonstrated by this body in recent years.

Veto message from President Bush:

This bill spends too much. It exceeds [by $10.2 billion] the reasonable and responsible levels for discretionary spending that I proposed to balance the budget by 2012. This bill continues to fund 56 programs that I proposed to terminate because they are duplicative, narrowly focused, or not producing results. This bill does not sufficiently fund programs that are delivering positive outcomes. This bill has too many earmarks--more than 2,200 earmarks totaling nearly $1 billion. I urge the Congress to send me a fiscally responsible bill that sets priorities.

Reference: American Competitiveness Scholarship Act; Bill Veto override on H.R. 3043 ; vote number 2007-1122 on Nov 15, 2007

$25B to renovate or repair elementary schools.

Gillibrand signed Fix America's Schools Today Act (FAST)

Source: HR2948&S1597 11-S1597 on Sep 21, 2011

Make two years of community college free.

Gillibrand signed making two years of community college free

Excerpts from press release from Tammy Baldwin, Senate sponsor: The America's College Promise Act makes two years of community college free by:

Community, technical, and tribal colleges enroll 40% of all college students today. Community colleges are uniquely positioned to partner with employers to create tailored training programs to meet economic needs within their communities such as nursing and advanced manufacturing.

Opposing argument: (Cato Institute, "College Courtesy of the Taxpayer? No Thanks," Jan. 9, 2015): One look at either community college outcomes or labor market outlooks reveals free college to be educational folly. Community college completion rates are atrocious: a mere 19.5% of community college students complete their programs. Meanwhile, the for-profit sector has an almost 63% completion rate. And [about 70%] of the new job categories in coming years will require a high school diploma or less.

Opposing argument: (Heritage Foundation, "Free Community College Is a Bad Deal", July 15, 2016): Free college proposals would subject community colleges to the same types of subsidies-induced inflation endemic at four-year institutions. And low-income students already have access to federal Pell Grants, which can cover the bulk of community college tuition. By contrast, a more open market of alternative schooling models, such as online or vocational education programs, could better tailor degrees at a lower cost.

Source: America's College Promise Act 15-S1716 on Jul 8, 2015

Recruit women & minorities for STEM teaching.

Gillibrand co-sponsored S2710 & HR4803