Who's the best candidate on education?

On Board Online • May 23, 2016

By Alan Wechsler
Special Correspondent

When it comes to this year's presidential candidates, some New York state school board members don't know whom to support. If anyone.

"It's a very difficult year for me. It's probably the first time since I've been able to vote that I don't have someone that I want to support," said Marissa Joy Mims, a member of the Fayetteville-Manlius Central School District Board of Education near Syracuse.

Mims said she's been frustrated on the lack of detail on how each candidate will manage public schools if elected. And the campaign rhetoric has her down. "What I am seeing is a very poor example that all of them are setting for our students ... how people should argue for their positions and respect one another," she said. "It's a civics lesson for our kids . in the worst aspects of politics."

Welcome to Election 2016. It's been easy to miss the candidates' stances on public education, because education has not been one of the issues favored in debates or campaign stump speeches. But there are some big differences.

On the left, Bernie Sanders calls for increasing early-childhood education, new after-school programs, a complete overhaul of federal law to reduce reliance on standardized tests, as well as free college tuition.

On the right, Donald Trump calls for reducing the federal Department of Education, increasing reliance on and funding to charter schools, reducing school accountability to the feds and allowing teachers to bring guns to school.

In the middle, Hillary Clinton is endorsed by teacher unions and pledges "A world-class education for every child in every community."

While school board members all share a belief in public education, they vary on what kind of leadership is needed at the national level. Ronald Sommer, president of the Greenwood Union Free School District Board of Education in Orange County, said he leans to the right politically. He is currently supporting Donald Trump, although he saw merit in the other Republican candidates' suggestions that the federal Department of Education be scuttled.

"When you have a government system that's so far removed from what's going on, I don't think that helps," he said. "I'd much rather go up to Albany and get a meeting with the state Department of Education than go to Washington."

And why Trump?

"When you listen to him talk, it's not quite the same as the soundbites you hear," Sommer said. "Do I agree with everything? No. But I agree more with him than I would Hillary."

Ed Marin is a Beekmantown Central School district board member, as well as a member of the local BOCES board. He believes in public education because it changed his life - he came to the United States as a middle-school student from Colombia knowing no English, and now he's an aerospace engineer. He is the father of three children in the district, located in the Plattsburgh area, and works as a business consultant.

Marin says he's had many conversations with people about public education. And while many people tell him that public school is for preparing students who plan to go to college, he thinks it's important for people of all walks of life to be educated, regardless of their profession.

"How smart do you want the EMT who comes to your front door to be?" is his response to people who shrug off the importance of education for all students.

He agrees with critics who say the United States' education system has not kept up with the rest of the world. And he thinks there is a place for charter schools, although he's wary of the idea of competitive education, as he sees it as taking away from underserved populations.

But he also thinks there's an important role for the federal government in education.

"It's important to have standardized education goals for the whole nation," he said, adding: "I cannot support people who think education should be privatized or want to get rid of Common Core."

As the field narrows, here is a guide to where the three leading candidates stand on education.

Hillary Clinton
With a political career going back to the early 1980s, Clinton has a well-defined record on public education. She has long been an advocate of expanding early-childhood education, boosting academic standards and improving child health.

As Arkansas' first lady, she promoted a home instruction program for parents of preschoolers, and chaired the Arkansas Educational Standards Commission, fighting to raise academic standards, increase teacher salaries, and reduce class sizes.

As first lady of the United States, she chaired the first-ever convening on Hispanic children and youth, which focused on improving access to educational opportunities.

And as a U.S. senator from New York she introduced the Ready to Learn Act, which would have created a universal pre-K program.

She voted for the No Child Left Behind Act, but now supports its successor, the Every Student Succeeds Act. She also supports Common Core and is dubious of using test scores to determine teacher merit. She has been endorsed by both the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. She is also a charter schools supporter, although she has pointed out that charter schools don't have to take difficult-to-teach students.

On her campaign web page, Clinton promises to make high-quality education a priority for every child in America; support educators through training, mentoring and in the classroom; and improving student outcomes (especially those with disabilities) by providing opportunities geared toward their individual skills and educational goals. Few specifics are included.

"We need a president who will fight for strong public schools in every zip code and every community across the country," Clinton said. "I want to be that president. I want to fight for you and for educators, and for students and for families. I think they go together."

Bernie Sanders
No candidate has provided more detail about educational goals than Sanders, whose election website includes information on his plans to provide "high-quality, affordable" early-childhood education, make greater investment into K-12 classes, and overhaul No Child Left Behind.

"In my home state of Vermont, almost every school is identified as 'failing' under the requirements of No Child Left Behind, despite the fact that we have one of the highest graduation rates in the country," Sanders said.

Much of his focus has been on college education, famously saying that all public colleges and universities should be tuition-free. But he also offers a lot of attention on the importance of early-child education. As a U.S. senator, Sanders introduced the Foundations to Success Act, which passed in 2011. The act calls for enhancing early-childhood education through competitive grants to establish programs to bring education to children ages six weeks to kindergarten age.

"There is perhaps no issue more important than how we educate our youth ... we must do away with the archaic notion that education begins at four or five years old," he said in 2014.

Sanders also promotes filling gaps in education that affect minority students, noting that they are more likely to be suspended after an incident in school, or be taught by inexperienced teachers. He's also discussed finding alternatives to property taxes as a way of funding public education, and has said he is "not in favor" of charter schools.

And once a student graduates high school, Sanders says he or she ought to be able to attend a public college or university for free. Funding would be created through a new tax on "Wall Street speculators."

Donald Trump
Trump has talked a lot about building a wall on the U.S.'s southern border, but has said comparatively little about public education. On his website, his sole nod to education is a video where he promises to end Common Core.

"I'm a tremendous believer in education, but education has to be at a local level. We cannot have the bureaucrats in Washington telling you how to manage your child's education," he said.

He added: "Common Core's a total disaster. We can't let it continue. We are rated 28th in the world, the United States ... We spend more money and we're rated 28th. Third World countries are ahead of us. We're going to end Common Core and have education an absolute priority." The campaign has not provided details on Trump's plans, however.

Trump is also a critic of gun-free school zones. According to reports of a speech Trump made in Burlington, Vt. last January, Trump says gun-free zones attract mentally ill shooters, and that the mass shootings in schools and other places could be prevented if more bystanders were armed.

While Trump said getting rid of gun-free schools zones would be one of his first acts if elected, he would need an act of Congress to get the federal law, created in 1990, repealed.

He is also in favor of increasing competition for students, such as through charter or private schools. He also wants to reduce the size and impact of the U.S. Department of Education.