Today, the U.S. House passed an amendment offered by Rep. Tom Perriello to the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act that seeks to address geographic disparities in early childhood education. Perriello supported the overall bill, which will expand access to affordable college education, increase early education opportunities, and build on a first-class community college system—while saving taxpayers $10 billion. Also, the bill invests $88.4 million in Virginia’s Fifth District over the next ten years through increasing the maximum annual Pell Grant scholarship for students to $5,550 in 2010 and to $6,900 by 2019.
“This bill is a common-sense way to save money while investing more in education, which is critical to making our workforce more competitive,” said Rep. Perriello. “That’s why the first bill I ever wrote was a $2,500 tuition tax credit, and that’s why I am proud to support this legislation today to make college, community college, and vocational training programs more accessible to our young people and displaced workers.”
Perriello’s amendment, which was passed by a bipartisan voice vote, requires states that accept federal grants for early childhood education to evaluate and report disparities by geographic area (rural and urban) of available programs for low-income children, and steps the state will take to address the disparity.
“Study after study has validated the important role that early childhood education plays in a student’s future educational success. I’m gratified the U.S. House passed my amendment, which seeks to ensure that low-income children in rural areas receive equal opportunity in early childhood education and steps are taken to address any geographic disparities that may exist,” said Perriello.
During debate on the House floor about Perriello’s amendment, Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Kentucky) said: “This amendment is a positive step and may even move us closer to ensuring more low-income children are helped by this [pre-K] program.”
Also, Rep. Robert Andrews (D-New Jersey) of the Education & Labor Committee said: “We commend Mr. Perriello for listening to people in his district. I know he represents a lot of very small counties and local subdivisions but I know he doesn’t treat anyone’s concerns as small. And by raising this amendment, he is raising the concerns of those constituents.”
Highlights of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act:
· Invests $2.55 billion in Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions to provide students with the support they need to stay in school and graduate.
· Creates a new competitive grant program for community colleges to improve instruction, work with local employers, improve their student support services, and implement other innovative reforms that will lead to a college degree, certificate or industry recognized credential to help fulfill local workforce needs.
· Ensures that community college students can learn in modern, updated, state-of-the-art facilities by renovating campuses in need of repair.
· Creates an Early Learning Challenge Fund, which would award competitive grants to states that implement comprehensive standards-based reform of the state’s early learning system that will transform early education standards and practices, build an effective early childhood workforce, and improve the school readiness outcomes of young children.
· Ensures every child has access to a world-class learning environment by providing school districts with funds for school modernization, renovation, and repair projects that will create healthier, safer, and more energy-efficient teaching and learning climates.
· Saves taxpayers $87 billion over ten years by switching to the cheaper Direct Loan program, according to the Congressional Budget Office. In addition to investing in college aid, this legislation will also reduce entitlement spending by $10 billion.
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