WHERE THE CANDIDATES STAND ON : EDUCATION
Background: Education has moved to the front of the political agenda, driven by declining quality of many urban secondary schools and escalating costs of higher education. Both parties agree that the problems must be dealt with soon if the United States is to compete with Japan and Europe and to assure that the country remains committed to equal opportunity and education for its children.
President Bush favors establishing national standards in five core subject areas for elementary and secondary schools and urges states to develop innovative teaching programs. He backs a tax voucher system that would allow students to choose among public, parochial and private schools. He favors expanding the traditional federal student loan program to include all students regardless of how many classes they enroll in. Students would be able to borrow a maximum of $25,000, with interest tied to future earnings.
Patrick J. Buchanan would allow tax vouchers to be used for public, parochial and private schools. He supports a constitutional amendment to allow voluntary prayer in public schools and strongly supports education programs that teach U.S. history, American literature and English as the principal language. He would hire and pay teachers according to their merits.
Bill Clinton proposes mandatory national exams for elementary and secondary school students, allowing students to attend the public school of their choice, and graduation incentives such as the Arkansas law that strips dropouts of their driver’s licenses. Clinton would require companies to spend 1.5% of payroll to train employees or contribute to a government training fund. He supports federal college loans for all students, allowing them to repay either through community service or as a percentage of their future earnings. He would equalize funding among the nation’s school districts. Clinton proposes paying for the programs with a defense budget cut, higher taxes on wealthy Americans and a 3% decrease in cost of federal bureaucracy. He supports bilingual education.
Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. calls for more scholarships, better work-study programs and direct federal funding for poor school districts. He would allow students to attend the public school of their choice. Brown would aid state and local college systems with federal funds to defray tuition costs, would spend more federal money on public high schools and elementary schools to make them competitive with private schools, and supports using a percentage of unemployment insurance money for training. He would encourage large districts to break up into smaller, more-workable units. Brown proposes to finance his programs with a 50% cut in military spending over five years and by redirecting federal research into civilian research-and-development at the universities.
