By: Team Sherrod

It’s officially Back to School month! As students and educators across the country are gearing up to head back into their classrooms, it’s important to remember the challenges that too many among us face in receiving an education. (And Secretary Betsy DeVos is certainly not making it easier.)

Luckily, Sherrod stands with students and educators—and always will. Here are five times Sherrod fought like hell to help them get ahead:

1. Sherrod fights for students

Education is often a rewarding pathway to opportunity, which is why Sherrod has consistently voted to protect and expand Head Start and Early Head Start programs. He spearheaded efforts for extra funding and staffing for Full-Service Community Schools—he’s also defended federal funding for Ohio schools.

Acknowledging the inequality in many of our public schools, Sherrod has introduced legislation to tackle it head-on, and is a strong supporter of the My Brother’s Keeper program, a program launched by President Obama to mentor young African-American men.

2. Sherrod stands with Ohio educators

Sherrod works hard to ensure our educators have the salaries and benefits they deserve.

When Senate Bill 5 threatened to take away educators’ collective bargaining rights, Sherrod stood with teachers, firefighters, police officers, and organized labor to successfully overturn Ohio’s so-called “right-to-work” law.

3. Sherrod works to make higher education more accessible

An entire generation is drowning in student debt. Unlike this administration and Secretary DeVos, Sherrod is actively fighting on students’ behalf.

Sherrod has led efforts to:

• Protect students from predatory student loan providers

• Call for stronger protections against unfair and abusive lending practices

• Support legislation to allow students and their families to refinance their existing student loan debt

• Make college more affordable for Ohio families

• Fight to expand student loan programs

• Push for tax reforms that would make it easier for middle-class families to afford higher education

On top of that, Sherrod has worked tirelessly to pass legislation that ensures our men and women in uniform, and their families, have the resources to go to college.

4. Sherrod fights against predatory for-profit colleges

Sherrod has led the fight to identify and investigate for-profit colleges and recoup losses for students.

Working across the aisle, Sherrod helped build a bipartisan plan that boosted GI benefits and provided relief to veterans who were taken advantage of by failed for-profit institutions.

Sherrod has also worked towards ending deceitful marketing practices used by for-profit colleges by holding executives accountable for their tactics.

5. Sherrod is holding charter schools accountable

Sherrod has called for additional oversight of Ohio’s charter schools. When he spoke out, the Department of Education listened and announced it would only fund high-performing charter schools.

Sherrod has also championed legislation to go after fraud and waste in charter schools by increasing community involvement and oversight. This is critical in ensuring our charter schools are held to a high standard, and making sure students are getting a quality education.