Democratic Party on Education

By Patrick D. "Pat" Schwab

All children deserve a quality education that fully develops their abilities, prepares them to succeed in an increasingly competitive global marketplace, and empowers them to contribute to their communities and the nation.

In order to fulfill this agenda, Democrats have introduced legislation to improve Head Start, promote teacher excellence, and make college more affordable. Democrats have also supported amendments to fund: 1) successful programs the Bush Administration has proposed to eliminate; and 2) important new measures to improve the quality of our schools.

Ready to Learn

Democrats are working to help students become ready to learn and to encourage parental involvement.

• Democrats are working to expand opportunities for more eligible children to participate in Head Start and Early Head Start and enhance the quality of Head Start teachers.

• Democrats want to make successful after-school programs available to more students, which will provide them with a safe and supervised environment and help improve academic performance and lower drop-out rates.

• To enhance parental involvement, Democrats are strong supporters of programs like Even Start, which is a family literacy program that integrates early childhood education and adult education, and Parental Information and Resource Centers, which provide parents, educators and others the information and assistance they need to understand how children develop and how they can succeed in school.

• Today, about 50 percent of eligible children are shut out of Head Start programs because of inadequate funds. (National Head Start Association) Head Start has not received a substantial funding increase during the Bush Administration. (Congressional Research Service, June 7, 2005)

• Republicans will deny about 1.5 million children access to after-school programs because the President has requested only $991 million for 21st Century Community Learning Centers, which is below the authorized funding level. (Estimate by Democratic staff of the Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee) The Bush Administration is proposing to eliminate parental involvement programs like Even Start and Parental Information and Resource Centers. (Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Proposal)

Democrats are working to improve teacher quality.

• Democrats would increase the number of high-quality math, science, and special education teachers in high-need schools by guaranteeing up to $23,000 in student loan forgiveness in exchange for four years of teaching.

• Democrats want to identify the best teachers, including establishing new professional roles such as mentor and master teachers, implement programs to successfully transition new teachers into the classroom, and to help states recruit and train new principals. Republican proposals for teacher readiness are inadequate and marred by cuts to other teacher programs.

• The Bush Administration's loan forgiveness proposal for math, science and special education teachers is smaller than what Democrats have proposed. (Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Proposal)

• While the Bush Administration has proposed a Teacher Incentive Fund to attract teachers to high-poverty schools, it is proposing no funding increase for the Improving Teacher Quality State Grants program and is proposing the elimination of the Teacher Quality Enhancement program, which improves recruitment, preparation and support of teachers; the Ready to Teach program, which improves teaching in core curriculum areas through innovative video programming; and the School Leadership program, which supports recruiting and training principals and assistant principals. (Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Proposal)

Democrats are offering solutions to make college affordable for working families struggling to pay escalating college costs.

• Democrats want to increase the maximum Pell Grant to $5,100 and reverse a Bush Administration formula change that is decreasing Pell Grant awards for many students and eliminating eligibility for others.

• Democrats also want to make college more affordable by expanding the deduction for college tuition, creating a tax credit for student loan interest payments, increasing access to HOPE and Lifetime Learning tax credits, and supporting state need-based aid through the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership (LEAP) program.

• To make college more accessible to all, Democrats support adequately funding GEAR UP and the TRIO programs, which provide services to help disadvantaged students complete high school ready to enter and succeed in college. Republicans are failing to respond adequately to the college affordability problem.

• The Bush Administration has proposed only a $100 increase in the maximum Pell Grant award for each of the next five years, which is less than what President promised during his 2000 campaign. (Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Proposal) Moreover, the Administration has revised the Pell Grant formula in a way that will deny eligibility to some students and reduce Pell Grant awards for many others. (Government Accountability Office, March 22, 2005)

• The Administration has proposed eliminating other programs designed to ensure that students are ready to succeed, such as GEAR UP and two major TRIO programs, the LEAP program, and Perkins loans. (Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Proposal)