Clairvoyance is the name of the game when it comes to public schools, the Democratic party, and Presidential elections. In contrast, we know Republicans want to end them.
Vice President Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, have yet to devise an education agenda. Walz’s past as a teacher, coach, and governor and his dedicated focus on student welfare are welcome and joyful, giving educators positive hints.
However, hints aren’t enough as time passes, especially when some believe that past Democratic administrations haven’t improved public education but further weakened it.
America needs a President and Vice President supportive of real public schools, a foundation of democracy, not nonprofit or for-profit charter schools or vouchers and educational savings accounts that are said to be for the poor and divide us, giving the wealthy kickbacks for private school enrollment.
Thus far, only those like Sen. Bernie Sanders have addressed the seriousness of school privatization.
America’s public schools are meant to serve all children. They should include well-prepared teachers in the subjects and development levels they teach, placed in public schools to address every child’s learning challenges.
With freedom, we’re talking about Republicans, and Democrats investing in the public schools they own through their tax dollars, with school boards they can respectfully approach with concerns and innovative ideas. They are our schools.
So, what’s education about under both parties?
Trump/Vance
With Betsy DeVos we saw a disregard for free public schools. She praised private and parochial schools. Her connections to the religious Hillsdale College are well known. DeVos and her husband are longtime supporters of the Heritage Foundation, authors of Project 2025.
With another Trump Presidency, there’s little doubt public education would end or change dramatically. Along with Project 2025, Trump’s Agenda 47 describes these changes.
Alison Durkee from Forbes outlines Agenda 47. I raise questions.
- Parents will elect school principals. (What credentials will they have? How will they be held accountable?)
- They’ll cut federal funding to schools teaching critical race theory. (Teachers will be denied to teach what they know best.)
- Teacher tenure will end. (Teachers will be fired without protection.)
- They’ll create a credentialing body to only certify teachers with patriotic values. (Who decides what constitutes patriotism?)
- Prayer will be reinstated in schools. (We have many religions even within Christianity, so whose prayers?)
- They’ll kick out students who misbehave. (Where will troubled students go? Who will help them?)
- Teachers will be allowed to carry concealed firearms. (Do we really want public schools that have gun-toting teachers?)
- They’ll support school choice. (This already occurs unsuccessfully in several states.)
- They’ll levy fines on colleges and universities discriminating against students. (What constitutes discrimination?)
- They’ll create an online American Academy for college. (How will accountability be addressed?)
Harris/Walz
Vice President Kamala Harris chose Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, and educators are delighted, but how will the Harris/Walz platform address public education’s serious problems? Since Harris became the Democratic nominee, educators have tried to figure it out.
Education Blogger Thomas Ultican sees hope in a President Kamala Harris, pointing to Harris’s past public education commitments, including the $1 billion judgment against California-based for-profit Corinthian Colleges she accomplished as California attorney general.
Dr. Lois Weiner, education Professor Emerita at New Jersey City University, is more subdued writing about teacher unionism in Saving Public Schools and Democracy:
… [L]ike other progressive organizations and politicians that fear a Trump victory, NEA and AFT asked no questions of Biden or Harris nor made demands. So in racing to endorse Harris, AFT and NEA gave Harris carte blanche to establish her own agenda for public education…
It [failing to make demands] ignores the Democratic Party’s history on “ed deform,” the bipartisan consensus on education, begun with Ted Kennedy and George Bush creating “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB), which made standards and standardized testing the only measure of academic achievement that mattered. Legislation that tied individual student, teacher, school, and district success to tests led to closings of “failing schools,” “merit pay” for teachers, and scaling up creation of charter schools and lucrative charter management organizations. Though education is a responsibility and right of the states according to the Constitution, standardized testing, based on Common Core standards, aligned with international comparisons of education to make nations and workers competitive in a new global economy, created a de facto national curriculum and a far more lucrative market. The liberal (and union) critique of Project 2025 and Agenda47 identifies its terrible dangers to education -– and ignores what has been lost, or rather, given away by both parties, to corporations.
So, while there’s hope, even glee, for education with the Harris/Walz ticket, and it’s refreshing to see a teacher as VP, educators and parents won’t forget history, that Republicans and Democrats have both contributed to dismantling public schools. One party is more aggressive, but the other has, with groups like Democrats for Education Reform, refused to do due diligence to save public schools.
And while social justice issues and fears of the end of Separation of Church and State are of critical importance, raising great debate between Republicans and Democrats, both parties find agreement over other serious issues including the current focus on diverting tax dollars to private and parochial schools in the form of vouchers and educational savings accounts, huge profits for unproven online reading programs, the corporate push for cyber charter schools, and massive data mining of student information, issues that are anti-democratic, even unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, we await VP Harris’s education agenda with only clues. When she gave her first official candidacy speech in Houston, to the AFT, a city where public schools are besieged by a superintendent looking to privatize public education, the words vouchers and charter schools went unmentioned.
Like past elections, perusing the news to learn where Democrats stand on serious educational issues yields little. For example:
CNN: Here’s what Kamala Harris has said so far on key issues in her campaign. Education is unmentioned.
The Hill: What does Kamala Harris really stand for? School choice is noted only regarding Trump’s support. We aren’t sure what VP Harris believes about school choice or charter schools.
Newsweek: Kamala Harris vs. Donald Trump: Where They Stand on 5 Key Science Issues Climate Change, Energy, Healthcare, Abortion, and Artificial Intelligence critical issues. Education not found.
Business Insider: Here’s where Kamala Harris stands on the issues, from the economy to healthcare. Abortion, Climate, Criminal Justice, Economy, Healthcare, Immigration, Israel-Gaza, LBGTQ + Rights, are discussed, but there’s no mention of threats to public schools.
Capital B: Where Does Kamala Harris Stand on Key Issues Affecting Black Voters? Black voters care about public schools, but issues here are: Reproductive Justice, Criminal Justice Reform, and the Economy.
So, while Democrats find much to celebrate fearful of another Trump administration, there’d be more relief for educators and parents if they learned of a platform emphasizing the critical importance of public education, where they no longer have to guess about the serious issues threatening those schools.
Once again there’s hope, as with elections past, that educators and families will finally see pushback of corporations wanting to end democratic public schools. That this time, the Democratic Party will indeed rise to save public education. It’s what many Americans from both parties yearn for.
Laurie McGowan says
Reed Hastings contributed $7M to her campaign. Not a good sign.
Nancy Bailey says
No. What will he expect in return? I hope she has enough donations to ignore some of that. Thanks, Laurie.
Gregg Heacock says
I can understand why any politician might hesitate to be specific on educational policy other than to support Rick Stiggins’ position that we must give our students the gift of confidence. Similarly, supporting active joyful learning, encouraging collaboration, communication, content, critical thinking, creative innovation, and confidence, as described by Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, et.al, in “Making Schools Work: Bringing the Science of Learning to Joyful Classroom Practice,” providing a pedagogical roadmap to reach Rick Stiggins’ goal allows folks to be hopeful without having to cross a political minefield oof vested interests that have defined federal funding for public education. Life is a puzzle that teaches us how to solve problems. Hope is the wind that lifts our courage to move forward. Hope comes first!
Nancy Bailey says
Certainly, teaching is about helping students feel confident. But whether or not we have FREE public schooling to do that is incredibly important in a democracy. Educational policy is critical. If those leading the country are on board for vouchers to private and parochial schools or charters run by anyone without accountability, Americans have a right to know. But thank you for your comment. I am on board for bringing joy to the classroom for students, and I look forward to reading the resource you provided.
Paul Bonner says
The first thing that advocates for public of education need to do, is convince the Democratic Party that none of the choice or privatization schemes have moved the dial over the 30+ years they have been in place. I have already written the president and vice president articulating that perspective. This needs to happen from numerous voices. Even the so-called science of reading, where it has been in place for many years, has shown no change in reading results. Harris and her running mate, have deep roots as students from public schools. It has to be emphasized that those communities played a significant role in their success. Another thing that needs to happen, and this is perhaps very controversial. The NEA and the AFT have to give up their squabbles with one another that have lasted for decades. Battles over territory and their defensive postures in regard to high stakes testing, have left teachers vulnerable. We all know that teaching is in critical condition because site based educators feel abandoned. This has to become the priority of both unions working together to serve not only union states, but right to work states. Finally, the corporate Culture that is dominating our economy has to face stronger regulation when it comes to participation in the public schools. Public school advocates have to participate in a writing campaign that convinces our representatives that the public schools are critical for the health of our democracy. All politicians, including Kamala Harris, have to break the ties of K St. to better serve the citizenry. Those who understand the importance of the public schools have to be prepared to challenge those who want to dismantle the institution.
Nancy Bailey says
Thank you, Paul. That was very well said. My greatest worry is that they have become so reliant on corporate funders that it will be hard to say no. Consider the many nonprofits that have taken control of how schools work. EdReports for example. Or the way Common Core was pushed into schools. I hope I’m wrong.
“Finally, the corporate Culture that is dominating our economy has to face stronger regulation when it comes to participation in the public schools. Public school advocates have to participate in a writing campaign that convinces our representatives that the public schools are critical for the health of our democracy. All politicians, including Kamala Harris, have to break the ties of K St. to better serve the citizenry. Those who understand the importance of the public schools have to be prepared to challenge those who want to dismantle the institution.”
Karen says
One reason Harris may be ignoring education is due to its highly politicized nature at this time that makes the topic controversial, It is the same reason Palestinians were not allowed to speak at the convention. The theme of Harris’s speech at the convention was unity. The DNC was not going allow controversy to spoil the momentum.
Both parties are to blame for the threat to public education. The best way to save our public institutions is to reform our campaign finance laws. We should adopt the Scandinavian approach where all candidates get the same amount of money to campaign, and the money comes from the government. It ensures that the ultra-rich cannot buy policy.
Nancy Bailey says
Thank you, Karen. I agree with you. I think many do.