United States Senator Amy Klobuchar is the first woman elected to that office from the state of Minnesota. She is also a graduate of Yale University and the University of Chicago Law School. She is running to win the Democratic Party’s nomination for President of the United States. This exclusive telephone interview had been confirmed in advance, but was rescheduled and conducted on June 7, 2019. Celeste: Good afternoon, Senator Klobuchar. According to results from a Pew Research Center survey conducted earlier this year, 73% of Americans responded that race and ethnicity should not be considered when deciding who will be admitted to colleges and universities. What are your views in that regard, and as President, what policies would you pursue to improve the education of racial and ethnic minorities? Senator Klobuchar: Well, that’s a good question, and I do think that it should be considered, because I want to have an economy that works for everyone. I also want to make sure our economy is as strong as possible. Now, when we have to compete, internationally and globally, and if we don’t abilities of all of our people, we are not going to be able to compete effectively. That is why my policies are focused on, first of all, making sure that we have students that are able to pursue their education. Iowa has the highest graduation rate in the country, and like other states, it still has an achievement gap. That is why, first of all, I would make sure that we have strong funding for public education. I have a clear history of supporting public schools, I just don’t talk the talk. When you look at my life…I went to public schools, my daughter went to public schools, and my mom taught second grade in public schools until she was 70 years old. My daughter actually went to a school, for years, that was 90% free and reduced lunch. She was, in fact, with a lot of kids, mostly immigrant kids. So, I have a pretty good sense of some of the issues with our schools. The first thing that I would say is that we need to pay our teachers better and we need to have better funding for our public schools, if you are going to make them work for everyone. The second thing is making sure that we have…and we looked at what the President has done, and he is going the opposite way with his budget…so, our school infrastructure has to be good, we can’t have double standards depending on what neighborhood you’re in. That is why I put schools in my lead infrastructure plan…I was the first candidate with an infrastructure plan which includes the schools upfront and center, and mentioning the Baltimore schools…where they actually ran out of heat last winter…as an example of what we need to improve learning. use the know-how and the I’ve had my own personal experience with this being that my daughter went to a school in Virginia after I got elected to the United States Senate. It was a brand new building and there was a significant number of kids of color in that school. What I saw was a beautiful school building, and how kids reacted in a beautiful school building, and it was really extraordinary. So, that is just an example of my own personal experience. In addition to funding our schools and the infrastructure, would be making sure that we make it affordable for all kids to go to college…and it may not be a four-year college…there are a lot of paths to success…but I wanted to also mention that we just need to make sure that we are investing in the schools in the areas that need it. I talked with (Iowa State) Representative Ruth Ann Gaines about this at length…she just endorsed me… and I know she had taught for decades in the public schools and will be a good advisor for me on Iowaspecific issues about closing the achievement gap. Gary: While education and training are important requirements for entering and advancing in the workplace, what policy/policies would you work toward as President to ensure that government investments in education and training programs better correspond
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