Politics K-12

There wasn’t a single question on education during the vice presidential debate, but Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska and Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware managed to get some of their views on schools on the table anyway–-including a surprise comment from Palin saying that she wants to increase education funding.(UPDATE: Read the transcript here.)

“Our schools have got to be really ramped up in terms of the funding,” Palin said during the debate at Washington University in St. Louis. “Teachers need to be paid more.” And she said that states’ education standards have been “a little bit lax” and need to be raised.

That might be news to her running mate, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who has said that he wants to freeze most domestic discretionary spending, including for education, until he can conduct a top-to-bottom review of all federal programs.

Palin also gave voters a sense of where she stands on the No Child Left Behind Act, which neither presidential candidate has addressed much on the campaign trail. Palin said the law needs more “flexibility,” although she did not elaborate on what that would look like.

And she bemoaned the lack of attention education has received. “It’s near and dear to my heart,” she said.

But Biden pointed out that McCain hasn’t proposed increasing education spending. McCain has said he wants to freeze discretionary spending for most domestic programs, including education, until he can conduct a top-to-bottom review of all federal programs.

Biden cited lack of money as a reason that NCLB law hasn’t been a success.

“The reason No Child Left Behind was left behind, the money was left behind, we didn't fund it,” he said.

Biden said that he and his running mate, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, would not scale back their $18 billion education spending plan, despite the recent economic turmoil and a possible $700 billion federal assistance plan for the financial sector.

“We won’t slow up on education because that’s the engine that’s going to give us the economic growth and competitiveness we need,” Biden said.

Palin also gave a nod to the educators in her family – her father and brother are both teachers.

"I know education you are passionate about with your wife being a teacher for 30 years, and God bless her," Palin said to Biden. "Her reward is in heaven, right? I say, too, with education … I come from a house full of school teachers. My grandma was, my dad, who is in the audience today, he's a schoolteacher, had been for many years. My brother, who I think is the best schoolteacher of the year. And here's a shout-out to all those 3rd graders at Gladys Wood Elementary School, you get extra credit for watching the debate."

Biden and Palin weren’t given the opportunity to criticize their opponents’ records on schools, but Biden did get in a quick dig at Sen. McCain on the issue, saying that “he has not been a maverick when it comes to education.”

Posted by Alyson Klein at 11:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

If moderator Gwen Ifill doesn't ask Republican Sarah Palin or Democrat Joe Biden a question about education during tonight's must-watch debate at 9 p.m., it won't be because no one tried.

The Education Equality Project folks are making their pitch to the debate honchos to ask an education question. A letter to the moderator, signed by New York City Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein, the Rev. Al Sharpton, and ED in '08 leaders, makes the case that the amount of time devoted to education during the presidential campaign has been "shockingly small." The letter goes on to say:

In fact, of 653 questions at 30 debates, only 20 questions addressed education—just 3%. The infrequency with which education is discussed at the debates can't be attributed to a focus on the economy and foreign policy. In the last Democratic debate in Cleveland, for instance, Senators Obama and Clinton spent more than 15 minutes discussing health care; no education questions were asked.

Meanwhile, late this afternoon a rally was scheduled at Washington University in St. Louis, where tonight's debate is to be held, to urge the candidates to focus on children's issues. Sponsored by the Every Child Matters Education Fund, the rally was expected to include children, parents, educators and child advocates in hopes of drawing the candidates' attention to education and social issues facing children.

Already, the National Education Association is weighing in on the debate, even before the first words are exchanged. In a press release that just hit my inbox, NEA Vice President Lily Eskelsen said: “Unless Gov. Palin offers a distinctly different vision from Sen. McCain on improving our nation’s public schools, she’s just more of the same. So far, she’s failed to do anything but offer blind support for the same bad policies of the past eight years." (UPDATE: I suddenly remembered that the NEA was far more impressed with Palin a few weeks ago when her selection was announced.)

It's entirely possible education will be an issue in the debate. Both Biden and Palin have teachers in their families. But even if it's not, you can get the kids' perspective on the debate by following the Scholastic Kids Press Corps here on Twitter.

If you’d like to do your own prep work before the debate, you can read up on Palin’s views on evolution vs. creationism and her record on special education funding in Alaska.

Regarding Joe Biden, read about his views on NCLB, merit pay, prekindergarten, and his education plan when he was running for president.

Posted by Michele McNeil at 5:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. ran for president, he didn't have much to say about education. Other than answering a few debate questions about issues such as merit pay and the No Child Left Behind Act, the Delaware Democrat was quiet on his views about how to improve the nation's schools.

Now that Biden is the vice presidential candidate, he appears to have adopted the education platform of Sen. Barack Obama.

"Barack Obama knows that any country that out-teaches us today will out-compete us tomorrow," Biden said in accepting the vice presidential nomination tonight. "He'll invest us in the next generation of teachers. He'll make college more affordable. That's the change we need."

Biden didn't mention pre-K, expanding charter schools, or fixing NCLB. But it's safe to assume he'll adopt Obama's position on those issues, too.

In his 36-year career in the Senate, Biden hasn't played a significant role on educational issues. But he has been an advocate for working-class people, according to one teachers' union member from Delaware who is a delegate to the convention.

"Senator Biden has always been for the working person," said Crystal Barnett, who is a member of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and works for the union's headquarters. "He is pro-union."

--David J. Hoff

Posted by David J. Hoff, edweek.org at 11:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Presumptive vice presidential nominee Joe Biden voted for NCLB, but now he regrets it.

The Delaware senator said in a presidential debate last year said he voted for the now controversial law in 2001 because he "has great faith in Ted Kennedy," the Massachusetts Democrat who led the effort to ensure its bipartisan passage.

It's time to start over on K-12 policy, Biden added.

I would scrap it—or I guess, theoretically, you could do a major overhaul. But I think I'd start from the beginning. You need better teachers. You need smaller classrooms. You need to start kids earlier. It's all basic.

Biden's comments are at the bottom of this debate transcript.

For a complete compilation of Biden's education statements during the primaries, see this summary from ontheissues.org.

By David J. Hoff

Posted by David J. Hoff, edweek.org at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (0)

During his short-lived campaign for president, Democrat Joe Biden said education would be his top domestic priority.

But it's clear that Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois didn't pick Biden as his vice-presidential pick because of domestic issues, but because of his foreign relations credentials.

So as David Hoff and I begin our coverage of the convention here in Denver, we're not expecting Biden's speech from the podium of the Pepsi Center on Wednesday night to be a showstopper on education reform.

However, it's worth remembering what Biden said on education issues while he campaigned for the No. 1 job.

On the issue of merit pay for teachers--something Obama is tentatively embracing--Biden won't cause the teachers' unions too much angst because in this debate during the primaries, he said teachers should be rewarded for their own performance outside of the classroom, such as if they obtain advanced degrees. (His wife, Jill, by the way, is in the field of teaching and last I checked was a community college instructor.) He said, according to the transcript:

An excellent teacher should be judged by whether or not that teacher, outside of the classroom, improves themselves and their teaching skills. My wife got two master's degrees and a doctorate degree. That's merit pay.

His education plan was a $30 billion, five-year plan that focused on giving kids 16 years of quality schooling, from two years of prekindergarten to two years of affordable college.

By Michele McNeil

Posted by Michele McNeil at 9:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Although Democratic candidate Joe Biden says education will be his top domestic priority if elected president, his plan to fix public schools apparently isn't very remarkable, or memorable, at least to the Associated Press.

A story that moved on the AP wires today declared: "Democrat Joe Biden unveiled an education plan Wednesday that would provide free preschool to every child and bonuses to teachers who work in poor neighborhoods."

Except Biden, a U.S. Senator from Delaware, unveiled the same plan more than two months ago.

Posted by Michele McNeil at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In last night's Democratic debate on CNN, the seven presidential candidates were asked whether they were in favor of the very controversial issue of merit pay for teachers, which is generally fiercely opposed by some of the Democrats' biggest supporters—the teachers' unions.

None of the candidates came out in favor of the kind of merit pay in which individual teachers are paid more based on their results in the classroom. Interestingly, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, who is the only Democratic candidate to openly support and talk about merit pay for individual teachers on the campaign trail, didn't jump in to tackle the issue during last night's debate. You can read the transcript here.

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton said she favors "school-based" merit pay, which would reward all teachers and staff members in a high-achieving school regardless of their individual abilities. That's very different than rewarding individual teachers for excelling in their jobs. "The school is a team, and I think it's important that we reward that collaboration," she said. When pressed about whether bad teachers in a school that is otherwise excelling should be given merit pay, she said those bad teachers should be "weed(ed) out." Opponents, of course, say that's easier said than done when teachers' contracts and unions make it very difficult for school districts to do just that.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, of Connecticut, the first to answer, said he would be in favor of a pay system for teachers who go into poor, rural, or difficult schools and make a difference—but didn't want a merit-pay system that rewarded teachers who taught in "better neighborhoods."

Sen. Joseph Biden, of Delaware, whose wife is a community college English instructor, said teachers should be judged and rewarded by what they do outside of the classroom — such as get advanced degrees.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson didn't really answer the question, but used his time to bash the No Child Left Behind Act and declare that he would be the next education president.

The general message from Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich is that, if he is elected, the teachers' unions would have a very good friend in the White House, which he said would be a "worker's White House." When asked whether he disagreed with the teachers' unions on any issue, he didn't name a single one.

Posted by Michele McNeil at 9:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Democratic U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware becomes the latest presidential candidate to unveil his education plan.

The gist of his proposal, unveiled in Iowa, is that he wants to turn the country's traditional K-12 public education system into more of a 16-year pathway—with two years of high-quality preschool available to parents and at least a two-year, affordable college experience available to high school graduates. He also wants to fund the hiring of 100,000 more teachers to reduce class sizes, and give bonuses to teachers who teach in high-need schools or who agree to stay in the same school for at least five years. Read the Associated Press account here.

With the unveiling of Biden's plan, it's become even more evident that expanding preschool is becoming the cornerstone of many Democratic presidential education platforms. We've seen that emphasis with Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. Meanwhile, Republicans have been largely silent on the issue.

Democrats have seized on this issue for many reasons, including that expanding preschool is a popular program to endorse. States and school districts are already embracing preschool, and now serious discussions are underway among advocates and states on how to improve quality, what qualifications preschool teachers should have, and how these programs should be held accountable.

Much of the research suggests that high-quality preschool is very effective in getting kids ready to learn, and in helping narrow the achievement gap that separates minority and non-minority students.

Another reason expanding preschool is so popular among presidential candidates? It's an easy concept for voters to grasp and for candidates to explain in 30-second sound bites. After all, how excited would voters get about an education plan that put a stop to states using large "N-Sizes" in calculating adequate yearly progress under the No Child Left Behind Act?

Posted by Michele McNeil at 7:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)