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Top Donald Trump Quotes on K-12 Education Policy

By Andrew Ujifusa & Alyson Klein — July 21, 2016 1 min read
Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives at the Quicken Loans Arena Wednesday evening.
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Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump hasn’t talked that much about K-12 education, but when he has it’s been ... colorful. Take a look at our favorite Trump quotes on education policy.

On the federal role in K-12:

“Education through Washington, D.C., I don’t want that. I want local education. I want the parents, and I want all of the teachers, and I want everybody to get together around a school and to make education great.” - GOP debate in Miami, March 2015

On our international test scores and how much we pay for K-12:

“We’re number one in terms of cost per pupil by a factor of, worldwide, by a factor of many. Number two is so far behind, forget it.”

“So we’re number one in the world in terms of spending. We’re number 28 in the world in terms of, where do we stand? We have Third World countries that are ahead of us, countries that you wouldn’t believe, some countries that you’ve hardly heard of.” - Speech in Tulsa, Okla., January 2016

On the Common Core State Standards:

“Common core is out! The Second Amendment is in!” - Speech in Tulsa, Okla., January 2016

On who he listens to about education:

“I was with Dr. Ben Carson today [a one-time rival for the nomination] ... We spoke for over an hour on education. And he has such a great handle on it. He wants competitive schools. He wants a lot of different things that are terrific, including charter schools, by the way, that the unions are fighting like crazy. But charter schools work, and they work very well.” - GOP debate in Miami, March 2016

On school choice:

“Education reformers calls this school choice, charter schools, vouchers, even opportunity scholarships. I call it competition—the American Way.” - The America We Deserve, by Donald Trump

On school facilities:

“We can’t get an f--ing school built in Brooklyn.” - April speech in Las Vegas

On school safety:

“You know what a gun-free zone is for a sicko? That’s bait” - January speech in Vermont

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