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Joe Biden
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I would scrap it... I would start from the beginning... bottom line here is I would fundamentally change the way we approach this.
One of the things that we all talk about is this achievement gap. We should remind everybody that the day before a black child, a minority child, steps into the classroom, half the achievement gap already exists. The moment they walk into that school, they are already behind.
2007 Democratic Primary Debate at Howard University Jun 28, 2007
The next President will face no more important decisions than his or her appointments to the Supreme Court. Some people said I was too tough on Roberts and Alito last year, but I believe the Senate wasn't tough enough. These two men have turned the Court on its head. Take race and gender discrimination. In recent decisions, they provided the majorities to turn back the clock by fifty years. As President, I will do everything in my power to turn that around. Throughout my career, I have been a strong supporter of affirmative action.
Joe Biden states he has been a strong supporter of affirmative action. That he has fought attempts to ban affirmative action in federal contracts and to bar funds to administer affirmative action programs.
Voted NO on banning affirmative action hiring with federal funds. Voted NO to disallow any funds in the Legislative Appropriations bill from being used to award, require, or encourage any Federal contract, if the contract is being awarded on the basis of the race, color, national origin, or gender of the contractor.
Joe Biden introduced the Class Size Reduction Act of 2007, which would provide $2 billion in funding to hire 100,000 new teachers to reduce class size, particularly in the early grades.
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 to adopt an amendment to the Senate's 2006 Fiscal Year Budget Resolution that would adjust education funding while still reducing the deficit by $5.4 billion. A YES vote would: 1.Restore education program cuts slated for vocational education, adult education, GEAR UP, and TRIO. 2. Increase the maximum Pell Grant scholarship to $4,500 immediately. 3.Increases future math and science teacher student loan forgiveness to $23,000. 4.Pay for the education funding by closing $10.8 billion in corporate tax loopholes
Kennedy amendment relative to education funding; Bill S AMDT 177 to S Con Res 18 ; vote number 2005-68 on Mar 17, 2005
Co-sponsored, with 13 other senators, Empowering Parents Act of 2001, a bipartisan agreement to improve public school education by expanding charter schools and public school choice.The act aims to triple the number of charter schools in the country by 2005 and encourages school districts through grants to enact public school choice.
The Empowering Parents Act focuses on charter schools being public schools, and emphasises the use of charter schools in disadvantaged communities with low performing schools. As with his position on school vouchers, Biden would not support competition the hurt public schools.
To improve education Biden does not talk of charter schools but would support increased public school funding, incentive pay to attract qualified teachers to the profession, and smaller class sizes.
Voted NO on school vouchers in DC. Voted NO on legislation that 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
[W]hen you have an area in the country--and most often here we are talking about inner cities--where the public schools are abysmal or dysfunctional or not working and where most of the children have no way out, it is legitimate to ask what would happen to the public schools with increased competition from private schools and what would happen to the quality of education for the children who live there. [Biden would not support school choice that would hurt public schools.]
To improve education Biden does not talk of using vouchers but would support increased public school funding, incentive pay to attract qualified teachers to the profession, and smaller class sizes.
"A child is more then a test score. So how can you expect our students to build a new economy if all they are doing is filling out bubbles? How can you expect them to think critically if all we are doing is testing their ability to memorize things?"
"We know what we need to do, and its not No Child Left Behind. We have to stop focusing on test scores, a child is more than a test score."
There needs to be performance-based pay. The way to do it is start at the front end. Pay those people who perform in undergraduate school. Give them the alternative to be able to go. They'd get the same pay as an engineer gets to go in and work as a math teacher, or as a science teacher. So you start performance-based pay by, in fact, paying the best- performing students who want to teach and give them a chance. Every other major country in the world is starting these students at the same salary as they start their engineers. We should be able to do that.
2007 Democratic Primary Debate at Howard University Jun 28, 2007
Joe Biden would increase the salaries of new teachers to provide the incentive to stay in the field--and in their schools--by providing them with bonuses in exchange for a five-year commitment. Funding would be targeted to high-need schools to alleviate the teacher attrition problem where it is most severe.
Biden said he wants to see college students paid to become teachers, and then paid as much as they would get if they went into a similar private field. "They'd get the same pay as an engineer gets to go in and work as a math teacher, as a science teacher, et cetera."
Biden's support of performance based pay would not pay current teachers more or less depending on their performance as teachers, but would serve as an incentive to attract new, qualified teachers to the profession.
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.
"We have to pay teachers more."
Voted YES to authorize a federal program aimed at reducing class size. The plan would assist states and local education agencies in recruiting, hiring and training 100,000 new teachers, with $2.4 billion in fiscal 2002. This amendment would replace an amendment allowing parents with children at under-performing schools to use public funding for private tutors.
Bill S1 ; vote number 2001-103 on May 15, 2001
"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 think's it ought to be taught in schools"
Voted NO on requiring schools to allow voluntary prayer. 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
Biden told The News Journal in 2005 that the separation between church and state should not be "messed with."
Biden backs the creation of a U.S. Public Service Academy that would offer a subsidized college education in exchange for five years of public service. Biden stated, "people in public-interest careers, like teaching, should get help repaying student loans"
Biden signed a letter from 43 Senators to the President asking him to fully fund Americorps, which promtes voluntary public service.
Letter from 43 Senators to the President 03-SEN5 on Jun 17, 2003
Biden would expand national service programs to high school students so that they can earn money for college by participating in public service while they are in high school.
Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled an education plan that would keep kids in school for 16 years, giving them an earlier start and providing at least some college...Biden said he wants all Americans to have access to college. He proposed credits and grants up to $12,000 per child to help cover the average costs at a two-year-college, or half of the average costs at a four-year college. His plan would also allow families to claim tax credits for more than one child per year.
U.S. Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) introduced the College ACCESS Act of 2007 today, legislation which will fully cover the average cost of tuition at a public two-year college ($2,300) and cover more than half of the average cost of tuition at a public four-year college ($5,800) for low income and middle class families.
Biden's plan would add two years of preschool to the public school system. It would fully fund Head Start and other early childhood programs, and expand education and nutrition programs that begin at birth. Biden said he believes the earlier children start their education, the better prepared they will be for life. "You've got to start kids at school early. We've gotta give them a better chance," he said.