Lois Capps: “we will vote later this week to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. This is bipartisan legislation at its best. It…”

“we will vote later this week to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. This is bipartisan legislation at its best. It will open the doors of opportunity to millions of young people. Increasing financial aid will bring the priceless advantages of college education to many who now cannot afford it. I am very proud of this bill, proud to be a cosigner, but it is not enough. In order for our children to excel in higher education, we must ensure that they have acquired a solid academic foundation in their elementary and secondary schools. Sadly, this Congress has paid little or no attention to the issues plaguing elementary and secondary education. After I was elected in March, I surveyed the schools in my district. The findings were shocking. They showed skyrocketing enrollments, overcrowded classes, aging buildings, inadequate classrooms and poor facilities in general. My survey called out for more classrooms, more teachers, more access to technology. Sadly, these problems are nothing new. My own daughter attended Santa Barbara's Roosevelt Elementary School where she spent all of her elementary years learning in portable classrooms, which are supposed to be a temporary solution. In fact, I just recently visited Cambria Grammar School in San Luis Obispo County, where they do not even have enough portable classrooms to begin to deal with their overcrowding problem.”