As a policy geek, I love presidential debate season. The candidates offer a host of ideas – some new, some old – and we the voters decide which ideas hold the most potential for solving our nation’s big challenges. But as an education advocate and a mom, I’ve been disappointed in this year’s debates. Education has received virtually no air time, despite its major significance to our country’s future.
Will this week finally change that? Tomorrow night, the Republican candidates for president will face off in Milwaukee in a debate hosted by Fox Business Channel and the Wall Street Journal. On Saturday, the Democratic candidates take the stage in an Iowa debate hosted by CBS News. In an effort to jumpstart the discussion on education, here are five questions I’d love to hear the moderators ask candidates in both parties. 1. Voters are concerned about the economy. Do you think education is an economic issue? No question is more pivotal to the future of the American economy than education. If America is going to remain a global economic leader, with opportunity and prosperity for all our people, we need to make sure our students acquire the skills and knowledge they’ll need to succeed in a competitive global workforce. Do the candidates see this link between education and the economy? How will they ensure that America has the best-prepared workforce in the world? 2. Does Washington have a role in helping to replicate what works in education? For 50 years now, Washington has invested hundreds of billions of dollars in our education system, with results that aren’t good enough by anyone’s standard. How would the candidates get a better bang for our educational bucks at the federal level? What’s the proper role for the federal government in supporting schools?3. How would you as President of the United States find solutions so that all students – regardless of race, income, or geography – have high-quality educational options? The recent results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, or the Nation’s Report Card) make clear that we still have a long way to go to raise achievement levels for all and to reduce achievement gaps between different groups of students. All around the country, African-American and Hispanic students and students from lower-income families and neighborhoods are trailing far behind their wealthier peers. How can we ensure that all students get an equal opportunity to succeed in a high-quality school?4. What can be done to improve parental choices in education so that there is a healthy marketplace of high-quality schools regardless of where a family lives or their level of income? Charter public schools are raising achievement levels and reducing achievement gaps for some of the nation’s most underserved students. But with more than one million names on charter school wait lists, we’re not coming close to meeting parental demand for great school options. How would the candidates help high-quality charter public schools to expand and replicate, and new charter schools to open? What role should the federal Charter Schools Program (CSP) play in bringing more educational choices to families? 5. How do we set, maintain, and meet high standards in K-12 education? Recently, the discussion of educational standards in America has been boiled down to two toxic words: Common Core. But when you look beneath the Common Core label, you find what most parents say they want: High-quality standards to help ensure that every child is learning and prepared for the future. Leaving aside what we call it, how would the candidates shape an accountability system that includes high standards for all students? And what role should the federal government play in ensuring that every child, wherever he or she grows up, gets a great education? OK, I admit – five education questions in one debate may be a lot to ask for. But with almost no education questions asked in previous debates, we have to make up for lost time. Here’s hoping that this week’s debate will finally help parents understand where our next president stands on the issue that is most important to their children’s – and our nation’s – future.
Menu
