And The Trillion-Dollar Question That Should Take Center-Stage at the Next
Education occupied a substantive chunk of airtime at last Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate, something that was not anticipated but not surprising given that it’s a favorite issue of moderators Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier. Baier’s question sparked a variety of answers, some typical, some not.
“The Nation’s Report Card was the weakest ever for American school children, exposing chronic absenteeism, deep declines for reading and math for 13-year-olds. Gov. DeSantis, you would eliminate the Dept. of Education. But as president, would you still have a responsibility to fix this crisis as we see it?”
“Absolutely,” said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. “The decline in education is one of the major reasons why our country is in decline.”
The governor didn’t exactly spell out what he would do from Washington, and surprisingly didn’t mention his record on education choice. In March, Florida offered the most expansive program for parental choice in the nation – providing every parent, over the next few years, the ability to use the state education money allocated to their child to fund the education of their choice.
Other candidates were quick to provide their bona fides on the issues. “If a child can’t read by third grade, they’re four times less likely to graduate high school,” said former U.N Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. She endorsed reading remediation as one solution and also lined up as an advocate for choice, saying, “Parents need to be deciding which schools their kids go to because they know best.”
Former V.P. Mike Pence was also on the choice bandwagon as one would expect, given his long-standing support for the issue. “We doubled the size of the largest school choice program in America,” Pence said, “and we’ll give school choice to every family in America when I am in the White House.” (Pence knows that’s a tough proposition. In his efforts with Trump, when they had both houses of congress, he could not move the needle to get a modest education choice program enacted.)
Pence also (along with three other candidates) vowed to abolish the US Department of Education. It’s a great sound bite but a hollow threat. The department administers hundreds of Congressionally mandated programs and appropriations and couldn’t cease to exist unless every program were abolished. That’s just civics 101.
It is true that programs can and perhaps should be phased out, and that federal (i.e. “taxpayer”) funded programs that are in conflict with state education policies should be redirected back to the states. But canceling out every program and voting to get rid of a federal agency isn’t the empowering move that transforms education and alters the trajectory of millions of students who are being woefully underserved by their schools today.
The good news is that some of the candidates did call for a federal focus on civics education – an important topic since the Nation’s Report Card revealed fewer than one in four eighth grade students are proficient in civics.
The Florida governor was clearer on this point: “As president, I’m going to lead an effort to increase civic understanding and knowledge of our Constitution,” said DeSantis. We cannot be graduating students that don’t have any foundation in what it means to be an American.”
And Vivek Ramaswamy was equally clear on the subject suggesting that all students take civics tests, the same “civics test that, frankly, every immigrant, including my mother, had to pass…”
Education innovation also made a debut in a presidential forum with North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, talking about freeing schools and educators from red tape. His record on this subject is strong; districts like Northern Cass which is Burgum’s home school district is a nationally recognized model, providing an entirely personalized learning environment for students who are measured not on class deliverables but on competency.
Finally, the moderator’s question spurred reflections on the power of teachers unions and their impact on education. Sen. Tim Scott said the unions are “standing in the doorhouse [sic] of our kids, locking them into failing schools and locking them out of the greatest future they can have.” And sparking Chris Christie – who as New Jersey’s governor made something of a career of clashing with teachers unions – to comment that teachers unions, not UFOs (a subject also addressed during the debate) are the biggest threat to our country.
For those who support pushing power down to the people, the debate on education was a welcome change from the day-to-day political dialogue. And there is no question that parents, educators and students need more freedom if we are to return America to educational excellence.
But the biggest issue that was only marginally touched on is that the return on investment of the billions of dollars currently spent on education is a student achievement record that, for most, is, at best, mediocre and for far too many, is a complete failure.
Where is that money going and who really should be in charge of deciding? That’s the trillion-dollar question for the next debate.
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