EDUCATION

In 2007, Congress passed legislation reauthorizing Head Start.  Senator Sanders worked closely with Head Start teachers, parents and administrators to make sure that the bill expanded eligibility for Head Start, included increased funding allotments for the program, and included greater flexibility to use funds for Early Head Start (ages 0-3). 

In the same year, as a member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Senator Sanders vigorously supported and helped craft the higher education legislation, which became law in August 2007.  The legislation represented the largest expansion of federal support for college students since the GI bill was passed over 40 years earlier.  Sanders worked to reduce the costs of the federal loan programs by shrinking subsidies to lenders to pay for increased Pell grants, which make college more affordable and accessible to low- and moderate-income students.  At the same time, he strongly supported reducing the interest rate on federally-supported student loans. Sanders championed the creation of a new loan forgiveness program in which loans would be cancelled for college graduates who stay in public service jobs – including nursing, education, and law enforcement – for a decade.  The legislation provided $17 billion in additional college aid, including $34.2 million over five years in new Pell grants for students attending colleges and universities in Vermont. Another $26.7 million is allotted for increased loans to Vermont students.

In 2007 and 2008, the HELP Committee consider the question of whether to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.  Senator Sanders strongly opposes the testing regimen NCLB has put in place, because it greatly narrows school and classroom curricula and makes ‘teaching to the test’ the basis of many courses in the public schools.  He also strongly believes that the federal government should be helping schools, not punishing them with penalties, by deeming them ‘failing,’ and by withholding funds from the schools which need them most, as NCLB mandates.  Likewise, he opposes the ‘unfunded mandates’ in NCLB which require that local schools do things without providing funds to pay for what the federal government requires.

Learn more about Senator Sanders’ efforts to improve our educational opportunities: