Vouchers Separate Presidential Hopefuls

All favor charter schools. Bradley says fund IDEA fully; Gore concurs, but doesn’t give timeline

While most polls show education to be among the top concerns of the nation’s voters, only two candidates have made education a centerpiece of their 2000 presidential campaigns.

Only front-runners Democrat Al Gore and Republican Gov. George W. Bush of Texas have laid out comprehensive education platforms while on the campaign trail. Their main challengers, Democrat Bill Bradley, a former U.S. senator from New Jersey, and Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, have addressed education in a more piecemeal fashion.

One issue that all the candidates have weighed in on, at least peripherally, is the contentious issue of school vouchers.

• Both Democratic candidates say they oppose school voucher initiatives. Bradley, however, voted in support of experimental school voucher programs in Cleveland and Milwaukee at least four times during the 1990s. Gore has supported public school choice.

• Bush would take back Title I funds from failing public schools and give $1,500 each to students to use as vouchers toward private school tuition. Gore responded to Bush’s plan by saying that in most neighborhoods where funds would be cut off, "public schools would be destroyed … students would crowd into school in surrounding areas. … Most of the families in the low and lower middle income category couldn’t possibly use the tiny little down payment given to them to pay private school tuition."

• McCain wants to fund a nationwide three-year pilot voucher program by ending about $5.5 billion in federal subsidies to the oil, gas, ethanol and sugar industries. He says the funds would be distributed to states for use as scholarships to help the neediest children in the lowest-performing public schools transfer to private schools.

All the candidates have expressed support for charter schools. Bush would created a $3 billion Charter Homestead Fund to provide loan guarantees to private vendors to finance charter school start-ups or improvements.

Most also have weighed in on such issues as the teacher shortage and early-childhood education.

Here are brief highlights from the front-runners’ education platforms:

Bradley:

• $2 billion-per-year early-care and childhood program. He also would seek to enroll an additional 400,000 children in Head Start programs, up from the 830,000 currently participating. Also has proposed investing $1 billion in after-school community centers that would be open six or seven days a week until 11 p.m. or midnight to give children safe places to go after school.

• "Teach-to-Reach" program would cost $13 billion over 10 years, to be funded from the budget surplus. It calls for a loan forgiveness program for 60,000 college graduates and scholarships for 10,000 high school seniors annually who commit to teach in disadvantaged schools for four or five years.

• Supported the 1994 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

• Supports federal funding of IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) at full 40 percent allowed by law.

• Supports competency testing for new teachers.

Gore:

• About $50 billion of Gore’s $115 billion education plan would be devoted to universal preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds.

• Wants to increase the number of teachers by offering college scholarships to 60,000 students annually in exchange for four years of teaching in "high need" schools. His plan also would offer bonuses and training to attract 15,000 professionals in other fields to become teachers.
• Supported the reauthorization of ESEA and the retention of its primary focus on serving underprivileged children.

• "Fully embraces" the goal of funding IDEA at the full 40 percent eventually. For now, funding should be significantly increased, he said, although he has not said by how much.

• Supports competency testing for new teachers.

Bush:

• Move the Head Start program from the Department of Health and Human Services to the Department of Education to make school readiness its top priority.

• Would allow ESEA funds to be used to expand school options, including private school choice. He also would streamline 60 categories of grants for elementary and secondary education into five general categories so states can tailor programs to their unique needs. Under the plan, money could be spent to improve the achievement of disadvantaged children; promote fluency in English; train and recruit teachers; encourage student character and school safety; and promote innovation and informed parental choice.

• Mandatory state exams in grades 3-8 to gauge school performance nationwide, similar to the TAAS exams in his home state of Texas. He also would require the states to participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a federal program that tests a random sample of students every two to four years. States would be required to publish an annual school-by-school report card with test results.

• Wants to establish a $500 million incentive fund to reward states for improving student performance and supports establishing a fund to reward schools that show the greatest improvements in student achievement. He also supports closing failing or poorly performing schools.

McCain:

• Briefly proposed a plan to provide about $1 billion annually in tax breaks for teachers rated "excellent" by states, but he has not provided details of the plan.

• Supported the 1994 reauthorization of ESEA.

• Co-sponsored the Ed-Flex bill in the 105^th and 106^th Congresses, which allows states more flexibility in using federal government grants.

• Voted for funding increases for IDEA.

• Opposes the use of federal funds to develop or implement national education tests and standards.

Natalie Carter Holmes, Editor