Attached is the full press release about the President’s $1.8 trillion American Families Plan which makes a significant investment in K-12 and higher education. To pay for this bill, Biden’s plan proposes to increase the top tax rate on the wealthiest Americans from 37% to 39.6% and end capital income tax breaks and loopholes for the nation’s highest earners. This package would likely have to move on a budget reconciliation bill to have any chance of clearing the Senate and may move separately from the previously proposed infrastructure bill.
Key points:
Biden would have the federal government pay for two years of pre-K for three and four-year olds ($200 billion)
It would pay for two years of free community college ($109 billion). On this subject, the plan indicates that these funds would “ensure that first-time students and workers wanting to reskill can enroll in a community college to earn a degree or credential for free. Students can use the benefit over three years and, if circumstances warrant, up to four years, recognizing that many students’ lives and other responsibilities can make full-time enrollment difficult.”
It would increase maximum Pell Grants by $1,400 ($85 billion), which the plan still terms a down-payment on doubling the Pell Grants, as Biden promised on the campaign trail.
It would provide $62 billion for a “grant program to invest in completion and retention activities at colleges and universities that serve high numbers of low-income students, particularly community colleges. States, territories, and Tribes will receive grants to provide funding to colleges that adopt innovative, proven solutions for student success, including wraparound services ranging from childcare and mental health services to faculty and peer mentoring; emergency basic needs grants; practices that recruit and retain diverse faculty; transfer agreements between colleges; and evidence-based remediation programs.”
It would provide “two years of subsidized tuition and expand programs in high-demand fields at HBCUs, TCUs, and MSIs.” Specifically, the plan would provide:
$39 billion “that provides two years of subsidized tuition for students from families earning less than $125,000 enrolled in a four-year HBCU, TCU, or MSI.”
$5 billion “to expand existing institutional aid grants to HBCUs, TCUs, and MSIs, which can be used by these institutions to strengthen their academic, administrative, and fiscal capabilities, including by creating or expanding educational programs in high-demand fields (e.g., STEM, computer sciences, nursing, and allied health)”
$2 billion to build “a pipeline of skilled health care workers with graduate degrees.”
It includes a $9 billion investment in America’s K-12 teachers. Specifically, it would:
“Double scholarships for future teachers from $4,000 to $8,000 per year while earning their degree, strengthening the program, and expanding it to early childhood educator.”
$2.8 billion for Grow Your Own programs and year-long, paid teacher residency programs, which have a greater impact on student outcomes, teacher retention, and are more likely to enroll teacher candidates of color
$400 million for teacher preparation at HBCUs, TCUs and MSIs
$900 million for special education teachers
$1.6 billion “to provide educators with opportunities to obtain additional certifications in high-demand areas like special education, bilingual education, and certifications that improve teacher performance. This funding will support over 100,000 educators, with priority for public school teachers with at least two years of experience at schools with a significant portion of low-income students or significant teacher shortages.”
$2 billion “to support programs that leverage teachers as leaders, such as high-quality mentorship programs for new teachers and teachers of color.”
It includes $225 billion to make childcare affordable and high quality.
It includes a $225 billion national comprehensive paid family and medical leave program, which would “provide workers up to $4,000 a month, with a minimum of two-thirds of average weekly wages replaced, rising to 80 percent for the lowest wage workers.”
It includes major expansions to child nutrition programs that would cost $45 billion.
It proposes to automatically adjust the length and amount of unemployment insurance benefits.
It proposes to extend expanded Affordable Care Act premium tax credits that were included in the American Rescue Plan.
Download The American Families Plan press release
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