Education
“Long before I had daughters of my own, I started working to provide every child in this country - regardless of where they live, how much money their parents make, or the color of their skin - with a first-class public education that will prepare them for higher education or workforce training.
“I believe it's imperative that we set children off on the right foot when it comes to education - investing in programs like Head Start and Pre-Kindergarten pay dividends as they grow older. For decades, I've worked across the aisle to expand access and funding for these critical programs - a fight I continue to wage now.
“We need to ensure that we're preparing Connecticut's students - and those across the country - to compete in the world economy. Reforming the well-intentioned, but poorly-executed "No Child Left Behind" law continues to be my focus, as well as ensuing students with disabilities receive the help they need to get the education they deserve.
“And for those students who chose to go on to college, we must ensure that they have the opportunity to pursue the field about which they are most passionate without struggling under the burden of exorbitant college loans. Expanding access to and the affordability of both Stafford and Pell Grants, particularly during this current economic downturn, isn't something that can fall by the wayside. I've worked to help make college more affordable for Connecticut families throughout my career, and it's something I continue to prioritize for the future of our children, and our nation.”
Early Childhood Education
Leading the Fight For Building An Effective Head Start Program. Chris has long believed that by investing early in our children’s education, we can provide a foundation for learning that will pay dividends throughout a lifetime. Head Start has touched the lives of nearly 20 million children and it has emerged as an important tool for boosting educational achievement both because it promotes education at an early age and because it gets parents involved early in the educational lives of their children. For more than 20 years, Chris has worked across the aisle to expand access to the Head Start program, to ensure that it is fully funded, and to constantly seek new and innovative strategies by facilitating collaboration between Head Start and other early childhood development programs. In 1991, the National Head Start Association named Chris the “Senator of the Decade” for his effort to expand and improve the Head Start program.
Working to Increase Opportunities for Early Education. Chris' commitment to early childhood development has also led him to support efforts aimed at expanding access to early learning, including pre-kindergarten programs. In a testament to the effectiveness of these programs thirty states have created pre-kindergarten programs over the past 25 years. Chris believes that the federal government should aid the states as they seek to expand access to pre-kindergarten programs and he has joined Senator Ted Kennedy in efforts to provide states with additional money for this effort.
K-12 Education Programs
Connecticut is consistently improving. In the last decade, Connecticut’s dropout rate has been cut in half, from 3.5% to 1.7% in 2007. Likewise, 92% of Connecticut’s students graduated in 2007 (up from 88% in 2002), and there were 3.6 students per computer in 2005 (improved from 5 students per computer in 2000).
Championing Efforts to Ensure that Children Attend Safe Schools. In 1993, Chris introduced the “Safe Schools Act” which sought to protect America’s schools from the corrosive effects of drugs and violence. This legislation made grants to the schools for research, program development and evaluation, data collection, and public awareness activities all aimed at reducing the levels of drugs and violence in our schools.
Leding the Fight To Expand, Promote and Protect Afterschool. As Co-Chairman of the bipartisan, bicameral AfterSchool Caucus, Chris has worked to support afterschool programs for children with working parents. For instance, Chris was instrumental in the creation of 21st Century Community Learning Centers – the primary afterschool program – as part of the “No Child Left Behind” Act. This program offered school-age children afterschool opportunities for additional instruction in math, science, and reading.
Spearheading Efforts to Reform the “No Child Left Behind” Education ACT. In 2002, Chris supported the “No Child Left Behind Education” (NCLB) Act because he believed that our education system would benefit from both increased funding an additional accountability. However, he was disappointed with the Bush Administration’s implementation of this important legislation both in terms of how it has been funded and how schools have been measured by it. That is why in 2004 and 2005, he introduced legislation to reform “No Child Left Behind” in ways that would ease the burdens on students, teachers, and administrators without sacrificing the spirit of this law.
Working to Provide Disabled Children with the Educational Resources that they Need and Deserve. Chris has worked to ensure that the federal government lives up to the promises it has made to school children with disabilities. He has worked across the aisle to fashion bipartisan legislation that would require the federal government to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA), which provides funding for disability education in America’s schools and has worked in a bipartisan fashion to provide additional resources to this important program.
Higher Education
Ensuring Students Have Access To College Loans. Chris cosponsored the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of 2008, signed into law, which ensures that FFEL lenders continued to be able to offer Stafford loans during the credit crisis and to ensure that students would be able to get Stafford loans during the same time. It increased the amount of federally subsidized loans available to students. It provided parents with improved access to low-cost federal loans as alternatives to private educational loans and home equity lines of credit.
Leading in the Fight to Make College More Affordable for Middle-Class Families. Chris has long fought to ensure that the dreams of higher education for middle class Americans are not deferred by financial burdens. He has authored legislation that would increase the amount of an individual Pell Grant – one of the most effective grant programs for well-qualified, potential college students. Chris has also fought to reduce student debt by supporting legislation that would cut interest rates on student loans.
Chris Founded the Child Care Means Parents In School (CCAMPIS) Program for Parents Seeking Higher Education. Chris believes that it is important to support our ever-increasing number of double-earner families by guaranteeing that parents have access to quality child care while they are in school. That is why Chris wrote legislation creating the CCAMPIS program to provide for and expand funding for high quality child care at campus-based child care centers.