Bernie Sanders On Education: 5 Things The Presidential Candidate Wants You To Know
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is challenging front-runner Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democrat party presidential nomination. Though he is a registered Independent and is proud to call himself a democratic socialist, he will run as a Democrat. In his campaign announcement today he called once again for a move to “make college tuition in public universities and public colleges free.”
He has not had much to say recently on the hot-button issues of school choice, Common Core curriculum standards, charter schools or vouchers, but over the years he has decried a move toward “privatizing” education. Before his election to the Senate in 2006, he served as Vermont’s lone Congressman and voted against voucher programs and for No Child Left Behind. Here are some of his views on education:
Federal spending to cut college tuition:
If the federal government were to invest $18 billion a year, with a dollar-for-dollar match from state governments, we would slash college tuition in the United States by more than half. Many of my colleagues in Washington would look at that number – $18 billion a year – and tell you that we can’t afford to make that kind of investment in our nation’s young people. To put it simply, they are wrong. In the budget proposal President Obama released two weeks ago, he requested $561 billion for the Department of Defense – $38 billion over budget caps that are currently in place. If we were to reduce the President’s proposed increase in military spending by less than half, and instead invest that money in educational opportunities for today’s college students, we could cut tuition by 55%. So I challenge all of you… ask yourselves, where should our priorities lie?
If the federal government were to invest $18 billion a year, with a dollar-for-dollar match from state governments, we would slash college tuition in the United States by more than half. Many of my colleagues in Washington would look at that number – $18 billion a year – and tell you that we can’t afford to make that kind of investment in our nation’s young people. To put it simply, they are wrong. In the budget proposal President Obama released two weeks ago, he requested $561 billion for the Department of Defense – $38 billion over budget caps that are currently in place. If we were to reduce the President’s proposed increase in military spending by less than half, and instead invest that money in educational opportunities for today’s college students, we could cut tuition by 55%. So I challenge all of you… ask yourselves, where should our priorities lie?
University of Iowa speech, February 2015
Student debt:
In my view, the most revolting aspect of the student loan crisis is that every year, the federal government makes billions of dollars in profits off of student loans – $127 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. We must end the practice of the government making billions in profits from student loans taken out by low and moderate income families. That is extremely regressive public policy. It also makes no sense that students and their parents are forced to pay interest rates for higher education loans that are much higher than they pay for car loans or housing mortgages. We must restructure our student loan programs to take the profits out of our system, and return them to borrowers in the form of loan forgiveness and lower interest rates.
Today’s borrowers should be able to refinance their student loans at much lower interest rates. This will allow millions of people to pay off their debt sooner, and have more money to buy a car, buy a house, or invest in their own children’s future education.
University of Iowa speech, February 2015
Teacher pay:
The great moral, economic and political issue of our time is the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality we are experiencing. Something is very wrong when, last year, the top 25 hedge fund managers earned more than the combined income of 425,000 public school teachers. We have got to get our priorities right.
Facebook post, February 2015
Pre-school:
There is perhaps no issue more important than how we educate our youth. I am very concerned that, on many levels, we are failing our youth. We must do away with the Bernie Sanders On Education: 5 Things The Presidential Candidate Wants You To Know - Forbes:
Today’s borrowers should be able to refinance their student loans at much lower interest rates. This will allow millions of people to pay off their debt sooner, and have more money to buy a car, buy a house, or invest in their own children’s future education.
University of Iowa speech, February 2015
Teacher pay:
The great moral, economic and political issue of our time is the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality we are experiencing. Something is very wrong when, last year, the top 25 hedge fund managers earned more than the combined income of 425,000 public school teachers. We have got to get our priorities right.
Facebook post, February 2015
Pre-school:
There is perhaps no issue more important than how we educate our youth. I am very concerned that, on many levels, we are failing our youth. We must do away with the Bernie Sanders On Education: 5 Things The Presidential Candidate Wants You To Know - Forbes:
