Janice Hahn on Education

Empower local teachers, not politicians and bureaucrats

She is dedicated to ensuring the next generation has access to a first-rate education and the tools to drive our economy forward. Our country is strongest when our workers are trained with the knowledge and ingenuity to perform at the highest levels. Every child should have the opportunity to reach that horizon and to fulfill the American Dream.

In Congress, Janice will fight to make sure the federal government fulfills its funding commitments. Janice will support policies that empower local classroom teachers and schools principals, not politicians and bureaucrats, because educators need to be given greater authority to improve the quality of education in our schools, colleges and universities

$25B to renovate or repair elementary schools.

Fix America's Schools Today (FAST) Act of 2011:
• Authorizes $25 billion to carry out this title, which shall be available until Sept. 30, 2012
• Allocates grants to states and, through them, subgrants to local educational agencies (LEAs) to modernize, renovate, or repair early learning or elementary or secondary education facilities.
• Requires grants be allocated directly to the 100 LEAs with the largest numbers of children aged 5-17 living in poverty, to modernize, renovate, or repair such facilities.
• Requires states to give subgrant priority to projects that comply with certain green building standards.
• Prohibits the use of such grants for new construction or routine maintenance costs.
• Reserves funds for a survey, by the National Center for Education Statistics, of nationwide public school construction, modernization, renovation, and repair needs.
• Allocates grants to states to modernize, renovate, or repair existing facilities at community colleges.
• Requires, with certain exceptions, the iron, steel, and manufactured goods used in projects funded by this Act to be domestic.
• Applies the prevailing wage rate requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act to projects assisted pursuant to this Act.

Comprehensive sex ed for sexually-active adolescents.

Award competitive grants to provide adolescents with comprehensive sex education to:

1. replicate evidence-based sex education programs,
2. substantially incorporate elements of evidence-based sex education programs, or
3. create a demonstration project based on generally accepted characteristics of effective sex education programs.

1. deliberately withhold life-saving information about HIV;
2. are medically inaccurate or have been scientifically shown to be ineffective;
3. promote gender stereotypes;
4. are insensitive and unresponsive to the needs of sexually active youth or lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender youth; or
5. are inconsistent with the ethical imperatives of medicine and public health.

Opponent's argument against bill: (Nick Wing on Huffington Post) An abstinence-only effort, introduced the same day, the Abstinence Education Reallocation Act, stands as an effective counter to the Democratic-backed Real Education for Healthy Youth Act.

According to the text of the abstinence-only bill, sex education programs would need to be "medically accurate" and teach the "skills and benefits of sexual abstinence as the optimal sexual health behavior for youth" in order to qualify for grant money. The bill also calls for applicable programs to focus on the "holistic health, economic, and societal benefits that can be gained by refraining from non-marital sexual activity," as well as to provide an "understanding of how drugs, alcohol, and the irresponsible use of social media can influence sexual decision-making and can contribute to risky and often aggressive sexual behavior."

Make 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:

• Providing a federal match of $3 for every $1 invested by the state to waive community college tuition and fees for eligible students;
• Ensuring that programs offer academic credits which are fully transferable to four-year institutions in their state;
• Establishing a new grant program to provide pathways to success at minority-serving institutions by helping them cover a significant portion of tuition and fees for the first two years of attendance for low-income students.

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.