SOTU Analysis: Educating our children
In this series of blog posts, Senator Coons’ legislative staff shares their analysis of the President’s State of the Union address with Delawareans.
In his State of the Union address, President Obama proposed making high-quality preschool education available to every child in America. Research shows that high-quality early education can have a meaningful impact on a young person's life.
Senator Coons is a strong believer in the importance of early childhood education. He is a co-sponsor the Supporting State Systems of Early Learning Act, legislation authored by Senator Bob Casey to promote state investment in early learning and help states build and strengthen systems of high-quality early learning and development programs.
Delaware is a national leader in early childhood education and in December 2011 was named a winner in the Race to the Top — Early Learning Challenge.
In addition to investing in early learning, President Obama focused his State of the Union remarks on meeting the critical challenge of making higher education more affordable and accessible for more students – something Chris has been working on since before he was elected to the Senate.
President Obama called on Congress to "change the Higher Education Act, so that affordability and value are included in determining which colleges receive certain types of federal aid” and announced the launch of a new White House college scorecard to help students and parents see where they can get the most “educational bang for their buck.”
Chris worked with Republicans and Democrats to introduce the American Dream Accounts Act, legislation that would help increase the number of low-income students able to access and complete a college education.