Education may not get much attention during prime-time presidential debates, but it was center stage at Londonderry High School, where six GOP candidates took a deep dive into K-12 policy.
At an hosted by , an online education news site, and sponsored by the American Federation for Children, a school choice advocacy organization, the Republican hopefuls鈥攆ive of them current or former governors鈥攖alked Common Core State Standards, teachers鈥� unions, the role of the federal government, the pending Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization, charter schools, and more.
And while they didn鈥檛 break any news or roll out any new education platforms, they did expose nuances in their policy stances during their one-on-one, 45-minute Q&A with The Seventy Four鈥檚 Campbell Brown.
, for example, owned his decision to flip-flop on the common core, having supported it when he first came into office in 2010 and now distancing himself this year.
鈥淚 did back away from it,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 work. I tried four years of common core in New Jersey. ... I stuck with it ... fought for it.鈥�
Ultimately, Christie said, he had to listen to what he termed as the majority of his constituents who were begging him to put it aside. Notably, his comments came after a story in the Wall Street Journal reported that his current negative stance on the academic benchmarks was costing him potential wealthy donors.
and , meanwhile, continued to dig in their heels in support of the common core, something they鈥檝e taken a lot of flak over from their party.
Bush continued to peddle what鈥檚 become his standards soundbite: 鈥淭he whole objective needs to be about raising student achievement,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f people don鈥檛 like common core, fine. Just make sure your standards are higher than the ones [you had] before.鈥�
But Kasich took a different approach and tried to set the record straight on how the academic benchmarks were developed and why more-rigorous standards are important. He explained how former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, also a Republican, cobbled together a group of bipartisan governors who worked with education policy experts to develop the common core.
鈥淧resident Obama doesn鈥檛 write the standards or curriculum,鈥� Kasich said. 鈥淚鈥檓 always willing to change my mind ... but you鈥檙e going to have to make a good case. I concluded in my state that we needed to raise standards.鈥�
Brown confronted about reversing course on the standards, which he once supported but now fiercely opposes. He stumbled a bit.
鈥淚 like the concept of what we thought common core would be,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e were told 鈥榲oluntary high standards.鈥� Who would be against that?鈥�
But he didn鈥檛 quite articulate his reasoning for backing away, other than citing a couple of grievances over the Obama administration鈥檚 Race to the Top competitive-grant program and its No Child Left Behind Act waivers.
Rewriting the ESEA
The Republican candidates also revealed traces of difference in how they view accountability鈥攁 topic that鈥檚 at the heart of congressional efforts to rewrite the ESEA.
Like many of the most conservative members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, pushed back on the idea that the federal government has any role to play in K-12 education. If left up to him, he said, all federal money would be block-granted to states to use and funnel to districts.
鈥淚鈥檓 going to be challenging some of my own party [with that stance],鈥� Walker acknowledged. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 OK. I鈥檝e done that before.鈥�
Bush, on the other hand, took the opposite tack.
鈥淚f you don鈥檛 measure, you basically don鈥檛 care,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e should make sure that there is at least some basis for measurement of students鈥� progress.鈥� Bush added that decisions on how to use testing for accountability should be left up to states and should be based on gains in learning.
The former Florida governor also said that he supports allowing Title I dollars for low-income children to follow them to the school of their choice, and the same for the federal investment in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
鈥攖he only non-governor or former governor in the group鈥攕aid she鈥檇 prefer the Republican-backed House ESEA overhaul, mainly because it preserves students鈥� right to opt out of federally mandated state tests.
Christie also said he would like to see some sort of accountability in the final ESEA legislative overhaul, but would not support policies that go as far as the accountability amendment offered by Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Cory Booker, D-N.J. That amendment would, among other things, require states to set academic goals for subgroups of students and then ensure schools hit those goals, and require states to identify their poorest performing schools and those with especially low graduation rates.
Hammering Teachers鈥� Unions
The GOP candidates blasted the two national teachers鈥� unions, which cumulatively represent more than 4 million educators, arguing they鈥檙e blockades to the types of school choice policies the candidates prefer.
Indeed, Christie doubled down on comments that got him in trouble a few weeks ago.
鈥淚 have no problem with saying teachers鈥� unions deserve a political punch in the face because they do,鈥� he said, adding that they 鈥渂uy the legislature鈥攍ock, stock, and barrel.鈥�
He noted, however, that in the past, he鈥檚 worked with American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten to overhaul the teacher-compensation system in Newark, N.J., and that he will always be willing to work with union leaders in order get done what needs to get done.
In response, Weingarten composed a series of tweets, saying in one that it鈥檚 a 鈥渟ad state of affairs when the only GOPer willing to talk about listening to teachers also wants to punch us in the face.鈥�
Walker, who鈥檚 best known for rolling back the bargaining rights of teachers and other public employees in Wisconsin, ditching teacher tenure, and instituting a new teacher-compensation system that pays teachers based on performance, warned about the political influence of the unions.
鈥淭hey made me the number one target,鈥� said Walker, who survived a recall election in 2012 prompted by the collective bargaining changes. 鈥淲hy? Because I threaten them.鈥�
Even Bush, who hasn鈥檛 been one to throw fireballs, got in on the action.
鈥淚鈥檇 love a day where Randi Weingarten and I could hold hands and sing 鈥楰umbaya,鈥� 鈥� he said. 鈥淪he鈥檚 cordial and she鈥檚 charming, but she鈥檚 not going to change.鈥�
Fiorina said she would work to find a way to better reward excellent teachers, and blasted the policies that unions have historically pushed.
鈥淲hat do unions reward? Seniority,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he longer you鈥檙e in the job, the better you do [financially], whether you鈥檙e good or not. It discourages excellence.鈥�
Kasich agreed, adding that the last-in, first-out layoff policies in many state laws and union contracts need to be eliminated.
Dissenting Voices
Outside the high school where the event was taking place, a group of about 50 people organized by New Hampshire鈥檚 National Education Association affiliate gathered to protest the various school choice policies that the candidates voiced support for during the forum.
They argued that policies like Title I portability and increasing caps on charter schools take money away from public schools that are already cash-strapped.
The New Hampshire event was formatted as a forum, rather than a head-to-head debate, so the candidates didn鈥檛 get to press each other on their nuanced stances. But they will meet again, alongside their 10 other opponents in the bulging Republican field, for the second prime-time GOP debate Sept. 16 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, in Simi Valley, Calif., which will be broadcast on CNN.
The Seventy Four is planning a Democratic education forum in Iowa, another primary state, in October, co-hosted with The Des Moines Register.
