Tim Walz: “I say a special thank you to Chairman Miller and the ranking member. As a lifelong educator and a teacher in the…”

“I say a special thank you to Chairman Miller and the ranking member. As a lifelong educator and a teacher in the classroom for 20 years, the understanding and the work that has been put into this piece of legislation is something that I think we can all be very proud of. It takes in and understands the investment in America's future comes in education. I would like to make one comment. One of the issues that doesn't come up very often in the cost of college expenses is the cost of textbooks. It runs about $900 for an average student. One of the problems we've seen is small changes in textbooks that require students to buy new ones each and every year. There was a very important person in my district, Jared Stene, who was the president of the Winona State University Student Senate. Jared worked for years tirelessly on this issue to bring about some transparency in how textbooks are marketed. Unfortunately, Jared passed away unexpectedly over Thanksgiving, and I thank the chairman for giving me the opportunity and for the work he did in the committee to address this very issue.”