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Orange County, CA November 7, 2006 Election
Smart Voter

Education

By Florice Orea Hoffman

Candidate for United States Representative; District 40

This information is provided by the candidate
Education

Our children are our nation's most precious resource. I will fight to improve the quality of our children's education from preschool to college. Every child must have the opportunity to reach his or her highest potential. We must provide high quality early learning opportunities, smaller classes, and more individualized attention for our students, particularly students with special needs, gifts, and talents. Adequate funding must be provided for federally mandated programs.

Elementary and Secondary Education: No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has not kept its promise to raise standards and invest on our children's education. NCLB has never been fully funded by the federal government and recently, the Congress is looking to balance the budget on the future of our children. Some states, such as Utah, have opted out of NCLB. We can not continue to hold our schools accountable for every increasing and standards and at the same time fail to fund the program.

Higher Education: Each year of post secondary school improves the income of a person from 5% to 15% over a lifetime. Again Congress is cutting Pell Grants to our neediest and is reducing student loans available to the middle class. We must make sure that our children can get both a quality higher education and an affordable higher education.

Special Education: The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) since its initial enactment, has failed its original loyalty to pay 40 percent of the average per student cost for every special education student. The current average per student cost is $7,552 and the average cost per special education student is an additional $9,369 per student, or $16,921. Yet, in 2004, the federal government is providing local school districts with just less than 20 percent of its commitment rather than the 40 percent specified by the law, creating a $10.6 billion shortfall for states and local school districts. Besides funding the law must keeps its commitment that parents are thoroughly involved in the education of their children and must ensure that teachers are receiving the professional development necessary to educate our children.

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ca/state Created from information supplied by the candidate: July 17, 2006 12:59
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