Education

Every child deserves an opportunity to succeed in life. The purpose of education is to prepare all children with the skills and experiences that they will need to succeed in society, regardless of the path that they choose. Rosalee Keech’s education policies are centered on ensuring that each child is safe, respected and receives the training and tools to obtain the skills required. When elected, she will support state funding of the federal cuts imposed by the “Big, Beautiful, Bill”.

Additionally, Rosalee Keech will support the following:

• Recognizing that education happens best in an environment where a child’s basic needs of safety, nourishment, shelter are provided, Rosalee work with parents, students, educators, law enforcement, school administrators, school boards, teachers and local officials to identify and fund best practices to stop school shootings, provide meals and homes to those families with children that are currently homeless and/or meal deprived;

• Bullying or sexual exploitation have been shown to cause suicides, school shootings and other forms of violence. Funding for anti-bullying programs and implementing best practices is a top priority for Rosalee. All children should not fear going to school because of being bullied whether it is by other students or trusted professionals.

• Ignored for too long, her key focus is expanding support for families with special needs by expanding funding for resources including teachers, support staff and materials that will maximize learning potential;

• Advocating for increased investment in Pre K education, specialized schools for STEM, arts and vocational schools providing grants to support career readiness programs and opening doors to apprenticeships while in high school and mentorships after high school;

• Capping tuition increases at public universities to reduce financial pressures on students and expanding 529 College Savings Plans and increasing funding for county colleges to improve workforce readiness.

Reducing costs:

It is no secret that some communities in Ocean County have resorted to significant property tax increases, closing schools, firing teachers and even thinking about setting up a GO Fund Me account to reduce education costs.

Rosalee believes that there are alternative ways to save taxpayers’ dollars including:

• Leveraging purchasing power throughout the County to buy books, furniture and other supplies;

• Consider sharing administrative costs amongst multiple towns;

• Partnerships with local governments and private sectors to provide apprenticeship and mentorship resources;

• Reduce reliance on tax abatements and reallocating operational funds to classroom resources;

• Ensuring that large scale capital projects finish on time with no cost overruns;

• Reforming the school funding formula to ensure more equitable distribution of resources.

One of her main goals would be to convene experts including representatives from school finance administrators, superintendents, teachers, Boards of Education and local governments and those impacted most, parents, students and taxpayers to identify legislation needed for ensuring that our taxpayer dollars are achieving the goals of education. Further, this Task Force would make recommendations to communities struggling financially to meet our children’s educational needs.