We believe in the Democratic Party position on education — with a focus on public schools, education quality, a safe learning environment, use of books and instructional materials reflecting our society, and equity for teachers, students and administrators. Our commitment is to providing a quality education in New Kent and throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia as described in the following excerpt from the Democratic Party platform.

PROVIDING A WORLD-CLASS EDUCATION IN EVERY ZIP CODE

• Providing borrowers relief from crushing student debt. Student debt is holding millions of Americans back. …[and] making it harder for those with student loans to make ends meet right now. Democrats will work to authorize up to $10,000 in student debt relief per borrower to help families weather this crisis.

• Guaranteeing universal early childhood education. Democrats believe that all children across the United States should have access to high-quality early childhood education programs. We will work with states to offer pre-K for all three- and four-year-olds and expand Head Start and Early Head Start. We also will ensure students with disabilities and English language learners have access to and are fully included in early childhood programs.

• Supporting high-quality K-12 schools across America. Education is fundamental to the idea of America and to fulfilling our nation’s promise. It is the key to addressing the challenges before us— to growing our economy, maintaining American competitiveness on the world stage, and building a more just, equitable, civically engaged, and socially conscientious nation. As Democrats, we believe that education is a critical public good—not a commodity—and that it is the government’s responsibility to ensure that every child, everywhere, is able to receive a world-class education that enables them to lead meaningful lives, no matter their race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, disability status, language status, immigration or citizenship status, household income or ZIP code. Democrats are committed to safe and supportive school climates for students and educators alike. Guns have no place in our schools. We disagree strongly…that teachers should bring firearms into the classroom. Democrats also believe that all schools should have adequate resources to expand school-based health services and hire guidance counselors, social workers, nurses, and school psychologists to help support students’ mental health needs, address trauma, and promote social and emotional development. We will work with school administrators, educators, students, and mental health advocates to reduce the stigma that too often prevents students from seeking out these resources. Democrats will make sure schools do not engage in, and appropriately address, discrimination, bullying and harassment related to sex, including sexual orientation and gender identity; race; national origin; immigration or citizenship status; religion; disability; and language status. We will protect the rights of transgender students.

• Making higher education affordable and accessible. Democrats believe that everyone should be able to earn a degree beyond high school, if they choose to, without money standing in the way. That is why we will make public colleges and universities tuition-free for students whose families earn less than $125,000—roughly 80 percent of the American people. Democrats support making community colleges and trade schools tuition-free for all students, including Dreamers. Our nation’s network of two-year community colleges provides accessible, high-quality education for students of all ages. Democrats will additionally support and expand pre-apprenticeship opportunities and registered apprenticeships with formal worker representation in program development to provide a clear pathway to high-quality jobs that does not require attending college.

We are committed to ensuring that all Americans have quality, affordable healthcare and support programs as described in this excerpt from a March 26, 2024 White House fact sheet:

Under President Biden and Vice President Harris’s leadership, more Americans have health insurance than ever before, with a record-breaking 21 million Americans signing up for ACA coverage this year—9 million more than when they took office. The President and Vice President have fought to protect and strengthen the ACA and Medicaid with critical health care protections, like free preventative care and guaranteed coverage regardless of health status or gender.

The Administration has also made health care under the ACA more affordable than ever, saving millions of Americans an average of $800 per year on health insurance premiums. And beat Big Pharma by passing the Inflation Reduction Act—which for the first time in history is giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower prescription drug costs, capping insulin at $35 per a month per prescription for seniors and people with disabilities, and capping out-of- pocket prescription drug costs for Medicare enrollees at $2,000 a year starting in 2025.

GOAL: QUALITY, AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE FOR ALL AMERICANS

• Lower Health Insurance Premiums Permanently. Make permanent the expanded premium tax credits, last extended by the Inflation Reduction Act, so millions of Americans do not see their net health insurance premiums spike by hundreds or thousands of dollars starting in 2026.
• Close the Coverage Gap. Provide Medicaid-like coverage to people in the 10 states that have not adopted Medicaid expansion. (Note: Virginia is one of the 40 which expanded Medicaid.)
• Keep Kids Covered. Provide States the option to avoid children losing coverage due to red tape from birth through age 6, and cut red tape for families on Medicaid.
• Make Home Care More Available. Invest billions more in home care so hundreds of thousands of older adults and individuals with disabilities on Medicaid home care waiting lists get needed care.
• Ensure Access to Mental Health Care. Increase access to mental health care by expanding coverage in Medicare and private insurance, applying mental health parity requirements to Medicare beneficiaries, and extending Medicare incentive programs to address mental health provider shortages.
• Prevent More Surprise Medical Bills. Protect consumers by applying surprise billing protections to ground ambulance providers so people don’t have to worry about unexpected bills for ambulance rides.
• Crack Down on Junk Facility Fees. Eliminate unwarranted “facility” fees on telemedicine and other outpatient health care services for consumers.
• Let Medicare Negotiate Drug Prices for at least 50 Drugs Every Year. Expand the number of drugs Medicare can negotiate from 20 to at least 50 per year, cutting prices for major drugs that seniors rely on, like those used to treat heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Alongside other reforms, this will reduce the deficit by an additional $200 billion over the next ten years.
• Cap Out-of-Pocket Prescription Drug Costs for Everyone. Expand the $2,000 out- of-pocket prescription drug cap to people with private insurance so all Americans have the peace of mind that comes with not being forced to choose between filling prescriptions or putting food on the table.
• Cap Medicare Cost-Sharing at $2 for Common Generic Drugs. Establish a new permanent Medicare benefit limiting monthly Medicare Part D cost-sharing for certain high-value generic drugs to $2, such as for those used to treat hypertension and high cholesterol.
• Protect and Strengthen Medicare for Generations. The President will block Republican efforts to dismantle Medicare and instead will extend the life of the Medicare Trust Fund for generations by making the wealthy pay their fair share toward Medicare and dedicating savings from Medicare prescription drug reforms to the Hospital Insurance trust fund.

We believe in women’s reproductive freedom — the right to make these important choices in consultation with their physicians and their family and not as directed by any government. That means opposing a national ban on abortion, especially one not allowing any exceptions. Our advocacy follows closely the position of the Biden-Harris Administration as outlined in the following White House fact sheet.

REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM IS ESSENTIAL TO HEALTHCARE

The Biden-Harris Administration will continue to take executive action to protect access to reproductive health care…[including] action to:

• Protect access to abortion, including FDA-approved medication abortion
• Defend access to emergency medical care
• Support the ability to travel for reproductive health care
• Strengthen access to high-quality, affordable contraception
• Safeguard the privacy of patients and health care providers; and
• Ensure access to accurate information and legal resources

The Republican Study Committee [on the other hand]…endorses a national abortion ban with zero exceptions for rape or incest. [And released a budget proposal containing the following provisions:]

• Supports eliminating reproductive freedom for all women in every state and puts IVF treatment … on the chopping block through House Republicans’ support for the Life at Conception Act.
• Endorses banning mifepristone – an FDA-approved, safe and effective medication that has been on the market for more than 20 years. [NOTE: The Supreme Court refused to consider the challenge to mifepristone, so it remains available and approved.]
• Supports rolling back policies that help ensure our Nation’s veterans have access to abortion care when their health or lives are at risk or in cases of rape or incest.
• Guts funding for contraception—which is supported by the vast majority of Americans on both sides of the aisle—for low-income and uninsured women. This would further erode access to essential health care, from cancer screening to primary care, at a time when state abortion bans have already forced health clinics that provide contraception and other critical health services to close.

If House Republicans get their way, all of these proposals would become the law of the land. [They] have already imposed abortion bans in 21 states and last year, they introduced more than 380 state bills attacking access to reproductive health care. And, as the Republican Study Committee budget makes clear, they won’t stop until a national abortion ban is in place.

President Biden has been clear: he will do everything in his power to fight back and protect reproductive health from these extreme attacks and he will continue to call on Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade into federal law so that women can make their own health care decisions.