Warren's education policy proposals links housing and education

Warren's education policy proposals links housing and education

Elizabeth Warren shows she understands education in ways charter advocates did not
Linking housing and education gets at the root of the problem in our education system

Wast week, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren released a federal education policy proposal that recognizes a fundamental truth about students: Kids don’t live in schools, they live in communities. In addition to matters of curriculum and instruction, factors outside the school — food, housing, transportation, safety, recreation — also affect the degree to which students learn. It’s hard to do homework when you don’t have a home to go to. Education policy that ignores neighborhood conditions misses the point of why we ultimately go to school — to improve our community.

Warren’s plan, A Great Public School Education for Every Student, is one of the most comprehensive education policy proposals by a presidential candidate I’ve ever seen. The cornerstone of the plan is a massive increase in the roughly $16 billion in federal funding allocated to the Title I program, targeted at schools with high concentrations of low-income students. The plan would quadruple the current yearly funding, adding $450 billion over the next 10 years.

Warren’s proposal also calls for an additional $20 billion for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which provides fiscal resources and legal protections for students with special needs. Her education plan works in tandem with her equally robust housing proposal to get at the heart of racial disparities in education. CONTINUE READING: Warren's education policy proposals links housing and education