EDUCATION

Neil Abercrombie has always believed that the road to a prosperous and secure future goes through the classroom, particularly in today’s technology‐based economy.

Abercrombie has championed efforts to modernize, renovate and repair the nation’s schools while supporting jobs programs for education. He held Town Hall meetings on Oahu with Vice President Al Gore to spotlight the need for federal funds to modernize Hawaii’s public school physical infrastructure. More recently, he highlighted the great things the Hawaii public schools can do to Assistant Secretary Peter Cunningham of the Obama Administration and discussed the availability of federal funds to end Furlough Fridays. He backed emergency legislation to stabilize and stimulate the economy during the recession to help schools across the country avoid teacher and school employee layoffs and budget cuts to programs.

Through the annual Education Appropriation bills, Abercrombie worked hard every year to increase funding for the education of disadvantaged students, low‐income families and children. He also ensured that the needs of Native Hawaiian education were not overlooked, supporting necessary funding for curriculum development, teacher training and recruitment programs, and renovation of public schools with high percentages of Native Hawaiian students.

Abercrombie co‐sponsored legislation to address problems with the No Child Left Behind Act. And he worked to boost Federal Impact Aid, which compensates the Hawaii Department of Education for the cost of educating children from military families who attend public schools. This is critical because the public schools receive no tax revenue from the military.

He also recently cosponsored an important bill that would increase Impact Aid to help Hawaii pay for the cost of educating compact migrants. He also promoted grants to expand access to early childhood programs and to establish a universal prekindergarten program. And, he has worked toward making a college education more affordable by expanding Pell Grants and lowering the administrative costs associated with student loans.