A look at the GOP’s education platform

It’s hard not to stare at the spectacle of presidential elections but examining actual policy is vital to making an informed choice. So where do the candidates stand when it comes to education?

While details are in scarce supply, last Friday, Education Week published their best take on where both Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton stood on education issues. This week, we’re looking at the Trump/GOP platform.

ACADEMIC STANDARDS: Trump calls Common Core State Standards “a total disaster” and has consistently called for doing away with it altogether. However, without new legislation banning Common Core, the federal government can’t move on this. The Republican Platform only congratulates states that have repealed it, rejecting “the crippling bigotry of low expectations.”

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: While Trump hasn’t spoken on ECE, even after the recent poll that revealed 78% of his supporters back pre-k, any mention of preschool investments was rejected from the Platform because it “inserts the state in the family relationship in the very early stages of a child’s life.”

EVERY STUDENT SUCCEEDS ACT: Replacing No Child Left Behind, ESSA, the federal education law, found broad bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress but it’s not known where Trump stands on federal funding to achieve its objectives. ESSA isn’t mentioned in the Platform, despite it being the first major education legislation passed in 15 years.

SCHOOL CHOICE: The Platform champions “innovative financing mechanisms” like education savings accounts, vouchers and tax credits to promote home-schooling, private or parochial schools, magnet schools, charter schools and online learning. It also contains a proposal to bypass districts so that federal education dollars follow the child—basically upending every school district in the U.S..

SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION: While no plan has been released to deal with the construction needs for schools across the country, Trump has noted school construction has languished (while spending for building schools in Iraq continues).

SCHOOL SAFETY: Trump has said armed teachers would mean safer schools and has said he’d get rid of federal gun-free school zones.

SCHOOL SPENDING: Trump wants to see a better educational system that costs less, inaccurately saying the U.S. is first in how much it spends on students, more than any other country by “a factor of many.”

TEACHER QUALITY: The Platform mentions increasing teacher accountability and doing away with tenure systems (in favor of merit-based pay) and Trump has been unsparing in his criticisms of teachers’ unions.

TESTS: No thoughts from the nominee, but the Platform reiterates the GOP opposition to national standards and assessments, rejecting “excessive testing” but supporting the need for “strong assessments” so teachers can meet student needs.

We have some concerns over the lack of details and even the lack of an actual plan to grapple with the very serious issues that serve as obstacles to the American student. We’ll keep an eye out for substantial additions to the GOP education platform as the campaign ramps up in the months ahead.

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Are you part of the 78% of Republican voters who believe in pre-k? Or the 97% of Dems? How many preschoolers have access to pre-k spots in your neighborhood? Find out HERE!

“If I talked like Donald Trump, I’d get sent to the principal’s office immediately.” Third grader Alexis Fridman, co-founder of her Newton, MA school club Kids Against Trump.” READ IT HERE

“By refusing to enroll these students or placing them in an inferior educational program that cannot meet their language and learning needs, the district deprives them of the opportunity to make a successful life in their new country.” Education Law Center attorney Maura McInerney. ELC and ACLU-PA has filed suit against Lancaster district for illegally denying education to immigrant youth. LEARN MORE