Congressman Payne is a champion of teachers and students and is working to help students, educators,  and families navigate the return to full-time, in-person schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic. He has championed the needs of low-income students and first-generation college students, as a national leader in the TRIO and Gear Up Programs.
 

Congressman Payne’s Promise Neighborhood Act, which was signed into law by President Obama, created the Promise Neighborhoods program which supports children in disadvantaged communities throughout their entire education.
 

Congressman Payne is committed to guaranteeing that early childhood education is available to traditionally underserved communities and fully supports access to and robust funding for public education.
 

He is a longtime supporter of Federal Financial Aid for students including Pell Grants, Federal Work Study funding, and the Carl D.  Perkins Career and Technical Education Act; and is proud to be a co-sponsor of the College  Affordability Act that would reauthorize the Higher Education Act of 1965.  
 

As a Member of the Congressional Black Caucus, he is proud to support Bloomfield  College, the lone Predominantly Black Institutions (PBI) in New Jersey, through annual  Congressional appropriations and Higher Education Act.  (H.R. 3946)