Highlights of Senator Boxer's Record on Education

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As a product of quality public schools from kindergarten through college, Barbara Boxer understands that a good education is the foundation for future success. Throughout her career, she has been fighting to create better schools and make college more affordable.

• After School Programs:  Senator Boxer has been the Senate’s foremost advocate and champion of increasing federal support for local after school programs – so that children have a safe and enriching place to go at the end of the school day.  She wrote the law that authorizes funding for after school programs – the first such law of its kind – and that would have more than doubled the number of after school programs.  In 2009, after years of underfunding by the Bush Administration, Boxer wrote an amendment to the budget to fully fund after school programs.

• Computers in Schools:  To succeed in the high-tech economy, students need computer skills.  Senator Boxer wrote the law giving companies an enhanced tax deduction for donating computers to schools, which has resulted in the donation of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of computers and software.  She also supported the economic stimulus package that included nearly $75 million for California to purchase up-to-date computers and software for schools.

• Early Education:  To provide millions of children with access to pre-kindergarten education, Senator Boxer is the author of legislation that would provide incentives to states to include one year of pre-kindergarten education as part of the public school system.

• Academic Standards:  Senator Boxer supports tough education standards to make sure our kids have the skills they need to succeed.  At the same time, however, she believes that we must adequately fund education so that our schools and students can meet those standards.

• Math and Science Education:  To help ensure that the American workforce and economy remains competitive globally, Boxer has cosponsored legislation to improve math and science education in schools by enhancing teacher training and by providing scholarships and fellowships to those who become math and science teachers.

• Tax Cuts for School Expenses:  Senator Boxer cosponsored legislation to allow middle-class taxpayers to receive a tax credit for the costs of tutoring, computer technology, and school equipment for an elementary or secondary school-age child.  And she has supported proposals to provide a tax cut for teachers who buy classroom materials with their own money.

• State Schools Fund:  Senator Boxer has worked to channel more money into the State Schools Fund by leading the fight to make “deadbeat” oil companies pay royalties on oil extracted from public lands and waters.  At her urging, the Department of Interior billed ten oil companies a total of $385 million for overdue payments -- $75 million of that went to California.

• School Safety:  Senator Boxer has introduced legislation to protect children while they are in school.  Her bill would provide grants to school districts to improve security at school through such things as surveillance cameras and metal detectors.  It would also establish an interagency task force to develop school safety guidelines.

• Nutrition and Physical Education:  Senator Boxer introduced legislation to establish new nutritional guidelines for school lunches and to include time in the school day for physical activity.  She also supports efforts to help schools better manage food allergies among students.

• Preparing Students for College:  Senator Boxer authored a provision of the Higher Education Act in 2008 to increase funding for Upward Bound, a program for at-risk and disadvantaged high school students to help prepare them for college.

• Tax Relief for College Costs:  Senator Boxer supported providing a tax cut to help middle-class families pay for the costs of a college education.  In President Obama’s economic stimulus package, she supported increasing that tax credit by almost 40 percent.

• Pell Grants:  Over the years, Boxer has repeatedly supported increasing the maximum Pell Grant.  She introduced legislation to ensure that students are not penalized with a reduction in their Pell Grants because they attend low-cost colleges, primarily community colleges.

• Student Loan Interest Reduction:  After college, most students consolidate their several student loans into one consolidated loan.  However, the drawback is that this interest rate is often higher than regular student loan rates.  Senator Boxer introduced legislation to allow individuals to refinance their consolidated student loans at the regular student loan rate.

• Student Loan Repayment:  Boxer supports having the federal government pay off a student’s loan if he or she serves in certain health care professions, in a Head Start program, or as an attorney for low-income individuals.

• Student Borrower Bill of Rights:  To ensure that those with student loans can get timely information about their loans from banks and other financial institutions – and so they can make fair and reasonable payments – Senator Boxer supports legislation to create a student borrower’s Bill of Rights.

• Higher Education Benefits for Members of the Military:  So that those who are serving their country in combat do not have to worry about paying off their student loans, Senator Boxer supports deferring all student loan repayments for members of the military in a combat zone and for the first six months after they return home.  In addition, she has been a strong supporter of modernizing the GI Bill by increasing the educational benefits available to those who serve in the Armed Forces – and making the benefits available to all who have served, including those activated members of the Guard and Reserves.

• AmeriCorps:  During the Clinton Administration, Senator Boxer supported the creation of the AmeriCorps program, which provides college scholarships to young people who serve their country.  In 2009, she strongly supported legislation to more than triple the number of young people who can participate in AmeriCorps; that bill is now law.

• Minority Higher Education:  Senator Boxer has fought for federal funding for colleges and universities that have historically served large numbers of minorities.  She supported legislation to provide additional funding to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, including additional grants for programs in science, technology, and engineering.  Boxer wrote the 2008 law allowing colleges and universities to be designated as Asian American and Pacific Islander Higher Education Serving Institutions, making them eligible for federal assistance.  And, she supported legislation to expand the Hispanic-Serving Institutions program to include assistance for graduate fellowships.

• Continuing Education:  Senator Boxer supports allowing employers to pay for the education costs of their employees without the employees having to count that assistance as taxable income.  She has cosponsored legislation to make this tax exclusion a permanent part of the tax law.

• Noise Abatement in Schools:  Senator Boxer joined Senator Feinstein in working to sound-proof Lennox and Inglewood schools from nearby LAX airport noise to remove the constant distraction of low-flying airplanes and improve the learning atmosphere.

• Pesticide Application in Schools:  Senator Boxer called for requiring schools to give parents advance notice when harmful pesticides are used in schools and for requiring the Environmental Protection Agency to help schools reduce the use of toxic pesticides.