Where do the 2016 presidential candidates stand on education?
PAA does not endorse any candidate, but we are committed to educating parents and the general public about where the candidates and parties stand on education issues. The information in the following table was retrieved on Feb. 10. 2016 from www.ontheissues.org/education and www.ballotpedia.org. We have focused on the two remaining Democratic candidates and the top 7 Republican nominees based on today’s national polling. Download a pdf version of this chart (one that’s quite a bit easier to read!) here.
| Candidate | General education philosophy | Testing | Charters | Vouchers | Other |
| J. Bush (R) | Lines up with much of corporate reform agenda | Pushed for more tests as Gov. of Florida | Strongly supports “choice” and charter schools, started a charter school | Strongly supports | Abolished FL lower class size program |
| B. Carson (R) | Public education is a propaganda system | Supports “choice” | Strongly supports | ||
| H. Clinton (D) | Democratic public schools are important | Too much testing, no test-based teacher evaluation | Says charters should be a choice for parents but has criticized them – says they should supplement not supplant strong public schools | Opposes | Supports arts education, universal pre-school |
| T. Cruz (R) | Control belongs at local level | Supports “choice” | Abolish Common Core, Dept. of Education | ||
| J. Kasich (R) | Competition key to education; give power back to local level | Strongly supports “choice” | Supports | Believes Bible is history, schools do not need more funding, supports constitutional amendment for school prayer | |
| M. Rubio (R) | Competition and choice will save public education; less federal involvement, stronger local role | Strongly supports charters and “choice;” says this benefits low-income families most | Strongly supports | ||
| B. Sanders (D) | His comments focus primarily on higher ed | Supports annual federal testing mandate but wants “holistic approach” to testing | Has supported charters, voted for more federal funding for them, but recently stated that he opposes privately run charter schools. | Opposes | Supports reduced class size |
| D. Trump (R) | Much smaller federal role in education | Supports “choice” | Opposes teachers unions, Common Core |