Noriega Lays Out Education Plan AUSTIN, TX (kccu-fm) - Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Rick Noriega released his education plan today.

The Noriega plan proposes reforming the No Child Left Behind Act for public schools and increasing grants and loans for college students. The southeast Houston state reprsentative also proposes expanding funding for pre-kindergarten programs and helping states increase pay for inner-city and rural teachers.

Noriega didn't provide a cost estimate for his proposals.

Noriega is the Democratic nominee to challenge first-term Republican Senator John Cornyn in the November election. The Cornyn campaign responded to Noriega's announcement today by saying that Cornyn has been a leader in education reform by fighting to limit ``the government's burdensome role'' in education. The Cornyn campaign says that empowers ``local schools and teachers with the flexibility and tools to develop tomorrow's leaders.''

The campaign says Cornyn co-sponsored legislation authorizing more than 30 billion dollars for science, technology, engineering and math research and education programs. © Copyright 2009, kccu-fm