Education is the foundation for our country’s future and a fundamental right for all of our children. As the son of a public school teacher, I value the enormous impact that schools and teachers have.

It is vital that we continue to improve our public school system from the bottom up. I believe in expanding special education, art, and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs so that students have a well-rounded education and can be competitive on the global stage. We live in a changing world and have a skill-based economy. Many companies now hire based on skills, rather than looking at formal degrees. Decoupling skills from degrees and credentialing reform are issues that I am considering in Congress.

I am championing apprenticeships in Congress and believe we need more of them in the U.S. Nations such as Switzerland and Germany successfully created robust ecosystems of apprenticeships, where most students participate at a young age, learn needed skills, and have jobs after completion. With tax credits and modernizing the application process, we should incentivize businesses to create more apprenticeships.

I also believe that we need to give every aspiring student the opportunities and resources to pursue the dream of college education. The cost of college has become exorbitant. Something is wrong when our nation’s bright young minds see college as a financial risk that comes with decades of burdensome debt, and I will fight to change that.