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Christopher Dodd on Education
This candidate has withdrawn from the election
Education is the single most important issue our nation is facing.
To produce high performing students, we need safe and cutting-edge schools. By making $25 billion available for the construction of new schools and the modernization of existing schools, the Dodd plan will ensure that every child goes to school in a state-of-the-art learning environment.
Voted YES on $5B for grants to local educational agencies. Voted YES to provide an additional $5 billion for title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Voting YES would provide; 1. 2.5 billion for targeting grants to local educational agencies. 2. $2.5 billion for education finance incentive grants.
Elementary and Secondary Education Amendment; Bill S Amdt 2275 to HR 3010 ; vote number 2005-269 on Oct 26, 2005
Voted YES on spending $448B of tax cut on education & debt reduction. Voted YES to reduce the size of the $1.6 trillion tax cut by $448 billion while increasing education spending by $250 billion and providing an increase of approximately $224 billion for debt reduction over 10 years.
Bill H Con Res 83 ; vote number 2001-69 on Apr 4, 2001
I'm a believer that we need to have fundamental reform of No Child Left Behind, and start measuring growth, not abandoning schools that aren't doing well, and providing far less rigid criteria when it comes to highly qualified teachers.
2007 Democratic primary debate on "This Week" Aug 19, 2007
Getting the No Child Left Behind law right is where we ought to focus our attention, so that we have resources coming back to our states. You measure growth in a child. You invest in failing schools. But I would not scrap it entirely. Accountability is very important in this country. We ought not to abandon that idea.
2007 YouTube Democratic Primary debate, Charleston SC Jul 23, 2007
"I will fully fund No Child Left Behind."
"Over the last three congresses I have offered the No Child Left Behind Reform Act. Which has been endorsed by most or an awful lot of the education groups -- including the NEA and AFT and the like... I like the goals of No Child Left Behind because it is the idea of a greater accountability of children actually getting a sense of accountability, parents and others of how we are moving along... The problem with No Child Left Behind is its rigidity. We're not allowing children to be judged based on growth, instead of a snap-shot of where they are at any given day. But how is that child doing? They enter a class in September, are they improving over those weeks and months?"
The Connecticut senator's education plan also would pay teachers an extra $25,000 for teaching in high-need schools for five years and lengthen some students' school day by one-third. [Dodd supports paying teacher more for working in high-need schools]
By paying for the cost of national board certification for any teacher who commits to teach in a high need school for five years and providing them with a salary supplement of $10,000 a year, the Dodd plan will ensure that every school has experienced teachers. [Dodd supports pay increases for teachers who commits to teach in high need schools and supports paying for their board certification.]
"It's time we have leadership that understands that test scores alone are not the only measure of a students achievement."
I recognize that, all too often, like many of our flawed educational practices, our tests cater first to adults and their conveniences. That's especially the case when there's a single, rigid definition of success: No one test can ever take the full measure of a child. But we could come a lot closer if we used the full array of measures available to us.
Voted NO on allowing more flexibility in federal school rules. This vote was a motion to invoke cloture on a bill aimed at allowing states to waive certain federal rules normally required in order to use federal school aid. [A YES vote implies support of charter schools and vouchers]. Status: Cloture Motion Rejected Y)55; N)39; NV)6
Motion to Invoke cloture on Jeffords Amdt #31; Bill S. 280 ; vote number 1999-35 on Mar 9, 1999
Support and expand the number of public charter schools.
Charter schools can be great education partners, as long as we insist that they have the same standards of accountability and access as other public schools.[Supports using charter schools as a partner and form of public schools.]
Voted NO on allowing more flexibility in federal school rules.This vote was a motion to invoke cloture on a bill aimed at allowing states to waive certain federal rules normally required in order to use federal school aid. [A YES vote implies support of charter schools and vouchers]. Status: Cloture Motion Rejected Y)55; N)39; NV)6
Motion to Invoke cloture on Jeffords Amdt #31; Bill S. 280 ; vote number 1999-35 on Mar 9, 1999
Oppose private school tuition vouchers. We can't afford, nor should we spend taxpayer money to support private schools, especially when funding for vouchers compete with much-needed investments in public schools.
"Voted NO on school vouchers in DC. This legislation would have amended the DC spending measure, imposing an unconstitutional school voucher program on the District. Status: Cloture Motion Rejected Y)58; N)41; NV)1"
DC Appropriations Act; Bill S. 1156 ; vote number 1997-260 on Sep 30, 1997
"After Republican debate Anderson Cooper, James Carville (CNN political analyst), and Ralph Reed (Republican strategist) discuss the debate and the Democratic candidate's position on evolution: Carville: Every Democratic candidate believes in evolution. Obviously, every Democratic candidate believes in evolution. Every Democratic candidate thinks it ought to be taught in schools."
The reality that our public educational system is today a segregated system and that we have not taken enough leadership over the years to understand the great damage that has done to our country... To say today that you're going to exclude race as a means of allowing for the diversity in our communities is a major step backwards. [We need to] get back on the track to see to it that our country once again will identify with unity as a nation, blind, if you will, to the racial distinctions in our society. That's the only way we're going to deal with the new frontiers of the 21st century: the barrios, the ghettos, and the reservations of our society.
2007 Democratic Primary Debate at Howard University Jun 28, 2007
Diversity benefits all children and improves educational quality. In our increasingly global society, a greater understanding of other cultures is not simply a benefit, but a necessity. I have long supported affirmative action in higher education because I believe our colleges have an obligation to foster a multicultural environment and prepare our children for lives as members of a diverse society.
Another key to access to higher education is affirmative action.
I would like to see that we apply additional resources to teachers who will go into the tougher schools in rural or urban America, where they need better teachers coming in, and provide some additional incentives for them, including pay & including the criteria that they have to meet to do so. But I'm not in favor necessarily of giving more preference for a teacher that's performing somewhat better.
2007 Democratic primary debate on "This Week" Aug 19, 2007
The Dodd plan will double the number of nationally board certified teachers and incentivize them to go where they are needed most low performing, high poverty schools. By paying for the cost of national board certification for any teacher who commits to teach in a high need school for five years and providing them with a salary supplement of $10,000 a year, the Dodd plan will ensure that every school has experienced teachers.
I fear that instituting a merit pay system may encourage teaching to the test and discourage teachers from working in schools with large numbers of disadvantaged students.
I would like to see that we apply additional resources to teachers who will go into the tougher schools in rural or urban America, where they need better teachers coming in, and provide some additional incentives for them, including pay & including the criteria that they have to meet to do so. But I'm not in favor necessarily of giving more preference for a teacher that's performing somewhat better.
2007 Democratic primary debate on "This Week" Aug 19, 2007
The service of all our public school teachers is meritorious and deserves our support. I fear that instituting a merit pay system may encourage teaching to the test and discourage teachers from working in schools with large numbers of disadvantaged students. As the principle [sic] author of the No Child Left Behind Reform Act, I believe that we should instead focus our reform efforts on measuring school performance based on individual student's growth, targeting resources to where they are most needed, and adding a greater degree of common sense to the teacher certification process.
Voted NO on requiring schools to allow voluntary prayer. Bill would have cut off federal funds to school districts that deny students their right to constitutionally protected voluntary prayer
Bill S.1513 ; vote number 1994-236 on Jul 27, 1994
Dodd has repeatedly voted against measures advocating school prayer in public schools, including a 1984 constitutional amendment that would have authorized periods of vocal prayer and a 1994 bill to require schools to allow voluntary school prayer.
Dodd's proposal would mandate community service as a requirement to graduate high school. It would double the size of the Peace Corps, increase the number of AmeriCorps members and create a new Rapid Response Reserve Corps to respond to emergencies in the U.S. It would create and expand programs for volunteerism from middle school students to senior citizens.
Proposes American Community Initiative: I will ask you to be a part of something larger then ourselves once again. All Americans should serve our country. As president I will ask all Americans to share in the responsibility and sacrifice of bringing our nation together again to create the fist generation in history in which every American serves their country.
He is calling for a new American Community Initiative, a comprehensive national service plan that will draw upon the very best of our character to call Americans to service. The Dodd plan will: 1. Promote the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNS) to Cabinet level status. 2. Mandate community service as a requirement for high school graduation. 3. Double the size of the Peace Corps and create a Rapid Response Reserve Corps made up of all national service alumni, as well as retired military and National Guard personnel, to respond to disasters and emergencies in America, whenever and wherever they occur. 4. Dramatically increase the number of AmeriCorps members to 1,000,000 and raise the education award to reflect the skyrocketing cost of tuition. 5. Build corporate-community partnerships by offering tax credits to employers who provide their workers with paid time off to perform community service. 6. Create a new Senior Heroes Program that will provide older Americans with a $1,000 education award to further their own education or that of a deserving child.