Elevator Speech

America has long been heralded as the land of opportunity, and public education has always been essential to that promise.

Historically, among the first things settlers in a new town did was to build a school and hire a teacher. After World War II, the GI Bill helped educate a generation and fueled the prosperity that built America’s middle class. Now in the global economy, education is more important than ever. We need to keep faith with our public responsibility to educate our children so they can go as far as their talent and hard work can take them.

But we aren’t providing the basics—early child nutrition and health care, preschool, small classes, a school year that maximizes learning, skilled teachers, after-school programs, school buildings that aren’t dangerous to children's health and affordable college.

We have to make investing in education a top priority at every level of government. Instead, the Bush administration and Congress have hacked education funding—while pushing tens of billions of dollars in tax breaks that will go largely to wealthy Americans and corporations. Investing in quality schools is far more important to our prosperity, our democracy and our decency than more top-end tax breaks and corporate tax dodges. Far more economic vitality will come from good schools and affordable colleges than from the scraps that fall from boardroom tables.