As former President Donald Trump and his Vice President Kamala Harris reach the finish line in November, one broad policy area has largely fallen out of the spotlight: education.
Although the respective Republican and Democratic presidential candidates have spent comparatively more time campaigning on issues such as immigration, foreign policy and the economy, their ideas about K-12 and higher education differ significantly.
Trump’s education platform promises to “save American education” with a focus on parental rights, universal school choice and the fight for “patriotic education” in schools.
“By improving access to school choice, parents’ ability to participate in their children’s education, and supporting good teachers, President Trump will improve academic excellence for all students,” said Karoline Leavitt, Trump campaign national press secretary, in a statement to the States newsroom.
Trump “believes that students should be taught reading, writing and math in the classroom – not gender, gender and race as the Biden administration is forcing on our public school system,” Leavitt added.
Meanwhile, Harris’ campaign has largely focused on the Biden-Harris administration’s education investments and is building on those efforts if she is elected.
“Over the last four years, the administration has made unprecedented investments in education, including the largest single investment in K-12 education in history, which Vice President Harris was the tie-breaking vote to pass,” said Mia Ehrenberg, campaign spokeswoman said the state newsroom.
Ehrenberg said Harris and her running mate, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, “will build on these investments and continue fighting until every student has the support and resources they need to succeed,” while Republicans Led by Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda seeks to cut billions from local K-12 schools and eliminate the Department of Education, harming America’s students and schools.”
Harris has repeatedly knocked the Heritage Foundation Project 2025 — a wide-ranging conservative agenda that includes education policy proposals such as eliminating Head Start, ending time- and job-based student loan forgiveness and banning teachers from using a student’s preferred pronouns without written permission from a parent or guardian different from his “biological sex”.
Trump has strongly opposed Project 2025, even though some former members of his administration drafted the blueprint.
Closure of the US Department of Education
Trump has called for closure the U.S. Department of Education and said he wanted to “move education back to the states.” The department is not the primary source of funding for K-12 schools State and local governments allocate a majority of those dollars.
In contrast, Harris said on Democratic National Convention in August that “we will not allow him to eliminate the Department of Education, which funds our public schools.”
Living wage for school staff; Basic rights of parents
Trump’s education plan calls for the creation of a “new certification body to certify teachers who represent patriotic values and understand that their job is not to indoctrinate children, but to educate them.”
He also wants to push through funding increases for schools that “eliminate the employment of teachers” for grades K-12 and introduce “performance pay,” introduce direct parental election of principals, and “drastically reduce” the number of school administrators.
In contrast, this is The Democratic Party’s 2024 Platform calls for the recruitment of “more new teachers, paraprofessionals, school-related staff, and educational support professionals, with the option for some even to begin training in high school.”
The platform also aims to “help school support staff advance their own careers with a living wage” and improve working conditions for teachers.
Trump also wants to encourage funding for schools that adopt a “Parental Bill of Rights,” which includes full transparency in the curriculum and some form of universal school choice.
He is threatening to cut federal funding for schools that primarily teach academic subjects known as “critical race theory,” gender ideology or “other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content about our children.”
The Democratic platform rejects “the use of private school vouchers, tuition tax credits, opportunity scholarships, and other programs that divert taxpayer-funded resources from public education,” adding that “public tax dollars should never be used to discriminate.”
Title IX
Earlier this year, the Biden-Harris administration published a final rule for Title IX Expanding federal protections for LGBTQ+ students.
The updated rules took effect Aug. 1, but a number of Republican-led states challenged the measure. The litigation has created a political patchwork and weakened the government’s vision for the final rule.
The updated regulations Reverse changes to Title IX made under the Trump administration and then-Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
Trump promised terminate the updated regulations on his first day back in office if he is re-elected.
Student debt and higher education
Harris has repeatedly highlighted the administration’s record on student loan forgiveness, including nearly 170 billion dollars in student debt relief for nearly 5 million borrowers.
The government’s latest initiative to repay student loans came in August after the The US Supreme Court was temporarily blocked the Saving on a Valuable Education or SAVE plan.
Although little is said about education in Harris’ works, comprehensive economic planThe proposal makes clear that the Veep “will continue to work to end the disproportionate burden of student loan debt and fight to make higher education more affordable so that college can be a ticket to the middle class.”
She also plans to cut four-year degree requirements for half a million federal jobs.
Trump – who dubbed the Biden-Harris administration Student Loan Forgiveness Efforts Deemed “not even legal,” he attempted to repeal the public sector lending program during his time in office.
Also its educational platform calls for giving the “American Academy”, a free online university.
Trump said he would fund the recent institution with the “billions and billions of dollars that we will raise through taxation, fines and lawsuits against overly large private university foundations.”
