John McCain on Education

Let's face it: the Presidential office won’t be won or lost on the issue of education this November. However, the two candidates have begun to speak more specifically about how they might improve the education system, should they win the Presidency.

On July 16, long-time presidential hopeful John McCain delivered his most detailed plan to date at a speech given to the NAACP in Cincinnati, Ohio. His chief education advisor, Lisa Graham Keegan, has said that a detailed plan will be released in time for back-to-school this fall. So what exactly is McCain saying about his plans for education?

McCain’s main focus has been on school choice and competition, which he says will bring about genuine accountability for our schools. He says schools should be allowed to compete for the most effective teachers, and if schools fail to meet needs parents should be given the choice to send kids to another school. His most recent speeches also indicate a growing commitment to virtual learning, teacher quality initiatives, and more local control of education funding. For McCain's viewpoint on the most pressing education issues, we turned to the McCain Campaign's domestic policy advisor, Doug Holtz-Eakin. Here's our cheat sheet on education according to McCain.

School Choice

The issue of school choice has proven a cornerstone of McCain’s educational strategy. McCain says that he and his wife decided to send their children to parochial school, and now he wants to ensure that all parents can have the same freedom. “I believe parents should be empowered with their school choice to send their children to the school that can best educate them, just as many members of Congress do with their own children. I find it beyond hypocritical that many of those who would refuse to allow public school parents to choose their child's school would never agree to force their own children into a school that did not work or was unsafe. They make another choice. That is a right we should honor for all parents. It is fundamental and essential,” McCain says.

Holtz-Eakin says that's why McCain will fight for the ability of all students to have access to schools of demonstrated excellence, including charter schools, parochial schools and home schools. “The deplorable status of preparation for our children, particularly in comparison with the rest of the industrialized world, does not allow us the luxury of eliminating options in our educational repertoire,” Holtz-Eakin says. McCain supports vouchers as a way of giving parents more options and encouraging healthy competition for public schools.

No Child Left Behind

This bill has received a lot of flak from both parties, but while McCain acknowledges that changes should be made, he says “improve it, don't discard it.”

According to Holtz-Eakin, “No Child Left Behind has focused our attention on the realities of how students perform against a common standard. We no longer accept low standards for some students and high standards for others. In this age of honest reporting, we finally see what is happening to students who were previously invisible.”

So how does McCain plan on improving NCLB? Holtz-Eakin says the law needs to start addressing the underlying cultural problems in our education system, instead of avoiding genuine accountability. Instead, he says McCain wants to empower parents “by greatly expanding the ability of parents to choose among schools for their children. All federal financial support must be predicated on providing parents the ability to move their children, and the dollars associated with them, from failing schools.” McCain strongly supports more local control of education funding, citing the successes of charter schools as evidence that money directed by principals, not politicians, has greater effect. However, McCain proposes no increase in spending for education in his plans.