2. Public Education

Legislative Principles

Public education has been and should continue to be the foundation of our democracy and therefore
deserves our strongest commitment.

1. General Policies - Policies that promote a quality education system will value educators and will reaffirm successful traditional principles such as appropriate student-teacher ratios, academic freedom, and the separation of church and state.
2. Funding - Funding for public education should reflect its importance in our society. Education for the 21st century will require generous funding.
3. Access - Universal access to education is essential to equality of opportunity.
4. Programs - Public education programs must support not only economic objectives, but also the cultural, artistic, and scientific understandings, which make our lives fuller and richer.
5. Family Health - Early childhood education programs like Head Start are a proven success. The promotion of good health, nutrition, and parenting skills is a cost-effective investment.

Action Items

1. General Policies: Policies that promote a quality education system will value educators and will reaffirm successful, traditional principles such as appropriate student-teacher ratios, academic freedom, and the separation of church and state.
   
   1. We support reduced class sizes.
   2. We support equitable compensation for part-time and full-time educators.
   3. We support fair and equitable collective bargaining for educators.
   4. We oppose unfunded educational mandates.
   5. We oppose educational policies that emphasize test preparation over teaching.
   6. We support academic freedom.
   7. We support separation of church and state in public education.
   8. We oppose including “intelligent design” as part of science curriculums.
   9. We oppose supplying names and addresses of high schools students for use by military recruiters.
2. Funding: Funding for public education should reflect its importance in our society. Education for the 21st century will require generous funding.
   
   1. We support funding for all levels of public education to achieve excellence and meet individual needs.
   2. We support the use of public funds to support public, not private, education.
   3. We support funding community college for training and retraining, advanced education, life-long learning, and enrichment opportunities.
3. Access: Universal access to education is essential to equality of opportunity.
   
   1. We support Internet access to education.
   2. We support loans for college education, and student financing that allows students to repay their college loans through public service.
   3. We support fully funding the Oregon Opportunity Grant, which ensures that tuition is not an enormous burden to college students.
4. Programs: Public education programs must support not only economic objectives, but also the cultural, artistic, and scientific understandings, which make our lives fuller and richer.
   
   1. We support teaching of foreign languages at all school levels.
   2. We support appropriate and culturally sensitive education for minority groups, such as Native Americans, Latinos, special needs students, and incarcerated individuals.
   3. We support the inclusion of art, music, physical education, counseling, and library services within the school day.
5. Family health: Early childhood education programs like Head Start are a proven success. The promotion of good health, nutrition, and parenting skills is a cost-effective investment.
   
   1. We support fully funded, high quality early childhood education and parenting education programs.
   2. We support nutritional food programs and oppose sale of junk food in schools.
   3. We support adequately funding programs for at-risk children.
   4. We support childcare benefits for students at community colleges and universities.