Some of you may recall the poster from the 1960s that says “It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber.”

Sadly, this still holds in 2026. 

We need a massive transfer of wealth, including from our Pentagon’s $1 trillion budget, not only to restore our Department of Education which has been gutted by President Trump, but to fund education across the country at levels that enhance student outcomes through equitable funding, early childhood investments and paying educators what they deserve. 

It’s long past time for free public college and I will demand it. We are academically falling behind many other countries that prioritize education because so many bright students forgo higher education due to its cost. Most who do attend college are crippled by lifetime debt. Worse is this is the only debt you can never escape from even through bankruptcy, This inescapable debt combined with stagnation of wages & constant job loss is what prevents college educated Americans from buying homes, starting families and businesses.

I support universal free nutritional school meals, instead of the means testing system we have now. The defunding of education has exacerbated the worsening inequality of education across the country, especially for poor students and those with disabilities. 1 in every 30 children goes to sleep without a home each year and 20 million children go to bed hungry every night. How are children who do not have their basic needs met supposed to learn in school? 

I will prohibit any federal dollars from funding private schools, including charter schools, and all charter schools should meet the same requirements as traditional public schools. 

Teachers -- 75% of whom are women -- are not only also doing the work of nurses, social workers and caregivers -- but are forced to pay for school supplies and often work multiple jobs to make up for low salaries. I will co-sponsor legislation like the “Pay Teachers Act,” which establishes a minimum starting salary of $60,000 for public school teachers, adjusted for inflation. I would go further and request a minimum starting salary for teachers to be $80,000 per year and all classroom supplies fully paid for by the federal government instead of the teachers. This is what our tax dollars should be going towards.

Special education is extremely important and is unfortunately being ignored. We must fund robust public education so that families are not forced to seek better care at private institutions, pushing these families often into debt or to be in favor of school voucher programs. We must provide the care these children need. This issue is personal for me because I have members of my family and friends who have special needs or learning disabilities. They were lucky enough to benefit from excellent public schools and I want to make sure that experience is available to every generation of children that follow.

Children start to learn the day they are born and all children deserve a quality education and care regardless of their zip code. Because of an education system funded overwhelmingly by local property taxes, and residential segregation by class and race, school segregation is greater now than it  was 30 years ago. We need sustainable federal funding of early childhood programs and policies such as Head and the Child Care for Working Families Act, which caps costs for working families at 7% of their income, provides free childcare for those earning below 85% of their state’s median income, and raises wages for childcare workers.