As the son of a North Carolina public school teacher, I strongly believe an excellent education is the right of every child. One of the main reasons I ran for Congress was to advance fiscally responsible reforms that would improve educational opportunities for students in pre-K to higher education and beyond. This must be the cornerstone in our fight to create a more prosperous America.

Excessive intervention by the federal government has made it much harder for teachers to help students reach their full potential. This has left us with an education system that is broken, but thankfully, not beyond repair. We can commit to improving education by moving from the bureaucratic-dominated status quo to a reformed system that includes accountability and increased parent choice.

For far too long, Washington has dictated what happens in our classrooms through programs like “Common Core.” Unfortunately, the problems in our education system cannot be fixed with our federal government’s one size fits all solution.

I believe we must champion an approach that will return responsibility back to the states, locally elected school boards and parents, the entities that best know what it takes to provide quality education to our children. This is the only way we can equip our young people to succeed in the highly competitive 21st Century economy and become virtuous citizens who will ensure America’s future.

In the 114th Congress , I was proud to support the Every Student Succeeds Act (S. 1177), which President Obama signed into law in December 2015. This legislation ended Washington’s mandate on “Common Core” and ended No Child Left Behind. According to the Wall Street Journal, this was the largest return of control to the states and localities from the federal government in a quarter-century. I believe this is a positive first step and will allow us to continue to fight to get the federal government out of our classrooms and ensure our schools can continue to build an environment where every student has the opportunity to succeed.

I was honored to be a member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce during my first term. I used my position there to ensure that we prioritize our spending on programs that effectively educate our children. During my time on the Education and Workforce Committee, I was proud to cosponsor the House-passed version of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (H.R. 803) which the President signed into law. This legislation consolidates and streamlines workforce development programs, protects taxpayer dollars, and ensures that workers have the skills they need to get the jobs that are out there. I look forward to continuing my work to help unemployed North Carolinians access the skills needed to get back to work and for more comprehensive solutions our education system so desperately needs.

Working with President Donald Trump, we've made incredible progress to transform our career and technical education (CTE) system. I was proud to support the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (H.R. 2353) which President Trump signed into law to help more than 11 million students across America who utilize CTE programs to gain the skills and knowledge needed for rewarding careers.

As I’ve traveled across our district, I’ve seen firsthand just how effective local high-skilled job-training programs can be. In Kannapolis, Rowan-Cabarrus Community College has partnered with A.L. Brown High School on a welding program that will open doors for countless students. At both Stanly Community College and Sandhills Community College, the advanced manufacturing programs are the critical training grounds for high-skilled manufacturing workers. And at Fayetteville Tech, veterans get the support and the skills they need to seamlessly transition from military service to the civilian world. I’ll continue to work to ensure our local students, community colleges, high schools and small business owners have the access and flexibility to implement programs that work in our district.