Fattah Talks Education, Small Businesses at Press Event

To hear U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah tell it, there are several simple solutions for solving a variety of problems that pervade American life, both locally and nationwide.

In order to help local economies, for example, more people need to open businesses in areas where they live. To save schools, districts should take what is working in successful programs and apply those methods to institutions that are having problems. And to combat manufacturing losses, we need to focus on keeping the jobs we have, instead of fretting about the ones we've already lost.

Fattah made those assertions during a press event organized by his office called "Chat and Chew," which is intended to give the congressman a chance to speak with members of the media over lunch. This year's rendition was held at Wired Beans Cafe in Germantown on Tuesday.

He talked about some of the bills he's sponsored recently during the event. One of the ones he said he's most proud of is the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which is intended to give college students $2,500 (which they can receive as part of their tax filing).

Fattah also discussed his work on brain research, saying he's been meeting with big donors on the issue.

The Fattah Neuroscience Initiative has established the Interagency Working Group on Neuroscience at the White House to coordinate federal brain injury and brain disease research and development.

"I have decided to make this my lead priority," he said.

Education was also one of the bigger issues that was talked about. The current property tax system, he said, creates issues in and of itself.

Class size needs to be reduced, he said, since it's been shown that smaller class sizes are more beneficial for students. Since that's what works, that's what should happen.

Fattah acknowledged that there are funding issues that can get in the way of that. But he said that's something that has to be dealt with. Teachers, according to Fattah, should also be teaching the subjects in which they majored.

"The truth is, we're going to have to spend more money to educate these children," he said.

He also touched on the local business issue, saying that the owners should ideally come from the communities where they open up.

"We need the wealth to circulate in the community," he said.