Clinton and Trump on Education Policy: A Tale of Two Campaigns

No matter which side of the political spectrum you sit on, it’s clear that the presidential election could have a big impact on education policy. While the bi-partisan support of the Every Student Succeeds Act will certainly be given an opportunity as the country’s current education law for the immediate future (both candidates support it), Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have different takes on education policy.

Ed as a Convention Speech Acceptance Issue

The first noticeable difference lies in emphasis. If you examine the two candidates’ convention speeches , you’ll see that education plays a much bigger role in Hillary Clinton’s time on stage. Her public platform includes a promise to pay tuition for students that are coming from low and middle-income families. This platform commitment was a concession to Bernie Sanders in exchange for his nomination.

Clinton also went to great lengths to highlight her education efforts in the past, specifically to help those with disabilities. She also promised that families would be able to send their kids to school no matter their zip code.

Trump’s acceptance speech only had one specific line about education policy. He said, “We will rescue kids from failing schools by helping their parents send them to a safe school of their choice.” Trump did blast the Obama Administration for failing inner city schools, and warned that Hillary Clinton would let in too many immigrants and overwhelm America’s schools.

Trump Speeches and Republican Platform Tell a Deeper Story

While both candidates’ acceptance speeches seemed weak on details and depth, their individual comments at various campaign stops and the Democratic and Republican Party platforms offer more depth about what each candidate hopes to bring to the education table. First, let’s examine Trump and the Republican Party’s policies. Below is a brief summary.

Donald Trump abhors Common Core testing as a standard. He would do everything in his power to get rid of it, and empower local decision making on education standards.

At the same time, Trump wants to see a more privatized competitive school environment . Parents should be able to move their students to the schools they most want to attend, and in doing so, poor performing schools would lose attendance and money. He also wants to privatize college loans and make banks and schools compete for funding. These policies have been criticized for their potential to deprive lower income families of education opportunities.

The Republican Platform is rich with education policy. Here are the highlights:

· Support the unalienable right for a parent to determine their child’s education path (as opposed to a state, the federal government, or the United Nations).

· Focus strongly on technology, STEM, and American history and civics.

· Limit Title IX to its original intent of leveling the playing field for women, and not expanding it to include transgender opportunities.

· Create “new systems of learning to compete with traditional four-year schools: Technical institutions, online universities, life-long learning, and work-based learning in the private sector.”

· Extract the federal government from the business of offering student loans.

Hillary Clinton and the Democrats’ View of Education

Hillary Clinton voted for Common Core via the No Child Left Behind Act, and called the original passing of the law unpartisan. She described the law’s rollout as “disastrous.” Still she supports some form of national standardization when it comes to weighing schools.

Clinton was booed during a speech at the National Education Association (NEA) for not condemning charter schools. Like her more conservative rival, she likes choice in schools and would rather find solutions that work and share those practices. Clinton refuses to back any particular ideology when it comes to public or charter schools. NEA has endorsed Clinton.

Teachers may see more pay with Hillary Clinton. She has promised higher salaries, and would like to see salaries untethered from test score performances. Ms. Clinton would encourage more emphasis on students’ self-discipline and respect in school. In addition, Ms. Clinton’s $350 billion plan for college has much detail, including attempts to curb costs at the national level and refinancing overwhelming college debt.

The Democratic Platform adds additional light to their education platform. Here are their highlights:

· Strengthen public and private universities, colleges, and institutions that serve minorities, including blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans.

· Crack down on for-profit schools that take millions in federal financial aid, exploit students, and burden them with debt.

· Provide the opportunity for universal preschool for all kids four years of age (also a public Clinton initiative).

· Invest in high-quality STEAM classes, community schools, computer science education, and arts education; expand link learning models and career pathways.

· End the school-to-prison pipeline by opposing discipline policies that disproportionately affect minorities, students with disabilities, and youth who identify as LGBT.

What do you think about this year’s election and how it will impact the education sector?