Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton says teachers don’t get the respect they deserve and Clinton promised members of the Iowa State Education Association that she’d be their "partner" in the White House.
Clinton spoke last night in Storm Lake at the ISEA’s state convention, and renewed her call for "universal" preschool for all four-year-olds in America.
"I have proposed investing $10 billion over the next 10 years in order to form a partnership with states," Clinton said. "States that don’t want to participate, at least for the time being, we’re not going to make them, but…we’re going to start rewarding the states that actually make an investment in their children."
Clinton also told the Iowa classroom teachers that more must be done to ensure kids are ready for school by funding programs that teach parents how to be their child’s first teacher. "A family is a child’s first school," Clinton said.
Clinton said teachers are overburdened and too often end up paying for many of the supplies in their own classroom. "One of the ways we can make a difference is by helping to pay the student loans debts of young people who want to become teachers, but don’t think they can afford to do so," Clinton said. "If you’re willing to go into teaching and public service, I think over time you should have your student loans forgiven because we need your help in these professions."
Clinton’s declaration was met with applause and a few hoots from the audience of teachers.