Education

 

Affordable, quality education can create endless opportunities for the next generation of Long Island leaders. At a time when the college debt crisis is over $1.5 trillion, Suffolk County continues to vote to raise tuition on local community college students once again.

There is no worse way to show our commitment to young people then making an education less affordable and housing more expensive. We are on a path towards fiscal insolvency and the generation that is expected to pay off these debts will not be here to do so.

Gary Pollakusky believes that decisions on education are best made by the local communities, parents and school districts that are responsible for educating their youth. Forcing a one-size-fits-all national curriculum is the wrong way to educate and will force educators to "teach to the test." Gary values the education he received in Long Island and credits the freedom of curriculum for helping shape his own opinions on what career to pursue.

For all the rhetoric we hear from elected officials about preventing the "brain drain", this is absolutely not the way to keep young people here. We must not balance our books on the backs of those we are trying to keep from moving away.