On Board Online • Top Stories • August 18, 2008

By Diane Ward
Governmental Relations Representative

Presidential hopefuls John McCain and Barack Obama differ on a number of education issues including public school funding, vouchers and special education; however, both candidates agree that the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) should be reauthorized, albeit with some changes.

Education policy advisors for both senators squared off at the National Conference of State Legislatures annual summer meeting in New Orleans last month.

Speaking for Obama, Stanford University Professor of Education Linda Darling-Hammond quipped that NCLB had "left the money behind." She told a standing-room only audience of state legislators, legislative staff and education advocates that Obama, a Democrat, would spend an additional $18 billion a year on early education and teacher quality initiatives.

"States need a helping hand from the federal government rather than a heavy hand," she said. "As president, (Sen. Obama) will fix and fund NCLB, invest in pre-K and recognize the importance of innovation at the local level."

McCain's advisor, former Arizona schools chief Lisa Graham Keegan, said money is not the answer. She said McCain, a Republican, would hold the line on federal spending on education. "Senator McCain is very mindful that the nation is in an economic crisis right now," said Keegan. She noted the federal government has increased spending nearly 50 percent over pre-NCLB levels.

Keegan said McCain, whose wife Cindy was a special education teacher, is interested in finding ways to increase funding for the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). However, Keegan said that more than 50 percent of students who are classified would not need services if their schools did a better job of teaching reading - an assertion that is sure to be challenged by experts in the field.

Both candidates support school choice. Obama would limit parental choice to charter schools, while McCain wants to make federally funded vouchers available to parents who wish to send their children to private and parochial schools.

"We cannot afford to write off an option that parents desperately want," said Keegan, McCain's advisor. McCain wants to invest $750 million to develop "virtual schools" which would allow children to take classes via the Internet.

Neither camp offered much in the way of specifics regarding changes they would seek with regard to NCLB. Obama's advisor said the Illinois senator will insist on more diagnostic assessments to improve learning and provide funds to states to implement a broader range of assessments." She said, "There is a lot of emphasis on measurement. The law needs to be reconceptualized to evaluate progress."

Both candidates have also endorsed merit pay for teachers, but would use different approaches. McCain believes principals should decide who gets a bonus. Obama, who has been endorsed by the major teachers unions, favors an approach that would let teachers develop a performance pay program.

Darling-Hammond, the Obama advisor, was somewhat evasive about whether student test scores should be used to evaluate teacher effectiveness until she was pressed for an answer by Keegan. Darling-Hammond said Obama would support the use of test scores as one of several measures to gauge performance.

Keegan was more blunt when she described McCain's stand: "If a teacher cannot demonstrate that they are able to teach, then they have to be counseled to do something else."