Gore has strong education plan

Vice President Al Gore believes the greatest test of our national responsibility is found in the quality of the education we provide. Democrats have long been the champion of increasing the quality, accessibility and affordability of public education.\nBy investing more of the nation's budget surplus in education, an additional $170 billion during 10 years, we can raise standards for all students and help them achieve more in the classroom. \nOur country's budget reflects our values. Education is key to keeping America strong for the future in this era of globalization and world-wide competition. If we don't decide Nov. 7 that education is vital to remaining competitive in the global marketplace, we will surely be forfeiting missed opportunities.\nA tax cut for America's wealthiest 1 percent is not what we need. We need investments in education, health care and research into more energy efficient fuels -- just to name a few areas.\nDemocrats would increase spending on education, focusing on holding schools accountable, using appropriate testing to ensure our tax dollars are not misused. \nGore has proposed the following steps to make America's schools better, according to his Web site, www.algore.com: \n1. Early education and universal preschool: Gore's plan starts with a momentous strategy for early education by making high-quality, voluntary preschool available to every 4-year-old and an increasing number of 3-year-olds. It will also expand funding for Head Start and Early Head Start and help families pay for high quality child care -- to ensure every child starts school ready to learn.\n2. Raise teacher pay: We should pay teachers like the professionals they are. Gore's plan will provide funding to help raise teacher salaries in school districts that commit to improving teacher quality.\n3. Recruit and train new teachers: Gore will finish the job of hiring 100,000 qualified teachers to lower class sizes in the early grades. And to help schools meet record student enrollments, Gore will provide funding to help recruit, hire and train 1 million new teachers during the next 10 years, with incentives for those who commit to work in a high-need school.\n4. Rebuild crumbling schools: Gore will help communities rebuild and modernize buildings to assure our students can attend schools that are modern, safe and well-equipped for learning.\n5. Access to New Technology: Gore's plan will finish wiring every classroom to the Internet and train students and teachers to use information technology to individualize learning and bridge the digital divide.\n6. Special Education for Students with Disabilities: Gore will reaffirm the importance of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act by making a substantial increased investment in special education, as a down-payment toward reaching the goal of 40 percent federal funding. His plan would make the federal government a better partner to states in ensuring children with disabilities have access to a free appropriate education -- a policy that has opened the doors of public schools to children with special needs.\n7. Making higher education more affordable: Gore will help parents and students save tax-free to make college and lifelong learning more affordable and make up to $10,000 of college tuition tax-deductible.\nWould America's children and young people be better off with Gore's plan that invests needed resources in education, or one that spends that money on a tax break primarily for the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans? Education is clearly where our priorities should lie.