The People's Budget Supports Education

Not One Penny to billionaire corporations that seek to privatize education and starve our public schools or corporations that work to divert money for education to corporate subsidies.

Investing in students’ ability to learn is one of the most important investments we can make. The People’s Budget invests in our students by providing robust early learning opportunities, effective 21st century public schools and debt-free college. All kids, regardless of their zip code, deserve access to quality schools.

Teachers and educational professionals deserve ample support to ensure they can enable student success. The People’s Budget also prioritizes access to higher education opportunities and puts forward a proposal to ensure students are not leaving college riddled with unmanageable debt.

Child Care and Early Education for All — This budget invests $1 trillion to ensure that families are able to afford high quality child care and early education for their children. This budget ensures that families will not have to pay more than 10 percent of their income for child care, whether that care is at home or at a child care center. The People’s Budget prioritizes middle class and working class families through targeted benefits and credits. Importantly, our budget address the unacceptably low wages child care workers receive by creating a payment structure to ensure these workers a living wage.

Full Funding for Early Head Start — The People’s Budget helps struggling families get a strong start in the critical prenatal to toddler years. Fully funding this successful program will provide continuous and comprehensive services ensuring families are engaged in their children’s learning and are ready to support their lifelong success. The current shortfall in funding results in quality and equity gaps across our states. Through fully funding Head Start, our budget aims to attack this problem head on.

Universal Pre-K — This Budget provides universal access to quality pre-k programs, which will expand social mobility by helping low-income and at-risk students read and write at the same rates as their peers. Additionally, our budget seeks to full invest in Preschool Development Grants to ensure that our young children are receiving the educational opportunities they deserve.  

IDEA Full Funding — The CPC Budget fulfills the original promise of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) by ensuring that children with disabilities have access to a free, high-quality public education. Robust Title I Funding — Our budget upholds our nation’s commitment to public education by fully funding Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Title I is the most powerful mechanism available for driving improvements in educational outcomes for poor children.

Support for Our Educators — The People’s Budget provides professional development, resources, and support for all school personnel. These investments will promote best-practices and allow educators to effectively serve diverse learners, as well as foster and sustain an environment that allows all students to learn successfully.

Computer Science for All — The CPC Budget expands access to computer science in public education by financing teacher training and ongoing professional development. This funding will build capacity and generate inclusive, high-quality instructional materials to engage every child pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade to ensure that our students are equipped with the computational thinking skills required in a 21st century economy. Additionally, The People’s Budget fully supports Congresswoman Lee’s Computer Science for All bill, which would authorize new competitive grants to school districts and states for STEM programs that have a particular focus on increasing access to girls and students of color.

Student Loan Refinancing – The People’s Budget allows students to refinance their loans at lower rates and allows private borrowers to shift to more affordable government loans. Allowing student borrowers to reduce their debt will free up income for purchases and will have a job creating ripple effect throughout the entire economy.

Makes Debt Free College A Reality and Reduces Student Loan Interest Rates — The People’s Budget supports efforts such as Rep. Jayapal’s College for All Act which provides $41 billion per year for states and tribes to eliminate undergraduate tuition and fees at public colleges and universities. Under this legislation, more than 80% of students from families making up to $125,000 a year would be able to attend a public four-year college tuition and fee free. This bill would also reduce new borrower interest rates to just 1.88%.

Further, the budget supports robust funding for federal student aid programs to ensure that students with the greatest need are able to access higher education. By treating higher education as a public good worth investing in, we can once again make higher education accessible to all.