Sheldon Whitehouse on Education Democratic Jr Senator, previously attorney general

Extend "Race to the Top" to middle school

Hinckley, who sends his children to Parochial school, said it was important to him that his children be raised in faith. He then pointed out that many families can't afford to send their children to private school and are stuck with failing schools. He proposed giving a grant to every family in Rhode Island, so parents can choose which schools they send their children.

NCLB’s teaching-to-the-test hurts children’s learning

WHITEHOUSE: When NCLB passed, there was a promise from the Bush administration that the additional burdens that NCLB puts on the public schools would be funded by the federal government. They broke that promise. As a result, our local schools bear a terrible burden of trying to comply. Arts programs, science programs, music programs, gifted programs--and other things that are important to the learning of children--have been thrown over the side so teachers can teach to that test. We need to fund NCLB and then go back and review how successful the testing program has been at improving education for our kids.

CHAFEE: I do believe that some kind of testing is a good idea--some parameters to see how everyone’s doing at various grade levels.The difficulty is in the funding. If we don’t provide the resources, it ends up going to the local property tax. If we’re going to mandate something at the federal level, we should pay for it

Vouchers are a poor use of scarce federal dollars

A: The Bush administration should keep its promise and fully fund NCLB. I believe that vouchers are a poor use of scarce federal dollars we need to devote more, not less, funding to our public schools, so teachers have the resources they need and our kids get the best education possible

Fully fund No Child Left Behind

“This administration has left our schools short-handed and our kids short-changed,” Whitehouse said. “When I get to Washington I’m going to hold the Republicans’ feet to the fire until full funding for No Child Left Behind becomes a promise kept, not a promise broken.”

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.

$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.

Sponsored extending subsidized federal student loan rates until 2015.

Congressional Summary:Amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to extend the 3.4% interest rate on Federal Direct Stafford loans to loans first disbursed to undergraduate students between July 1, 2011, and July 1, 2015. Replaces the [termination date of] 2013 with 2015.

Proponent's argument for bill:(US PIRG press release): The Student Loan Affordability Act keeps interest rates affordable for students over the next two years. If Congress fails to act by July 1, interest rates on federal Subsidized Stafford Loans will double from 3.4% to 6.8%. That would hike the cost of college by $1,000 per student, per loan, for over 7 million students across the country. The bill pays for extending the current interest rates through 2015 by closing three non-education tax loopholes.

Opponent's argument against bill:(Rep. Tom Cotton, R-AR): Unfortunately, too many students today struggle for years to repay their loans because Washington politicians dictate student-loan rates and end up hurting students and taxpayers alike. It's causing tuition costs to skyrocket, leaving students buried in debt, often without jobs, and forced to delay buying a home and starting a family. As students struggle to repay their loans--regardless of the interest rate--taxpayers are on the hook for a $100 billion bailout--a burden hard-working Arkansans shouldn't have to bear. A better path is to let Arkansas's hometown banks work with students and families to finance higher education, just as they do with homes, farms, businesses, and other loans. I'm committed to bringing affordable higher education to every Arkansan and ending the federal-government monopoly on the student-lending business.

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.