Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld (R) said in an interview that aired Monday on “Rising” that more attention needs to be given to online education.
“Another thing we need to do is much greater attention to online education,” Weld, who is launching a long-shot primary bid against Trump, told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti on “Rising.”
“Somebody in Tuscaloosa with a spouse and three kids, they can’t take two years off to go study at community college,” he continued. “They can’t even take three months off, they’ll lose the lousy job with lousy benefits that they have right now.”
“We can make it possible for people to acquire those skills, and recent research has shown that online education is just as sticky as the little red schoolhouse, the social learning that we all grew up with,” he said.
Education has become a hot-button policy issue on the 2020 campaign trail, with many of the candidates looking to tackle the issue of debt and the cost of higher education.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) announced her proposed reforms in April, which aim to cancel nearly all student loan debt and create universal free public college, while Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) has said her plan would give the average teacher a $13,500 raise paid for by an increase in the estate tax.
Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro revealed his education reform plan on Monday, which guarantees universal free college and pre-kindergarten education.
— Julia Manchester
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