DNC Chairman Gov. Tim Kaine, Local Educators, Students Highlight Angle’s Extreme Views on Educ

Angle would eliminate Millennium Scholarship, ax federal scholarship programs

Gov. Tim Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, on Tuesday joined local educators and students to discuss Sharron Angle’s dangerous agenda for Nevada schools.

Kaine highlighted Angle’s extreme ideas on killing the Department of Education, which would put young adults in the unemployment line by ending federal financial aid programs that keep them in college, and end the popular Millennium Scholarship program. And he discussed her opposition to the Recovery Act, which brought more than $445 million in education funding to Nevada and saved 3,500 education jobs, and $83 million in emergency funding that recently saved 1,400 education jobs.

“Even other Republicans disagree with Sharron Angle’s position on the Millennium Scholarship – that we should ‘lose it’ – because they know this popular program has been the gateway to higher education and success in life for more than 20,000 Nevada students,” Kaine said Tuesday. “Angle’s said it’s ‘not her job to create jobs’ and that’s abundantly clear when she says she would cavalierly toss aside thousands of teachers jobs, gut our education system and strip tens of thousands of students of their dreams of a college education. Nevada students can’t afford Sharron Angle and her dangerous, extreme ideas about education in the U.S. Senate.”

***Listen to audio of Angle saying she would “lose” the Millennium Scholarship, here and here.

Joining Kaine in a roundtable discussion about Angle’s views on education was Carolyn Edwards, vice president of the Clark County School Board. Edwards highlighted Angle’s extreme ideas about killing the Department of Education and turning away hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding during tough budget times, saying the impact on Nevada students would have been catastrophic.

“This week Sharron Angle said that teacher jobs, student success and education in general aren’t ‘real issues,’” Edwards said. “But as a long-time advocate for education in Nevada, I know there’s no issue more real or pressing than whether our children get the foundation they need to succeed in today’s world. It’s one thing for Sharron Angle to espouse her dangerous ideas about education on the campaign trail. It’s another for her to denigrate the importance of providing our children with a quality education. She should be ashamed of herself.”

Kaine and Edwards were joined by retired principal Doug Wilson, elementary school teacher Ari Lomeli and students Javier Murato and Ruben D’Silva.  Murato, a senior at UNLV, received federal Pell Grants to help pay his way thorugh UNLV. Those grants would be eliminated if Sharron Angle succeeded in eliminating the Department of Education. D’Silva paid his way through UNLV in part with the Millennium Scholarship Sharron Angle bragged about opposing.