PAA cannot and does not endorse any candidate, but we are committed to educating parents and the general public about where the candidates and parties stand on education issues. The information in the following table was retrieved on Feb. 10, 2016 from www.ontheissues.org/education and www.ballotpedia.org, on Feb. 15, 2016 from the candidates’ web sites, and from media reports. We have focused on the two remaining Democratic candidates and the top 6 Republican nominees based on today’s national polling. Download a pdf version of this chart (one that’s quite a bit easier to read!) here.
| Candidate | General education philosophy | Testing | Charters | Vouchers | Other |
| J. Bush (R) | Lines up with much of corporate reform agenda | Pushed for more tests as Gov. of Florida | Strongly supports “choice” and charter schools, started a charter school
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Strongly supports | Opposed FL lower class size program |
| B. Carson (R) | Less federal involvement | Supports “choice” and charters |
Strongly supports
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| H. Clinton (D) | Democratic public schools are important | Says there’s too much testing, opposes test-based teacher evaluation
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Says charters should be a choice for parents but has criticized them – says they should supplement not supplant strong public schools | Opposes | Supports arts education, universal pre-school |
| T. Cruz (R) | Control belongs at local level | Supports “choice” and charters |
Strongly supports | Abolish Common Core, Dept. of Education
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| J. Kasich (R) | Competition key to education; give power back to local level; listen to parents |
Enacted third grade retention program | Strongly supports “choice” and charters |
Strongly supports | Believes Bible is history, schools do not need more funding, supports constitutional amendment for school prayer
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| M. Rubio (R) | Competition and choice will save public education; less federal involvement, stronger local role
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Strongly supports charters and “choice;” says this benefits low-income families most | Strongly supports |
Supports virtual/blended learning |
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| B. Sanders (D) | His comments focus primarily on higher ed | Supports annual federal testing mandate but wants “holistic approach” to testing
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Has supported charters, voted for more federal funding for them, but recently stated that he opposes privately run charter schools. | Opposes | Supports reduced class size |
| D. Trump (R) | Much smaller federal role in education | Supports “choice” |
Supports as part of “competition” | Opposes teachers unions, Common Core |
February 10, 2016
Posted in Misc