Voting Guide •
March 4th, 2024
2024 Voter Guide: Where the Presidential Candidates Stand on Education
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What do the 2024 presidential candidates think about education issues? How do their stances compare to each other?
After the COVID-19 pandemic, 61% of parents said that their children’s emotional well-being and education were negatively affected. Reports from the National Assessment of Educational Progress further revealed lasting educational gaps from remote learning. As a result, educational policy has become a key issue in the 2024 election cycle.
Here's how the presidential candidates compare:
Subissues:
- Student Debt
- Gender Identity and Race in Schools
- Federal Funding
- College Tuition
- Teacher Pay
- Universal Pre-K
Student Debt
Joe Biden (D):
Most recently, Biden announced “the approval of $1.2 billion in student debt cancellation for almost 153,000 borrowers” in late February of 2024. To date, “the Biden-Harris Administration has now approved nearly $138 billion in student debt cancellation for almost 3.9 million borrowers through more than two dozen executive actions.” These borrowers are primarily enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) repayment plan. Previously, he attempted to cancel $10,000 for all borrowers making less than $125,000 a year, but this plan was struck down by the Supreme Court after the justices ruled that Biden did not have the authority to cancel that much debt.
Dean Phillips (D):
He once supported Biden’s attempt to cancel student loan debt, but has since argued for a more preventative solution: “working families need our support now more than ever. That said, this initiative only treats the symptoms and not the disease." He also believes that solving the “broken higher education system” should be prioritized over student debt forgiveness. However, he supports a provision that caps debt service at five percent of one’s income.
Marianne Williamson (D):
She argued to cancel all student loan debt “because those loans shouldn’t have existed to begin with.” She further hopes to eliminate all interest on student loans.
Donald Trump (R):
Trump supports circumstantial student debt relief but is against the widespread forgiveness of student loan debt. He used the HEROES Act to suspend student loan payments and interest on loans due to the pandemic. Before leaving office, he extended this pause twice more.
Cornel West (Ind.):
He hopes to cancel all student loan debt.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Ind.):
He vowed to cancel all student loan debt and denounced Biden’s student debt forgiveness plan because it only “gave the appearance of action.”
Gender Identity and Race in Schools
Joe Biden (D):
Under his administration, the Education Department proposed a revamp of Title IX that would “give LGBTQ+ students explicit protection and “bar outright bans on transgender youth who want to join athletic teams that align with their gender identity.” He reversed a Trump-era executive order that banned diversity training in schools and workplaces. He hopes to “advance racial equity” around Pell Grants: “Black borrowers are twice as likely to have received Pell Grants compared to their white peers. Other borrowers of color are also more likely than their peers to receive Pell Grants.”
Dean Phillips (D):
He said that Minnesota schools were not teaching Critical Race Theory. He cosponsored the Equality Act to end discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals in public spaces, including in education.
Marianne Williamson (D):
She wishes to implement a “Restorative Justice Program,” which would provide explicit non-discrimination protections for LGBQTIA+ people in public spaces (including education) under the Equality Act.
Donald Trump (R):
He is against affirmative action in schools. He called to open “civil rights investigations into any school district that has engaged in race-based discrimination” and has expressed he will “cut funds for schools teaching Critical Race Theory.” He also supports preventing transgender women from competing in women’s sports.
Cornel West (Ind.):
He wishes to abolish state laws that “limit or remove the full study of US history” and to codify the Equal Rights Amendment for LGBTQ+ residents, including in education.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Ind.):
He is against transgender athletes playing in competitive sports for scholarships and careers, but he supports participation in cases that won’t lead to such opportunities.
Federal Funding
Joe Biden (D):
Under Biden, the U.S. Department of Agriculture threatened to remove lunch funding for schools non-compliant with its Title IX interpretation. He proposed a funding boost for “high-poverty school districts and low-income college students.” The U.S. Education Department has provided K-12 schools with nearly $122 billion in funding, primarily to reduce the learning gap induced by the pandemic.
Dean Phillips (D):
He introduced a bill to prevent federal education funds from being used by universities to lobby Congress. He hopes to use federal funding to build mentoring programs for new teachers and for mental and emotional health services in schools.
Marianne Williamson (D):
She wishes to provide federal funding for educational equipment and textbooks. She also hopes to re-introduce the Free-Lunch-For-All Program and provide financial support for geographically challenged districts to recruit teachers.
Donald Trump (R):
He has called to cut the federal funding of schools and school programs pushing “critical race theory, gender ideology, or other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content onto our children.” His proposed budget for the 2018 fiscal year called for a “13.5% spending cut to education across K-12.” However, it offered “$1.4 billion toward new public and private school choice.”
Cornel West (Ind.):
He hopes to increase federal funding for HBCUs and Tribal Colleges.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Ind.):
No stance found.
College Tuition
Joe Biden (D):
He hopes to “double the maximum Pell Grant and make community college free” and to “strengthen accountability… to ensure student borrowers get value for their college costs.”
Dean Phillips (D):
He supports allowing unauthorized immigrants to become eligible for free in-state college tuition.
Marianne Williamson (D):
She wishes to offer free tuition to public colleges, including community colleges, four-year colleges, trade schools, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities. To reduce tuition, she hopes to expand the Pell Grant Program and double funding for the Work Study Program.
Donald Trump (R):
He is against free college; however, he plans to launch a tuition-free online university called American Academy, which would be paid for by “taxing, fining, and suing excessively large private university endowments.”
Cornel West (Ind.):
He hopes to instate free tuition for all state and community colleges.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Ind.):
He supports redirecting a fraction of the military budget to higher education in order to reduce the cost of tuition. He believes that the federal government should pay for the partial tuition of students: “I will also take steps to reduce education costs for students.”
Teacher Pay
Joe Biden (D):
He urged lawmakers to give public school teachers a raise during his State of the Union address; Democrats in Congress have introduced bills aiming to provide a $60,000 base salary for teachers. He raised the salary for Head Start teachers, requiring them to be paid at least as much as local preschool teachers who work for public school districts.
Dean Phillips (D):
No stance found.
Marianne Williamson (D):
She supports stronger teacher unions and “fair pay” for teachers.
Donald Trump (R):
Trump called to make “significant cuts to administrative personnel and the end of teacher tenure and the election of school principals.” His budget for the 2018 fiscal year proposed eliminating the “major federal funding stream that districts use to support and train their teacher workforces.”
Cornel West (Ind.):
He wishes to set the minimum wage of all public school teachers to $80,000 a year.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Ind.):
No stance found.
Universal Pre-K
Joe Biden (D):
In the American Families Plan, he called for $200 billion to be used for free universal pre-K for all three and four-year-olds. However, he later abandoned this plan after it failed to win support in Congress, instead offering free preschool to all four-year-olds rather than both three and four-year-olds.
Dean Phillips (D):
He supports universal pre-K and wants the Build Back Better Act to expand access to free preschool to three and four-year-olds.
Marianne Williamson (D):
She wants to “guarantee” preschool support programs will provide every kid below the age of four in America with educational options, with a special focus on economically challenged and rural communities.
Donald Trump (R):
According to his voter base, he does not support the funding of universal Pre-K.
Cornel West (Ind.):
No stance found.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Ind.):
According to his voter base, he believes that the federal government should fund universal Pre-K “as long as parents also have the option to send their children to private school.”
This blog was written by Harry Ding, content intern (Center bias). It was reviewed and edited by Henry A. Brechter (Center bias), Malayna Bizier (Right bias), Johnathon Held (Lean Right bias), and Joseph Ratliff (Lean Left bias).
