Posted on 10/24/08

How would the nation’s schools and students fare if Senator John McCain or Senator Barack Obama were elected? Undoubtedly many people will decide who to vote for based on issues like the economy and foreign affairs. But a President can have a huge impact on what portion of education receive greater attention and funding. The next President also will need to deal with the federal No Child Left Behind law that need major refinements.

Before turning to differences among the two candidates, let’s mention a major area of agreement that was cited during the final, national presidential debate. Both agreed that an idea born in Minnesota – charter public schools – was valuable. Both will help expand the idea. Neither, wisely, view the charters or anything else as the total solution for education’s problems.

When then Governor Bill Clinton and (the first) President Bush debated, they also agreed on the value of charter public schools.

A second area of agreement seems to be that the federal No Child Left Behind Law should be modified, not eliminated. In a recent debate between two major education advisors for each of the candidates, there was agreement, for example, that the country should move toward a system of “value-added” assessment. This means that a school should be judged on whether and how much progress students are making, not just on how well they score each year.

Obama appears to be more interested than McCain in expanding the kind of assessments used. This means that an Obama administration would explore use of portfolios and other “applied” kinds of assessments, in addition to standardized tests.

While both candidates support high quality early childhood education, it appears that there will be more federal money for this under an Obama administration. In fact, it appears that the Obama administration would seek more funds from Congress (and us – the taxpayers) for various educational programs than would a McCain administration.

In reviewing the debate between their advisors, as well as material on their campaign websites, it appears that Senator McCain would ask for more review of existing federal programs. McCain’s advisor, former Arizona State Superintendent of Public Education Lisa Graham Keegan, stressed the importance of, for example, “streamlining” federal college scholarships, and putting them “under one umbrella so that they are easy for families, they are accessible, there is transparent information about schools.” She believes that this would create a much greater pool of money…”for college scholarships.

Another difference is in the two candidates difference toward vouchers – public funds used to help pay tuition for k-12 students at private and parochial schools. As mentioned in the debate, McCain favors this, and Obama opposes it.

Both candidates have supported things that some teacher unions do not endorse (like charter public schools and financial rewards for teachers whose students make progress.

Yes, I have a personal favorite (Senator Obama). But in fairness, with both their differences and agreements, each will help improve public education.