Kamala Harris on Education Democratic candidate for President (withdrawn); California Senator

Teachers do God's work; we don't pay them nearly enough

Invest $16B in HBCUs: anchors of our communities

That is why President Biden and I have delivered an unprecedented $16 billion to our Nation's HBCUs. This historic investment is transformative--from helping to fund cutting-edge research and making long-overdue renovations, to providing mental health resources and ensuring students have access to every opportunity to thrive.

Forgive student loan debt for 850,000 public servants

And who are our public servants? They're teachers. They are nurses. They're firefighters. They are police officers. They are librarians. They are bus drivers and social workers. This is who our public servants are. And yet many are silently struggling with student loan debt.

We have forgiven, on average, $70,000 of student loan debt for over 850,000 public servants. And for folks in general, we have forgiven over $144 billion for over 4 million people.

I'm announcing a new plan to forgive more loans for 25 million more Americans, including millions of our public servants. And that means, for example, if you've paid undergrad loans for 20-plus years or graduate loans for 25 or more years, your loans will be completely forgiven, regardless of your income and even if you did not graduate.

Files bill to keep schools open until 6 pm to help parents

$2T for HBCUs; they produce so many of our teachers

If that child has had two black teachers before the end of third grade, they're 32% more likely to go to college. So, when we talk about investing in our public education system, it is at the source of so much. When we fix it, that will fix so many other things. We must invest in the potential of our children and I strongly believe you can judge a society based on how it treats its children. And we are failing on this issue.

FactCheck: Did not desegregate LA and SF school districts

The context: Yes, both districts have struggled to better integrate. But it was difficult -- and highly unusual -- for a state attorney general at that time to file suit to desegregate a school, said [a California schools expert].

A series of federal court decisions in the mid-1990s made it much tougher to bring desegregation lawsuits. Few state attorneys general even try. "There was nothing she could really do in San Francisco to force the district to use race-conscious efforts to desegregate the schools. The legal standard would be very difficult to prove," the expert said. "San Francisco has tried a lot of different things to make less segregated schools -- it's just a very difficult thing to do."

Boost average teacher pay by $13,500

Change rules on student debt: reduce interest, income based

Federal money to subsidize teach pay raises

Free tuition at four-year public colleges

• Education: Free tuition at four-year public colleges for most Americans. Create national prekindergarten program.
• Harris would enact the "College for All Act" proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
• That would create a government funding program that would pay for tuition and fees at public colleges and universities for students with incomes of $125,000 a year or less.
• This would be funded by a fee on Wall Street firms of 0.5 percent per stock trade.
• She supports expanding Head Start and Early Head Start, and would create a "national universal prekindergarten," though she has not yet offered specifics for that plan.

As child, bused to desegregated school with mixed races

Looking at the photo of my first-grade class reminds me of how wonderful it was to grow up in such a diverse environment. Because the students came from all over the area, we were a varied bunch; some grew up in public housing and others were the children of professors. I remember celebrating varied cultural holidays at school and learning to count to ten in several languages.

Took on Corinthian College, a for-profit college scam

Even more venal, Corinthian targeted people living at the poverty line. Corinthian's internal documents betrayed the company's attitude toward its own students: they called their target demographic "isolated," "impatient" men and women with "low self-esteem," who are "unable to see and plan well" for their own future. As far as I was concerned, this conduct was no different from the criminal predators I've known--purposely targeting those most in need.

Ensure access to a high quality public education

In the Senate, she'll continue fighting for universal early childhood education so that students enter school ready to learn, and she will focus on getting more resources into classrooms and giving children a fair shot at success in school and in life.

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.