VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate John Delaney On His Education Policy

Rep. John Delaney (D-Maryland), a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, spoke to uPolitics exclusively about his education plan.

“Our public education system is not delivering the needs that the American young people require,” said Delaney. “Not because of the teachers — teachers are heroic — but they’re in an outdated system that needs to be reimagined for the modern century.”

Delaney cited one key economic policy that is tied to education and its viability: a fair tax code “that closes the gap between the investor class and the working class.”

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The Maryland Democrat also said he believes pre-kindergarten should be guaranteed as a right for all children in the U.S. of that corresponding age, and added that every low-income high school graduate should have a free right to choose between either community college or career and technical training.

“We always need to talk about career and technical training with parity with college because we encourage way too many kids to go to college, and there’s actually a lot of skills building that can be done to get kids really good job,” said Delaney before adding he would help fund very early education for low-income children ages 0-3 so that they can “catch up” to other students who have had more socioeconomic advantages than them.

U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has created controversy since President Donald Trump appointed her in 2017. She has slashed severe funds for many progressive school initiatives and programs, supported teachers owning guns to defend their students, and eased restrictions and sanctions on for-profit colleges and universities while also reducing protections for victims of sexual assault at colleges around the country.