Education & Opportunity

In Congress, Marilyn is championing steps to expand access to education and opportunity. She voted to expand access to Pell Grants and supports refinancing of student loans with possible caps on monthly payments, accountability for predatory for-profit colleges and lenders, and free college for students in high-demand fields such as nursing, behavioral health, teaching, and the building trades. She will continue to push for universal pre-K and free lunch for all public school students, regardless of family income.

Marilyn also knows the value of vocational-technical training and apprenticeship programs. She led an amendment that would target outreach for apprenticeships specifically to underserved populations like veterans, foster youth, minorities, and others.

As Mayor of Tacoma, Marilyn made community-wide investment in public schools a civic priority; bringing together business leaders, parents, non-profits, and community groups to invest in our children. The high school graduation rates in Tacoma, a majority-minority school district, went from 55 percent in 2010 to 89% in 2017. She also launched an award-winning summer jobs program, which provided paid internships, credits toward graduation and financial literacy training for high school students.