Mike Honda's Education Accomplishments

Summary: Mike has spent over thirty years in education as a teacher, a vice-principal, a principal, and a school board member. In 2000, Mike brought his commitment to children and improving our students’ education to Congress where he serves on the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee advocating for increased funding for education and responsible education reform.

Mike was born in California, but spent his early childhood with his family in an internment camp in Colorado during World War II. His family returned to California in 1953, becoming strawberry sharecroppers in San Jose.

In 1965, Mike interrupted his college studies to answer President Kennedy’s call for volunteer service. As a Peace Corps volunteer, he spent two years building schools in El Salvador, which sparked Mike’s lifelong passion for teaching and the educational process.

When he returned, he earned a Masters Degree in Education from San Jose State University, after which Mike taught science in Sunnyvale, CA; performed education research at Stanford University, and served as a principal in San Jose.

In 1981, Mike was elected to the San Jose Unified School Board, on which he served for 9 years. He subsequently served on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors from 1990-1996 and for four years on the California Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials Commission.

In 1996, Mike was elected to the California State Assembly where he served on the Committee on Education, and helped draft legislation to reduce class size and increase teachers’ benefits. In the Assembly, Mike secured funding to bring Plugged-In, a national award-winning program using technology to enhance education, to the underserved area of East Palo Alto.

Mike was elected to Congress in 2000. From 2001-2006, he served on the House Science Committee, which has jurisdiction over science education efforts at the National Science Foundation, NASA, NOAA, and other federal science agencies.

In 2007, he earned a seat on the powerful Appropriations Committee, where he is a member of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science. Together, these subcommittees fund virtually all federal education efforts.

Mike’s legislative record is broad and diverse, reflecting his passion to improve education in all facets and his commitment to bringing equity to our educational system:

Educational Accomplishments

• As a former classroom teacher and principal, Mike has spent many decades observing the inequality in the education provided by different schools within states, counties, and even a single school district. These disparities have detrimental national consequences when all students are not provided with equitable resources in order to assure a high quality education.
  
  To address these disparities, Mike introduced The Citizens’ Educational Equity Commission Act to identify solutions for eliminating the inequitable distribution of resources among our schools. This legislation will create a Commission to gather insights and public opinions about how the government can improve education, establish equity, and meet the needs of each student. This group will be charged with holding hearings and community meetings across the country to explore this issue in depth, seeking input, and developing strategies for Congress to guarantee equity in our education system.
• As a member of the Appropriations Committee, Mike has worked to address educational disparities through his continued efforts to secure full funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that began when he first came to Congress. In 2001, as a member of the Budget Committee, he spearheaded a bipartisan effort to get full funding for IDEA included in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). He has also insistently advocated for increased education funding for NCLB and increasing access to higher education.
• Mike also believes our nation must commit to increasing and improving and increasing the quality, quantity, and diversity of the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) workforce if we are to sustain and strengthen America’s ability to compete in the global economy.
  
  In 2008, he joined with Sen. Barack Obama to introduce the Enhancing STEM Education Act which seeks to enhance the coordination among state and federal governments to improve STEM education by creating an Office of STEM at the Department of Education, instituting a voluntary State Consortium on STEM education, and creating a National STEM Education Research Repository. This infrastructure will foster collaboration and allow states to work together to establish common STEM education goals. The bill is supported by numerous national, state, and local education and science and technology groups.
• Mike urged the DNC Platform Committee to ensure that the 2008 Democratic Platform addresses the inequitable distribution of resources to our schools; focuses on the recruitment, retention, training and investment in teachers; makes STEM education a priority; embraces English Language Learners rather than dismissing them; supports a student-centered classroom through restructuring the school day and calendar; and comprehensively reforms NCLB.
• In 2007, in anticipation of the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, Mike made a number of recommendations to the Education and Labor Committee regarding changes to NCLB in order to make it more effective. Some specific recommendations he submitted include:
  • ensuring a comprehensive curriculum rather than teaching to the test;
  • allowing Multiple Indicators and Diversified Assessments to count for 50% of AYP;
  • including Science in the subjects used to measure Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP);
  • performing assessments in the native language of the top five primary languages of English Language Learners in the state; and
  • having the Government Accountability Office study the feasibility of reporting data on the Asian American and Pacific Islander population disaggregated by subpopulation
  The committee continues to review these and other suggestions for improving NCLB.
• Mike believes that global warming is the most significant threat to our environment, and that education will be an essential element in the fight against climate change. To provide clear information about global warming, Mike introduced the Global Warming Education Act, which would create a global warming education program within the National Science Foundation that would include the development of educational materials for use in schools. Senator Barack Obama introduced a Senate companion to this bill. Mike offered a version of the Global Warming Education Act as an amendment to the National Science Foundation Reauthorization Act on the House floor, where it was adopted by the House.
• To address concerns about America’s competitive position in the global economy, Mike introduced the INVENT Act (Innovations for our Nation’s Vital Educational Needs for Technology) in both the 109th and 110th Congress). The bill sought to develop curriculum tools for use in teaching innovation and fostering inventiveness at the K-16 level and to study the process of innovation and teaching of inventiveness. Provisions of the INVENT Act were included in the America COMPETES Act, which was signed into law in 2007.
• Mike initially authored the Student Privacy Protection Act of 2005 to reverse a little known provision of the No Child Left Behind Act which requires school districts to give military recruiters the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of students, unless their parents “opt-out” of the list. Parents were frustrated that their children were persistently being contacted at home by military recruiters. Mike feels that we should honor both the recruiting needs of our military and the privacy of families by making this an “opt-in” system and he continues to push to have this change included in the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind. He reintroduced the bill in the 110th Congress.
• In 2003, Mike introduced the Teacher Mentoring Act. Through bipartisan negotiations, he was able to get the bill, which authorized grants to local educational agencies for teacher mentoring programs, included in the Ready to Teach Act, which was passed by the House of Representatives.
• In 2001, Mike authored the National Education Technology (NET) Corps Act, to expand the Corporation for National Service by creating a NET Corps to facilitate the use of information technology in schools, libraries, and community centers. He was ultimately able to get a provision enacted into law to authorize funds to provide grants to university students with specific skills to assist schoolteachers to better employ technology in classroom instruction.
• Seeking to bring reform and innovation to schools and educational organizations in the Silicon Valley region, Mike has secured funding for original projects such as: the Synopsis Silicon Valley Science and Technology Outreach Foundation; the Resource Area for Teachers; Santa Clara University’s Learning Commons and Library; the City of San Jose Child Care Tax Credit Outreach and Education Program; the Tech Museum of Innovation’s Virtual Science Theater; renovations to the De Anza College planetarium; the Center for Training and Careers; San Jose Early Start/Great Start; Central County Occupational Center’s fire science education program; and San Jose State University for educating the next generation of weather forecasters.

In 2007 the NEA awarded Mike the Human and Civil Rights Award for fighting for equity in education. He has consistently received top grades on his voting record from NEA and AFT. As a member of the Congressional Democratic Caucus Education Task Force, Mike supported full funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, for which he was honored with the Committee for Education Funding Outstanding New Member Award in 2002. Mike has been honored and acknowledged for his work in education throughout his career. While serving in the Assembly in 1999, the California Teachers Association named him Legislator of the Year.