BIDEN unveiled his Education Plan today in Iowa

[jillan]

Highlights:

Sen. Joe Biden proposed a plan to give every child in America access to 16 years of public education by providing two years of preschool to every child and at least two years of higher education.

Sen. Biden pledged to expand early childhood development programs, including doubling the number of students in Head Start programs and quadrupling the number in Early Head Start and provide grants to states to expand high quality preschool programs.

Sen. Biden would make sure that, at a minimum, all students can afford at least two years of college by providing a $3,000 College ACCESS refund —equivalent to a $12,000 deduction—that would fully cover the average cost of tuition and fees at a two-year college and cover more than half the cost of tuition and fees at a public four-year college. The ACCESS program also provides low-income students with up to $9,300 of tuition assistance a year through the expansion of Pell Grants to $6,300.

Sen. Biden also announced initiatives to reduce class size and improve teacher pay. Joe Biden would hire 100,000 new teachers to reduce the average class size to 18 students, particularly in the early grades, by providing $2 billion a year in grants to states and districts to help them hire more teachers and provide incentives to attract new teachers.

http://www.joebiden.com/newscenter/pressreleases?id=0183

He's not just about foreign policy:hi:

[gateley]

1. I don't know where to access the info, but I've read that Biden is one of the

highest rated on Education. That's SO important. I was astonished to learn of the abysmal ranking of American education compared to other countries.

Thank you for posting this -- sounds good to me! :thumbsup:

[malta blue]

2. Thanks for posting.

:hi:

[Byronic]

3. It's time

as Joe himself has pointed out, to get a teacher in the White House as First Lady.

[jillan]

5. Hi Byronic! Good to see you :)

It would be great to have Dr. Jill Biden as our first lady, someone who really understands the education system.

[PatSeg]

4. I don't know what to say anymore

He has been so busy, I can't keep up with him! He is really on a roll.

[saltpoint]

6. Very good point -- that Joe Biden is strong on quite a few issues and not only

foreign policy.

You'd get a strong domestic policy with Biden as well as the strong foreign policy expertise.

You'd get listenable State-of-the-Union addresses, too.

You'd get a dramatic upgrade across the board, in fact.

I wish Joe Biden every good step of true luck in this campaign and I hope he does well, exceeds all expectations, and serves in this next adminsitration -- either as the top guy or at State or you name it.

[tkmorris]

7. I like the ideas

There are a few flaws however. I've never liked tax manipulations, either through refunds or deductions, to fund programs like his college proposal. It's not bad, but funding the tuition up front would be superior.

Also, $2 billion will not get us 100,000 new teachers. That's only $20,000 per new hire, which won't pay their salary let alone the added costs associated. Reducing class size is a great idea, but where are all of those new smaller classes going to be? School infrastructure is usually inflexible in the number of classrooms in the building, and the number of students per school continues to rise. Locally in South Florida nearly every elementary school already has a flotilla of trailers on the grounds to accommodate more classrooms. Biden's proposal would cost states billions in new construction alone. I'm all for that, but it MUST get paid for. States are already suffering under the burden of unfunded mandates, they cannot afford more.

[illinoisprogressive]

8. I noticed how the media totally ignored this. It makes me angry.

I am for Obama but, I am also just as much for equal time and for the all the candidates to be treated fairly by the press. I am tired of their stupid fixation on the shallow and not giving equal time and presenting all candidates and their positions and plans a fair airing.

[murbley40]

9. kick