Joseph Lieberman on Education Democratic Jr Senator (CT, retiring 2012), ran for V.P. with Gore, ran for president 2004

Sub-sections under Education:
• School Choice
• Voting Record
• Other issues under Education

Young people need a better public education

A: I’d say education. Let me give you a stunningly painful number, that the average African-American, Hispanic-American student graduating from high school is 4 years behind grade level of the other students. The priority is to fully fund special education; invest in the so-called No Child Left Behind; fully fund it. We need to have a pre-kindergarten program for all of America’s children.

Broad-based sexual education is important

A: you’ve got to be realistic in dealing with these problems. Sure, abstinence is an important option, and it ought to be part of what’s done in school-based sexual education programs. But

We must commit money to improve education

CHENEY: I think public education is the solution. There’s been no progress on reading scores in the last eight years. We’ve had a significant increase in spending for education, but it has produced almost no positive results. We’ve graduated 15 million kids from high school in the last 15 years who can’t read. They are permanently sentenced to a lifetime of failure. Governor Bush and I want to emphasize local controls so that people can decide what’s best for their kids. And we want to insist on high standards and accountability. We have to test every child every year to know whether or not we’re making progress. This is the most important issue in this campaign.

LIEBERMAN: You cannot reform education without spending money. We have committed $170 billion: to recruit 100,000 new teachers, to help local school districts build new buildings. We’re going to give the middle class the ability to deduct up to $10,000 a year in the cost of college tuition.

Non-sectarian moment of silence OK in public schools

Many conservatives have linked their beliefs to specific policies like abortion, homosexuality, or school prayer. Lieberman instead advocates “civil religion,” spirituality without specific legislation.

More funding & more local responsibility for public schools

The proposal would dramatically downsize the number of federal education programs, provide public schools with much more funding and flexibility in how to spend those dollars, and hold educators accountable for producing results.

Overall it would increase federal investment in public education by $25 billion over the next five years, targeting most of those new dollars to the poorest school districts in the nation. Local educators would have the freedom to allocate this money to meet their specific needs. And in return, they would have the responsibility to meet specific performance standards, and suffer real consequences for failing to do so.

More flexibility for more accountable results

Supports vouchers that don’t take money from public schools

A: I support private school voucher experiments that do not take away money from public schools, include full evaluations, and are targeted to help low-income students trapped in bad schools. It’s one way to help improve opportunities for low-income students immediately while we do the long, hard work of lifting up our public schools.

Support public school choice; experiment with private choice

Keep vouchers out of reforms, so reforms can get done

Would advocate vouchers privately, but support Gore publicly

Supports charter schools, private education savings accounts

Choice won’t “ruin” schools; they’re already in ruins

In 1997 Lieberman declared: “There are some who dismiss suggestions of school choice programs and charter schools out of hand, direly predicting that these approaches will ‘ruin’ the public schools. The undeniable reality here is that this system is already in ruins, and to blindly reject new models and refuse to try new ideas is simply foolish. We can and must do better for these children, and to cling stubbornly to the failures of the past will just not get us there.”

Lieberman’s view on vouchers closer to Bush’s than Gore’s?

Voted against school prayer; for condom distribution

Lieberman’s voting record on education-related issues:
• Voted NO to cutting off federal funds to school districts that deny students their right to constitutionally protected voluntary prayer [against requiring schools to allow prayer]. (S.1513, 7/27/1994)
• Voted IN FAVOR of distributing condoms, contraceptives or drugs financed by federal aid without parental consent. (S.1150, 2/8/1994)

Voted for vouchers; against block grants

Lieberman’s voting record on education-related issues:
• Voted YES for tax-free savings accounts of up to $2000 per child annually to be used for public or private school tuition or other education expenses. (S.1134, 3/2/2000 & S.1134, 3/1/2000)
• Voted YES to allowing investment by families, charitable groups or individual donors of $2000 annually in tax-free savings accounts designed for elementary and secondary educational expenses [public or private]. (HR.2646, 4/23/1998)

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

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 and 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.

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 YES on Educational Savings Accounts.

Voted YES on declaring memorial prayers and religious symbols OK at schools.

Voted NO on allowing more flexibility in federal school rules.

Voted YES on education savings accounts.

Voted YES 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.

Offer every parent Charter Schools and public school choice.

Create World-Class Public Schools
Now more than ever, quality public education is the key to equal opportunity and upward mobility in America. Yet our neediest children often attend the worst schools. While lifting the performance of all schools, we must place special emphasis on strengthening those institutions serving, and too often failing, low-income students.

To close this achievement and opportunity gap, underperforming public schools need more resources, and above all, real accountability for results. Accountability means ending social promotion, measuring student performance with standards-based assessments, and testing teachers for subject-matter competency.

As we demand accountability, we should ensure that every school has the resources needed to achieve higher standards, including safe and modern physical facilities, well-paid teachers and staff, and opportunities for remedial help after school and during summers. Parents, too, must accept greater responsibility for supporting their children’s education.

We need greater choice, competition, and accountability within the public school system, not a diversion of public funds to private schools that are unaccountable to taxpayers. With research increasingly showing the critical nature of learning in the early years, we should move toward universal access to pre-kindergarten education.

Goals for 2010
• Turn around every failing public school.
• Make charter schools an option in every state and community.
• Offer every parent a choice of public schools to which to send his or her child.
• Make sure every classroom has well-qualified teachers who know the subjects they teach, and pay teachers more for performance.
• Create a safe, clean, healthy, disciplined learning environment for every student.
• Make pre-kindergarten education universally available.

Firmly opposed to Bush’s voucher proposal.

Dear President-Elect Bush,

As members of the Senate New Democrat Coalition and the House New Democrat Coalition, our first and foremost [priority is] education reform. As you know, a bicameral group of New Democrats introduced the “3 Rs” legislation last year. The “3Rs” bill is an example of the kind of bold, innovative approach that can form the basis of a bipartisan agreement to reform our public schools and boost the opportunities of our public schools. We are also well aware that you have endorsed a similar plan. While we remain firmly opposed to the voucher portion of your proposal, we believe that there are many areas of similarity in both approaches, providing an excellent opportunity for bipartisan agreement and compromise. We intend to re-introduce the “3Rs” legislation at the earliest opportunity later this month, and we look forward to working with you.

Three R’s: $35B for Reinvestment,Reinvention,Responsibility.

The Public Education Reinvestment, Reinvention and Responsibility Act (Three R's) [is] the common ground from which bipartisan compromise on education reform will be successfully achieved. The Three R’s would provide public schools with significantly increased funding and flexibility, increasing federal investment in education by $35 billion over the next 5 years, and targeting most of those new dollars toward closing the persistent achievement gap between poor and more affluent students. State & local officials would be given broader latitude to decide how to allocate federal funding in order to meet the specific needs of their communities. In return, states would be required to set standards for raising academic achievement, and improve the quality of their teachers.

The “Three R’s” bill is based on the policy recommendations by the Progressive Policy Institute:
• Streamline our national education priorities into five goal-oriented titles, focused on:
  1. closing the achievement gap between poor and more affluent children;
  2. helping to improve teacher quality;
  3. helping immigrant students master English and meet high standards in all subjects;
  4. promoting public school choice; and
  5. stimulating innovative local initiatives
• Create a tough new accountability system that pegs program funding to academic performance standards set by the states, and require “report cards” so that parents know how their school is performing;
• Reward states that exceed their standards with more flexibility and bonus funding, and for the first time ever, sanction those states that chronically fail to show improvements, by cutting administrative funds;
• Increase funding for disadvantaged students by 50%;
• Increase funding for teacher and principal professional development by more than 100%;
• Increase funding for immigrant students by $1 billion annually to improve English proficiency;
• Continue to reduce class size in the early grades.

Rated 86% 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.

Support the goals and ideals of Charter Schools.

A resolution supporting the goals and ideals of National Charter Schools Week, April 30, 2007, through May 4, 2007.
• Whereas charter schools deliver high-quality education and challenge students to reach their potential;
• Whereas charter schools provide thousands of families with diverse and innovative educational options for their children;
• Whereas charter schools are public schools authorized by designated public entities to respond to the needs of communities, families, and students, and to promote the principles of quality, choice, and innovation;
• Whereas, in exchange for the flexibility and autonomy given to charter schools, charter schools are held accountable by their sponsors for improving student achievement and for their finances and other operations;
• Whereas 40 States and the District of Columbia have passed laws authorizing charter schools;
• Whereas more than 4,000 charter schools operating across the United States serve more than 1,140,000 students;
• Whereas, over the last 13 years, Congress has provided more than $2,026,225,000 in support to the charter school movement;
• Whereas the eighth annual National Charter Schools Week, to be held April 30 through May 4, 2007, is an event sponsored by charter schools and grassroots charter school organizations across the United States to recognize the significant impacts, achievements, and innovations of charter schools:
• Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Senate acknowledges and commends charter schools and students, parents, teachers, and administrators of charter schools across the United States for their ongoing contributions to education and improving and strengthening the public school system; and supports the goals and ideals of the eighth annual National Charter Schools Week.