Cortez Masto is a champion for education

By Carol Harter

Friday, Oct. 21, 2016 | 2 a.m.

As an educator for more than 50 years, I’ve seen firsthand how a good education can open up a world of opportunities for our children. In the race to elect Nevada’s next senator, we need someone who will fight for our children every day in Washington, from preschool to college, even to professional and graduate education. Former Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto is the best person for that job.

Nevada is ranked next-to-last in state education systems. But last year, Gov. Brian Sandoval and the Legislature took an important first step toward improving our state’s public education system. Sandoval worked with Republicans and Democrats to pass the largest education-funding increase in Nevada in 60 years. Cortez Masto supported that education funding, and will continue to fight for more education funding in Washington.

Cortez Masto’s opponent, Congressman Joe Heck, did not support the bipartisan push to fund our education system. He did, however, support a plan to build an NFL stadium with $750 million in public money. We need to send someone to Washington who will stand up for what matters most to us, and will put our children above anything else.

Cortez Masto supported Sandoval’s plan and will continue to fight in Washington for our children and their futures. It is never too early to start investing in education, and programs like Head Start help children who may not have a chance otherwise to get ahead. In 2015, more than 3,000 Nevada children from low-income families relied on Head Start programs. In Washington, Cortez Masto will fight for programs like Head Start and advocate for more early-education funding.

Too many of our young people graduate from college with a lifetime of debt. During my time as UNLV’s president, I worked to create the law, architecture and dentistry professional schools at UNLV to help Nevadans further their careers while paying in-state tuition. And Cortez Masto will continue to fight to make college more affordable by working to expand Pell Grants and allow people to refinance their student loans at more favorable interest rates just as one can refinance a car loan or a mortgage.

As the first and only female and longest-serving president of UNLV, I know how hard it can be to break the glass ceiling. But I also know Catherine Cortez Masto has the knowledge, compassion and grit to become Nevada’s first female senator and the first Latina elected to the U.S. Senate.

Carol Harter is the president emerita and founding executive director of the Beverly Rogers, Carol C. Harter Black Mountain Institute at UNLV.