Congressman Brad Ellsworth (D) has come back to Evansville and he has something to say. No, it’s not about the foot race that he ran in early October and no, it’s not about the basketball game he played in against President Barack Obama. It’s something that he thinks is far more important to share- his thoughts on: education.

Indiana’s most important resource is our children. We must invest in their education, states Ellsworths’ website.

Ellsworth believes in focusing on public education.

“The community is the public. There are many economic and ethnic diversities. It’s just like life,” said Ellsworth.

In life, you will meet people of different backgrounds, different cultures and different skin tones. If most students are of just one background, it prevents socializing with another ethnicity, something a person would do in a real working environment.

This is one reason why Ellsworth and his wife decided to put their daughter though public education.

“I have a lot of faith in the public schools. Finance was also another concern. My wife and I both went to a public school, so we’re both products of that. We just thought that it was the best for her and we wanted to support the public schools.”

Since Ellsworth supports public education, he has several plans to benefit it. One way that he plans to help schools are with funds.

“We look more at trying to help with the federal level [when it comes to funds], because the actual funding through the schools goes through the state. There are problems there, though, such as underpaid teachers,” claims Ellsworth.

“I think that if the school corporation and the principal decides that Reitz needs another teacher or equipment and they have money for something else, there should be a way to mingle those funds,” stated Ellsworth, talking about how fund are allocated. Once funds are earmarked for one area, say building a new school or payroll, those funds can only be used for that one purpose.

He compared that to when he was an officer on the sheriff’s department.

“Back then, I bought my own gun as a sheriff. Now we provide what people need.”

Other funds to help with education would be the reduction of class sizes. However, Ellsworth states that it’s not going to come from the Congress, but more from the state line.
Ellsworth has also mentioned the increase of standardized tests, as told by his website. The increase of tests would be because he feels that no one test should be allowed to label a kid as successful or unsuccessful. By increasing the amount of tests, a student can be measured on multiple levels.

Secondary education, though, is not the only thing on his mind. Brad Ellsworth believes that post-secondary education is just as important. But problems that Hoosiers face today are due to the bad economy. College is becoming unaffordable for some, causing them to give up on their dream of college.

The average yearly cost of a four year college is around $7,000 dollars for a public and over triple that amount for a private. How will students who want to attend college be able to afford it?

“We want to make it more affordable by strengthening the Federal Pell Grant,” said Ellsworth.

A Federal Pell Grant is a lowered interest rate by the government that guarantees the lender, whether it be bank or credit union, a reimbursement. It allows parents or students to buy a grant at a lower price.

All in all, though, when having to choose between the increase of student aid and college affordability, Ellsworth’s mind was set on choosing affordability.

“We want to make it more affordable. Colleges have to provide the research, quality of professors and programs that they offer,” said Ellsworth. “We have to make it affordable for everybody. We can’t do it for free, but with lower cost loans. We don’t want to price people out a good education.”

Education is what Congressman Brad Ellsworth finds important. Today’s students are tomorrow’s future leaders. With education in their hands, they’ll pave the way to a better tomorrow.