Governor Thompson, who started the nation’s first school choice program in Milwaukee, believes America must hold our schools to high standards from kindergarten through college while making sure all of our children have access to a world-class education, regardless of what neighborhood they live in or how much money their parents make. Thompson believes Congress can make No Child Left Behind stronger, and do so without wavering on its core principles. He has long supported vouchers and charter schools.

Vouchers:

In 1990 Thompson helped create the nations first voucher program – a limited system in the city of Milwaukee. In 1995 he expanded the program to include religious schools, also a Milwaukee first. He has said he wants to use the Milwaukee program as a model for the rest of the nation.

Charter schools:

As with vouchers, Thompson sees charter schools as another choice for parents and a source of competition to make public schools perform better.

Standards:

As Governor, Thompson supported replacing “social-promotion” with standards. He argued that in order to maintain the high level of achievement expected from Wisconsin students, the days of promoting students to the next grade solely because of their age - “social promotion” - is over.

Tancradeo is a former public school teacher and the Secretary of Education’s Regional Representative for the West. He opposes federal government intervention in education and thus opposed NCLB. Tancredo favors vouchers and tax credits for home schooling. He wants to increase local control and routing of federal education dollars to classrooms and away from bureaucrats.

Tancredo supports fully funding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). He believes that schools should have greater flexibility in spending education dollars as they see fit. He want to give parents the option of placing their children in bilingual education programs.

Bilingual education

Tancredo wants to implement programs that have standard criteria in place for the entrance and exit from bilingual education programs based on whether a student has the English skills necessary for success in the mainstream classrooms. He also wants to include instructional components to ensure that students can learn English using the most efficient and effective approaches as possible. Tancredo believes that we must limit the amount of time that students are enrolled in bilingual programs to three years.

Sam Brownback voted for the No Child Left Behind Act and supports vouchers.

Here are a few other relevant votes:

• In 2005 Brownback voted against providing $5B in grants to local educational agencies. Half the funds were for targeting grants to local educational agencies while the other half was for education finance incentive grants.


• Brownback voted against providing $52M to increase appropriations for after-school programs through 21st century community learning centers.


• Also in 2005 Brownback voted against a Sen. Kennedy amendment shifting $11B from corporate tax loopholes to education.


• Brownback voted for Educational Savings Accounts in 1998 and 2000. The 2000 bill would have permitted tax-free savings accounts of up to $2000 per child annually to be used for public or private school tuition or other education expenses.


• In 1997 he voted for school vouchers in Washington DC.

At a February 2007 speech in Washington DC, Giuliani promised to take on the nation's public school system, but not dismantle it. "I would not destroy it," he said. "I would revive it, reform it, and change it."

Vouchers

Among the changes he would try is the implementation of a school voucher program, which Giuliani has long favored.

Directly from the candidate:

As Mayor, Rudy Giuliani worked to reform the nation’s largest public school system, with over 1 million school children. He increased school funding and hired new teachers, while insisting on reforms that ended social promotion, abolished principal tenure, and created a Charter School Fund. Rudy is also a strong supporter of school choice, believing that it is one of the great civil rights issues of our time.

Giuliani on Education Reform

Paul advocates more local control of education and voted against a federal government grant that provides Black and Hispanic colleges $84 million dollars. He is a proponent of school choice (although tax credits over vouchers) that parents can use for private & parochial schools. In 2000, Paul supported a Republican Liberty Caucus (RLC) resolution to abolish the Department of Education and return education control to states, cities and communities.

Private schools

Paul introduced his Family Education Freedom Act in 2001 which would have provided a tax credit of up to $3.000 for parents to send their children to private schools. In 2003 Paul ridiculed vouchers in his bid to generate support for his tax credit proposal.

Romeny supports standards testing, engaging parents and focusing on math and science. He blames unions and Democrats for the education gap between children of color and white children.

At some point, I think America -- and, importantly, the minority communities -- are going to say, 'it's time to split with our friends, the unions and the Democratic Party, and put our kids first here.' Unequal educational opportunity is the civil rights issue of our time.

Vouchers

In the past, Romney has pledged support for a means tested school voucher program.

Department of Education

Romney has supported terminating the U.S. Department of Education.

Mike Huckabee supports charter schools, music programs and the NCLB law. He is a public school advocate. Huckabee supports teacher testing and merit pay, plus an increased ability for schools to fire teachers.

Vouchers

McCain has long supported vouchers for private schools as well as education savings accounts.

Separation of Church and State

McCain has announced that he supports the inclusion of intelligent design teaching in schools. In 2005, McCain told the Arizona Daily Star that he believes "all points of view" should be available to students.

McCain on education at NH townhall

Higher Ed

Gilmore has been credited for making college more affordable for needy students by lowering tuition and increasing scholarships.

Vouchers

In 1999 Gilmore endorsed vouchers for Virginia schools.

Fred Thompson's education voting record, from On The Issues:

• Voted NO on funding smaller classes instead of private tutors. (May 2001)


• Voted NO on funding student testing instead of private tutors. (May 2001)


• Voted NO on spending $448B of tax cut on education & debt reduction. (Apr 2001)


• Voted YES on Educational Savings Accounts. (Mar 2000)


• Voted YES on allowing more flexibility in federal school rules. (Mar 1999)


• Voted YES on education savings accounts. (Jun 1998)


• Voted YES on school vouchers in DC. (Sep 1997)


• Voted YES on $75M for abstinence education. (Jul 1996)

Local control

Hunter wants to shift control of education policy to local level, saying we can educate students more effectively by returning school curriculum prerogatives to the states, local communities and, most importantly, to the family. State agencies charged with conducting education policies do not need expensive and inefficient mandates from a federal agency, Hunter says. He also supports streamlining the responsibilities of the U.S. Department of Education toward a goal of working in cooperation with local and state governments to meet local and state learning levels.

Vouchers

Hunter supports vouchers as a way of strengthening our public educational system. He also believes home schooled children should get the same access and opportunities to federal benefits, such as financial aid, as those who attend public school.