Presidential candidates differ on education policies

9/26/00 – The following report, comparing the positions on education by Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Democratic candidate Vice President Al Gore–along with the positions of NSBA–was prepared by NSBA's Advocacy Office from information gathered from a variety of sources, including the the candidates' Web sites, Education Week, and the New York Times.

ACCOUNTABILITY

BUSH: Would require states to give mathematics and reading tests to all students in grades 3-8 who attend schools receiving federal aid under the Title I program.

Would require states to publish annual school-by-school report cards. States failing to improve student achievement would be required to place the administrative portion of their federal aid into a fund for charter schools.

Students attending failing Title I schools that did not improve in three years would receive federal aid for tutoring or tuition at private schools.

Supports incentives to states that make progress in narrowing the achievement gap and to reward individual schools showing the most improvement.

GORE: Would require states and districts to take aggressive actions to turn around failing schools. If such schools do not improve after one year, the state and district would have to overhaul the curricula, provide professional development, and remove low-performing teachers.

Schools that fail to improve after two years would be shut down and reopened as charter schools or "reconstituted" schools. After-school and summer school programs would be offered to help students who attend such schools.

States that fail to improve student achievement would have to convert the administrative portion of their federal dollars into a fund to help poor-performing schools.

Proposes financial rewards for states and schools that make significant progress in closing the achievement gap.

Encourages all states to institute a high school exit exam.

States and school districts would be required to disseminate annual report cards.

Would require rigorous testing of the knowledge and teaching skills of all new teachers.

NSBA: Supports assessments that measure student achievement and provide information to support local accountability and decision-making.

Testing should be conducted primarily at the local and state levels. Any national test should be administered on a strictly voluntary basis with no adverse impact on the receipt of federal funds for those school districts that do not choose to participate and should be operated by entities outside the federal government.

Favors up-front support to build the capacity of low-performing schools and districts to raise student achievement.

Opposes takeovers and other external mechanisms that foster delays and/or punitive approaches. Instead, favors constructive and empowering efforts to help local school officials and staff build their own capacity to improve their local schools.

Supports teacher education programs that prepare teachers to: (1) ensure students will receive instruction that meets standards; (2) enable teachers to use technology effectively; and (3) enable teachers to meet the needs of students with disabilities who are in the regular classroom setting.

Opposes subsidizing private, religious, or home schools with public tax dollars. Supports funding to low-achieving schools before awarding successful schools.

FUNDING

BUSH: Would allot $24.8 billion over five years in new spending and tax breaks. The money would be spent as follows:

• $15 million–School Recognition funds

• $25 million–National Assessment of Educational Progress

• $300 million–Charter School Homestead Fund (supporting $3 billion in loan guarantees)

• $300 million–Excellence in Education funds

• $550 million–State Assessments

• $2.3 billion–Education savings accounts

• $85 million–Character education

• $2 billion–After-school programs

• $150 million–Troops-to-Teachers

• $750 million–Teacher out-of-pocket tax deduction

• $2 billion–Teacher training

• $5 billion–Reading First

• $1 billion–Enhanced Pell grants

• $1 million–Math and science partnerships

• $345 million–Teacher loan forgiveness

• $400 million–Technology research and clearinghouse

• $938 million–Indian school construction

• $310 million–military impacted school construction

• $437 million–Historically black colleges and universities

• $166 million–Hispanic-serving institutions

• $5 billion–Fully funded Pell program

• $1.5 million–College Challenge grants

• $275 million–Prepaid tuition and savings

GORE: Proposes spending an additional $115 billion over 10 years on education initiatives, including:

• $50 billion–Universal preschool access

• $5 billion–K-2 reading initiative

• $12 billion–Class-size reduction

• $8 billion–Teacher recruitment

• $8 billion–Teacher pay increase

• $20 billion–Special education

• $8 billion–After-school programs

• $2.5 billion–Rewards for states that close the achievement gap

• $8 billion–School construction

• $1 billion–Technology

Also $54.9 billion in tax proposals, including:

• $36 billion–Tax credits for college tuition

• $8 billion–Tax-free bonds for school construction

• $5.3 billion–Tax credits to help parents pay for after school programs

• $5 billion–Tax breaks for college savings

• $600 million–Tax credits to employers who provide worker training

NSBA: Supports the following funding priorities:

• Full funding of the federal government's commitment to pay 40 percent of the excess cost of special education ($2.2 billion annual increases over 10 years).

• Necessary funding for children who have barriers to learning as a result of poverty, limited-English proficiency, or recent immigration.

• Full funding of the e-rate and other technology-related programs.

• Funding school-to-work programs, early childhood, and school construction and infrastructure needs.

Supports investing a portion of the federal surplus into education as the first priority use for the surplus.

Opposes education savings accounts that provide a tax giveaway for private school tuition.

SPECIAL EDUCATION

BUSH: Promises to work with Congress to increase IDEA funding.

Would target funding toward preventive efforts to identify children with special needs, with the aim of relieving states of the costs of providing long-term educational assistance.

Pledges to increase the budget of the National Institute on Disability Rehabilitative Research, a federal agency within the Department of Education that investigates assistive technology and sponsors innovative programs for the disabled.

GORE: Proposes the largest-ever increase in funding available for special education students.

To help districts with relatively small populations of disabled students, Gore proposes the creation of IDEA "funding pools" that would be managed by the states and allocated according to need.

Plans to finance programs that help identify special education students early and promises increased support for programs that train teachers in the best ways of meeting the needs of those students.

NSBA: Supports annual increases of $2.2 billion over the next 10 years to achieve full funding of the federal commitment. Supports greater flexibility for local school officials to treat students with disabilities on the same basis as other students in terms of being able to remove students who bring weapons or drugs to schools–or who otherwise present a danger to others.

Supports greater flexibility and "user-friendliness" to enable school districts to receive Medicaid reimbursements for services rendered to eligible students, including poor students who are receiving services under IDEA.

TEACHERS

BUSH: Calls for a $2 billion increase in federal spending to recruit and train teachers. Would provide states with block grants for recruiting, hiring, and training teachers; states would decide how the money would be spent.

Would also increase spending for the "Troops-to-Teachers" program; provide tax incentives to help teachers cover out-of-pocket costs of school supplies; and provide teachers, principals, and school board members with legal protection from "meritless" lawsuits when they discipline students.

Would eliminate the Clinton Administration's plan for reducing class size (hiring of 100,000 new teachers). Instead, would support a general $2.4 billion state grant program to give states flexibility to address their specific teacher-training and recruiting needs.

GORE: To receive federal aid, states would be required to show that all teachers are fully certified or working toward certification.

Would require teachers to pass rigorous tests in academic subject areas, in addition to exams that measure teaching skills. Teachers who met the prescribed standards would be awarded higher salaries.

Supports expanding professional development through mentoring and peer-evaluation programs. Supports a "21st Century Teaching Corps," which would offer members college scholarships and incentive-pay programs and bonuses.

NSBA: Supports increased federal support for class-size reduction, teacher recruitment, and professional development.

Supports folding several categorical programs (such as class-size reduction) into a larger program to enable greater flexibility at the school district level to meet local needs.

Opposes Straight A's and other block grant programs that transfer authority over the use of federal funds to the state level rather than providing funds to directly empower local school districts to meet their own community's specific needs.

Supports reasonable time periods to complete certification tied to rigorous standards relating to such factors as subject knowledge and instructional techniques, but not as a condition for receiving federal funds.

Supports efforts within states to tie compensation programs to the goals of increasing student achievement and meeting high standards.

SCHOOL CHOICE

BUSH: Supports vouchers that could be used for private and religious schools.

Would require any school that receives federal money to show improvement within three years.

If a school failed to do so, the federal aid would be redirected to its students to use for tutoring or at the private or public schools of their choice.

Proposes 2,000 new charter schools by 2003 and $3 billion in loan guarantees for charter school construction.

Would expand education savings accounts to $5,000 a year.

GORE: Opposes vouchers.

Students in failing public schools would be able to attend after-school programs or a better performing public school.

Proposes tripling the number of charter schools.

Proposes bringing public school choice to 100 of the lowest-performing school districts nationwide.

NSBA: Opposes vouchers, tuition tax credits, and education savings accounts.

Supports strategic investments in public schools as a means for raising student achievement in low-performing schools.

Recognizes charter schools as one of several mechanisms available to school boards, as long as school boards have sole authority to approve, evaluate, and decertify charters. This means boards would have the authority to hold charter schools accountable to raise student achievement and ensure that they do not foster racial, religious, economic, or social segregation.

Supports other federal funding priorities over charter schools.

Supports voluntary public school choice programs initiated by local school districts and supports federal and state efforts to promote and assist local school districts, at their discretion, to develop, implement, and assess public school choice programs.

Opposes federal or state efforts to mandate public school choice.

CLASS SIZE

BUSH: Proposes combining existing federal funds for class-size reduction, professional training, and Goals 2000–along with an additional $400 million–into a general $2.4 billion state grant program.

This program would give states the flexibility to address their specific teacher-training and recruiting needs.

GORE: Supports the Clinton Administration's program to hire 100,000 new teachers for the early grades, reducing class sizes to 18 students.

Proposes a teacher-recruitment campaign to help schools hire 1 million new teachers.

Would create a "21st Century Teachers Corps." Under this proposal, college students who agree to teach for at least four years after graduation would receive $10,000 toward their tuition, as well as student-loan reimbursements.

Workers who switch careers to go into teaching would be paid a $10,000 hiring bonus and would be offered alternative ways to meet state requirements on teacher training.

Proposes to use federal dollars to cover the interest on $25 billion in state and local construction bonds aimed at modernizing schools. Would award grants to schools and districts that develop strategies to facilitate smaller classes.

NSBA: Supports federal needs-based funding for class-size reduction, teacher recruitment, and professional development.

Supports folding these programs into a larger program that gives local school districts flexibility to determine the best uses of federal funds to raise student achievement in their communities.

Supports a needs-based federal program to reduce the costs of public school construction and renovation.

Supports providing teachers, principals, and school board members with protection from meritless lawsuits relating to student discipline.

TECHNOLOGY

BUSH: Proposes a technology program whereby the current guaranteed funding base paid by telecommunications companies (the e-rate program) would be eliminated and school technology funding would be determined annually by the President and Congress.

Proposes giving funding priority to high-poverty, rural school districts.

Proposes that schools participating in the technology program be required to establish measures for determining how the technology improves student achievement.

Proposes allocating $65 million for research to determine which technology methods improve student achievement the most.

An additional $15 million would be used to establish a clearinghouse to disseminate the research findings.

GORE: Proposes increasing funding for existing technology programs and maintaining the current e-rate program.

Proposes setting a national goal for computer literacy for the end of the eighth grade.

Proposes new funding for school districts, universities, community-based organizations, nonprofit organizations and others to develop and expand technology so that it results in improved student achievement.

Calls for a greater focus on improving the use of technology in high-poverty school districts. Encourages the formation of school partnerships between technology-proficient schools and universities. Funding should focus on improving the application of technology in these schools through professional development.

Would require states receiving certain federal technology dollars to coordinate their technology education efforts with their state academic standards.

NSBA: Supports expanding the e-rate and other technology programs. Supports including a priority for school districts that lack resources to acquire the infrastructure, hardware, software, and staff training to provide a technology-rich, instructional environment.

Reproduced with permission from the Sept. 26, 2000, issue of School Board News. Copyright © 2000, National School Boards Association. Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect positions of NSBA. This article may be printed out and photocopied for individual or educational use, provided this copyright notice appears on each copy. This article may not be otherwise transmitted or reproduced in print or electronic form without the consent of the Publisher. For more information, call (703) 838-6789.