|
Wellstone pitching education reform
Sen. Paul Wellstone is emphasizing his dedication to Minnesota schools in his platform for re-election.
“Everybody says they’re for education until it comes to digging in their pockets,” Wellstone said in a conference call to college media Tuesday. “I’m always for investing more resources in education.”
Due to the current economy, more students are going to college and more of those students cannot afford it. Wellstone wants to make higher education affordable so people can graduate, get jobs and give back to the economy.
He said that for every dollar invested in higher education three are put back into the economy.
One way he will make higher education more affordable is by supporting the Pelle Grant. He wants to increase the Pelle Grant fund by $1.5 billion.
The grants would help 400,000 students throughout the nation, of whom 2,500 are in Minnesota.
Wellstone also supports a tax deduction of $10,000 for the cost of higher education, Hope Scholarships and more affordable childcare.
Wellstone encourages all students to vote, whether or not they vote for him.
“If student turnout is low, they will be viewed as a constituency they cannot get,” Wellstone said.
That would result in less support for issues important to college students.
He also said that not voting is a cop-out.
“The future is not going to belong to women and men who sit on the sideline,” he said.
Wellstone is serving his second term in the senate and is running for re-election in November.
“After I won, I only wanted to serve two terms then go back to teaching,” he said. “The future of the senate is critical to the issues and the senate being 50/50, I decided to run again.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
