Burlington, VT - Joined by U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Democratic candidate for Congress Peter Welch laid out his education agenda and accepted the endorsement from the Vermont-NEA.

Dodd, who is a leader on education and children,s issues in the U.S. Senate as a senior member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the senior Democrat on its Education and Early Childhood Development Subcommittee, joined Peter in his call for reversing the cuts imposed by the Bush Congress on student aid, reforming No Child Left Behind (NCLB), and supporting funding increases for math and science education.

"Educational opportunity leads to economic opportunity. This is why one of government,s greatest responsibilities is to assure that all children, regardless of wealth or where they live, have access to high quality public education from kindergarten through college," said Welch.

"I am committed to helping provide educational opportunities for all Vermont children. I am firmly committed to the tradition of local control of education. However, the federal government can and must be an effective partner with state and local governments and must not impose unfunded mandates," added Welch.

Dodd noted, "With Peter Welch,s experience and leadership in Congress we can get America,s education system back on track. Peter has a clear vision for how Congress can support local education, and I look forward to working with him on these common sense initiatives."

Today, Welch also formally received the endorsement of the Vermont-NEA. The 11,500 member organization supported Welch because of "his decades of work supporting issues important to education, from school funding to health care reform and the fiscal integrity of the teacher pension program."

The NEA board also noted, "Martha Rainville,s lack of experience and public record in all these areas and had concerns about her probable support of current controversial Republican measures, as indicated by her statement..." [Vermont-NEA News Release, 8.7.06]

Welch outlined the following priorities for education reform:

Making higher education affordable. Welch believes Congress must reverse the $12 billion in cuts to student aid imposed by the Republican Congress, the largest cut to student aid in history. As college education costs continue to rise, these funding cuts widen the affordability gap for low and middle income Vermonters. The Republicans in Washington also proposed cuts to three major higher education affordability programs that would cut Vermont,s funding from $8.3 million to $2.7 million and affect some 6,800 Vermont families.

In addition, Welch believes the maximum Pell Grant should be increased to at least $5,100 and interest rates on Stafford and other loans should be reduced. As part of the same cut to student aid, Congress raised interest rates on new Stafford loans to 6.8%, imposing a nearly $3,000 bill on Vermont borrowers [Wall Street Journal, 12.22.05 and Institute for America,s Future, 7.06].

"I have a strong record of supporting higher education in Vermont and working for educational opportunity for all Vermonters. This is the same commitment I will take to Washington," said Welch.

Reforming No Child Left Behind to focus on flexibility and funding. Welch supports the goal of NCLB that we must help every child succeed. However, in its current form, NCLB fails states, educators, and students by failing to provide the flexibility and funding they need to succeed. The one size fits all approach disregards our tradition of local control or the differences that occur state to state, town to town and school to school. The implementation requirements are confusing, inflexible and unrealistic. Equally problematic is the failure to provide the funding necessary for success. Since enactment, NCLB has been under funded by about $40 billion [Center for American Progress]. Welch pledged to work on needed reforms, including performance measurements other than test scores, a reasonable teacher certification process, and assuring NCLB and special education mandates on states are fully funded.

"When the 2007 No Child Left Behind Act reauthorization process begins, I intend to inject some Vermont common sense into this failed legislation," added Welch.

Increasing math, science and language education to train future workforce. Welch believes the federal government can play an important role in the economy through education by increasing funding for math, science, and language education. Countless Vermont business leaders have highlighted the need for employees trained in math, science, and technology. The jobs of the future require these skills and investing in math and science education can help the business community meet their needs while providing young people will skills for well-paying jobs in Vermont. Welch believes science, math, technology, and language education must be a priority to maintain our economic competitiveness in the world and continue to advance in the development of renewable energy, high-tech jobs, success in the global economy and other industries of the future.

For more on Welch,s position and record on education, click here.