Private School Vouchers

Opposes 

 “I have always believed in public school choice.  I am adamantly opposed to vouchers.  I will fight them with every breath in my body.  There is no evidence that vouchers work for students that come from disadvantaged backgrounds.  And in addition to the fact that they don’t work and the evidence isn’t there to support their extension, vouchers would mean the end of the public school system, and I believe, an erosion of our democracy that we would regret deeply… When it comes to charters and magnets, we’ve got to experiment.  We’ve got to have different approaches.”   

 Addressing the NEA’s Annual Representative Assembly, 7/3//07

Opposes

“I … oppose the use of public funds – through vouchers, tax credits, or other – to pay for tuition at private or religious schools.  We need to invest in our public schools and strengthen them, not drain their fiscal support.” 

NEA’s 2008 Presidential Candidate Questionnaire

No Child Left Behind (NCLB)

Overhaul

 “[NCLB] needs significant reform.  First, I think we must change the way students are measured…  Children are taking too many tests and the tests are becoming the curriculum.  I would like to see schools use growth models, which measure the progress of every child… I believe in accountability, but I think standards and assessments alone will not solve the problems facing our schools.  I am also deeply concerned about the narrowing of the curricula that I am hearing about in local communities… I think we have to do more in NCLB to ensure that all children receive a well-rounded education, and that the classes that entice children to want to stay in school do not get eliminated.  I am also concerned about the one size fits all approach to fixing troubled schools. [I]t is very problematic that we are spending $500 million on supplemental services even though the instruction is not necessarily aligned to a school’s curriculum and the providers are not necessarily held accountable for demonstrating that they are impacting measurable results.”

NEA’s 2008 Presidential Candidate Questionnaire

Overhaul

“Unfulfilled funding promises, inadequate implementation by the Department of Education, and shortcomings in the design of the law have limited its effectiveness and undercut its support among many people who care deeply about our schools and students… [W]e have spent too much time preparing students for tests that do not provide any valuable, timely feedback on how to improve a students’ learning.  Creativity has been drained from classrooms as too many teachers are forced to teach fill-in-the-bubble tests.  We need tests and measurements, but we should ensure that they are useful to improve student learning… Good teachers with the tools to do their jobs should not have to teach to the test.  They should be able to teach a rich curriculum.”

 
NEA’s 2008 Presidential Candidate Questionnaire

Expand Healthcare, Create Universal Health Insurance

Supports

“… [My plan] will cover everyone, and it will make it clear that we as a rich nation with the values that should be the best in the world will once & for all make it absolutely positive that everyone will have health care. Now it's not only about the 47 million uninsured. Millions of insured Americans don't get the health care they paid for. We have a lot of people who, all of a sudden, their child needs an operation and the insurance company won't pay for it. Well, we're going to make it clear that there will be no parent who ever is told no when it comes to getting health care for their children.”

2007 Democratic primary debate on Univision in Spanish 9/9/07

“This is not government run. There will be no new bureaucracy. …. If you have private insurance you like, nothing changes -- you can keep that insurance. If you like the doctor you have, you can keep seeing that doctor. If you like the hospital where you receive care, you can keep receiving care at that hospital. If, however, you don’t have health insurance or you don’t like the insurance you have, you can choose from the same wide variety of private plans that members of Congress choose from.”

Sen. Clinton’s plan would provide tax credits to help families pay for health care, would guarantee coverage, and would promote portability.

Speech at Broadlawns Medical Center, Des Moines, IA, 9/17/07

Supports

“[B]y the end of my first term, … we’re going to have universal health care for every single American in the United States. And there are going to be some basic principles; that coverage has to be universal, that we’re going to have to save costs and get more bang for our health care dollar, that employers, government and individuals are all going to have to put up something, and that savings that we obtain from making a more efficient system can’t be just obtained by hitting frontline workers.”

Presidential Forum on Health Care, Las Vegas, NV, March 24, 2007, Center for American Progress transcript

My belief is that most families want health care but they can’t afford it. And so my emphasis is on driving down the costs, taking on the insurance companies, making sure that they are limited in the ability to extract profits and deny coverage; that we make sure the drug companies have to do what’s right by their patients instead of simply hording their profits.”

Democratic debate in New Hampshire, 6/3/07, CNN transcript

Sen. Obama’s plan would offer subsidies to allow individuals to buy into a national pool, and expand Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

NEA’s 2008 Presidential Candidate Questionnaire

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (www.health08.org/sidebyside.cfm)

Pay Teachers Based on Student Test Scores

Opposes individual merit pay; supports schoolwide performance pay

“I want to provide funding to school districts for financial incentives to bring experienced teachers to underserved areas.  And I’ll support funding to increase the salaries of teachers and other staff members in schools…where children face problems, but where they’re making gains.  I believe that it’s the whole school, as a team, and if the whole team is doing well and children are improving, then the whole team should get a financial bonus.”

CQ Transcript, 11/27/07

Sen. Clinton supports additional pay for mentoring or professional development that will help the whole school.

Interview with NEA President Reg Weaver, September 2007

Portion of Clinton education plan: http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=4403

Supports some forms of performance pay

“[W]e can find new ways to increase pay that are developed with teachers, not imposed on them and not based on some arbitrary test score. That’s how we’re going to … start treating teachers like the professionals you are.” 

Remarks to NEA Representative Assembly, 7/5/07

Sen. Obama supports additional pay for additional responsibilities and skills, as well as to attract teachers to hard-to-staff schools.

Interview with NEA President Reg Weaver, September 2007

Obama education plan: http://obama.3cdn.net/a8dfc36246b3dcc3cb_iem6bxpgh.pdf

Privatize Social Security

Opposes

NEA’s 2008 Presidential Candidate Questionnaire

Opposes

NEA’s 2008 Presidential Candidate Questionnaire

Change NCLB’s Use of a Single Standardized Test to Measure Student Success

Supports

NEA’s 2008 Presidential Candidate Questionnaire

Supports

NEA’s 2008 Presidential Candidate Questionnaire

Reduce Class Size

Supports

 NEA’s 2008 Presidential Candidate Questionnaire

Supports

NEA’s 2008 Presidential Candidate Questionnaire

Expand Early Childhood Education

Supports

NEA’s 2008 Presidential Candidate Questionnaire

Supports

NEA’s 2008 Presidential Candidate Questionnaire

Pay Teachers a Starting Salary of $40,000 and Education Support Professionals a Living Wage

Supports

NEA’s 2008 Presidential Candidate Questionnaire

Supports

NEA’s 2008 Presidential Candidate Questionnaire

Increase Student Aid (Pell Grant) for College

Supports

NEA’s 2008 Presidential Candidate Questionnaire

Supports

NEA’s 2008 Presidential Candidate Questionnaire

Increase Federal Education Funding

Supports

NEA’s 2008 Presidential Candidate Questionnaire

Supports

NEA’s 2008 Presidential Candidate Questionnaire