I’m here today because the bottom line is simple and the reality is clear. President
Biden defends public education. Donald Trump attacks it. President Biden supports our
educators. Donald Trump supports billionaires.
As President Biden said in his State of the Union address, in order to remain the
strongest economy in the world, we need to have the best education system in the
world. That’s why he’s investing in educators after Donald Trump left them behind.
President Biden invested $170 billion in K-12 schools – the single largest-ever
investment in education funding. Here are some examples of how that helped!
- This investment has allowed us to hire more certified teachers to help students catch up in reading and math. In fact, state test results from last year showed that NH is leading the country in getting student achievement back to where it should be after the disruptions of the COVID pandemic.
- It has allowed negotiated salary increases to retain experienced, certified public school teachers and paraeducators – a very difficult thing to do in this time of educator shortages.
- Pres. Biden’s Infrastructure Law expanded rural broadband – which in a state like NH helps many of our students as well as our staff. It is so much harder for students to do their homework or teachers to do their lesson planning if they have to go to the nearest fast food restaurant to use their wifi.
In contrast, as president, Trump tried to slash the Department of Education’s budget by $8.5 billion – seeking to eliminate after-school programs, teacher training, and more services for an estimated 1.7 million students, and is planning to cut billions in public school funding.
The future of our public education system is on the line in 2024 — it’s not hyperbole for
me to say that. We know it, our educators know it, and Granite Staters know it. We’re
seeing the devastating impacts of Donald Trump and his anti-public school allies’
attacks right here in New Hampshire.
Luckily, we’ve got President Biden and Vice President Harris fighting for us in the White
House, and we’ve got strong leaders fighting for us in Concord ensuring that our
educators have allies in government who have their back.
Speaking of which, I’d like to introduce state Senator Donovan Fenton, a member of the
Senate Education Committee, to speak.