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On the Issues: Education

For far too long, our schools have been drastically underfunded. In Florida, our public schools have struggled to cope with falling revenues as a result of the national economic crisis and the devastating cuts made by the Florida State Legislature. I am pleased that the 111th Congress has made education one our top priorities.  In order for our nation to remain economically competitive, we must strive to provide every American child with a world-class education. I also support legislative initiatives to make college more affordable for our young people - an issue of great importance to families in Florida. The skyrocketing cost of higher education has put college out of reach for so many young Americans and this is simply unacceptable.

Investing in Education

The 111th Congress has made strategic investments in education that are supported by President Barack Obama - signifying a major departure from the continuous funding cuts made to education by the Bush Administration. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the bold economic stimulus package passed by Congress and signed into law by the President, sets aside historically unprecedented resources for education.

Stimulus provisions for education include:

Preventing Teacher Layoffs - The recovery plan creates a $53.6 billion state fiscal stabilization fund that will help school districts prevent teacher layoffs, launch renovation projects, and cope with cuts made by state legislatures. In fact, I recently joined school district officials from Palm Beach County to announce millions of dollars in funding for South Florida public schools. Click here to read more about funding for South Florida schools.

Refurbishing and Updating School Facilities - The recovery plan includes a new category of tax credit bonds for the construction, rehabilitation, and repair of public school facilities.

College Affordability - The recovery package expands higher education tax credits that keep the doors of college open to the children of middle class American families. It expands the "American Opportunity" tax credit to a maximum of $2,500 rather, instead of $1,800, provides more funding for Pell Grants, and adds $200 million to the vital work study program that supports undergraduate and graduate students who work while being in college.

Early Childhood Development - Research consistently shows that early childhood education is a wise investment for the tax-payer. Children who have access to pre-school education perform academically superior, throughout their lives, in comparison to children without early childhood education. For this reason, the stimulus provides $2.1 billion for Head Start, one of the most successful programs that serve low-income preschool children. There is also an additional $2 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant, which provides child care services to low-income parents who go to work.

Building Green Schools

Research consistently tells us that students who go to schools with modern, updated facilities, technologies, and equipment perform better than students who go to schools that are outdated and dilapidated. For this reason, I was proud to support the 21st Century Green-High Performing Public Schools Act of 2009.

The bill passed the House, and is now up for consideration in the Senate. If passed and signed into law by President Obama, this legislation would provide South Florida schools with much-needed funds to launch energy efficient construction projects. The Palm Beach County School District would receive over $16 million and the Broward County School District with over $26 million from this program. 

Tax-payers will see longterm benefits to building energy efficient schools. They will reduce utilities costs paid by school districts and in the long run could prevent hikes in property taxes - a concern of many families in South Florida. Not only do energy efficient schools save money, but they also help reduce emissions that contribute to global climate change.

Click here to read about Congressman Wexler's stance on the No Child Left Behind 2007 Reauthorization.