Monday, June 25, 2012

Romney's Education Platform


Challenger’s Agenda
During his primary campaign and in a recent detailed policy speech, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has offered a mixed bag of education proposals that include both market-driven, conservative initiatives and continuation of some programs and policies aligned with the Obama administration.
Title I and Special Education Vouchers
Would allow parents of low-income and special education students to take their share of federal education funding in those areas to the public, charter, or private school of their choice. Students could also use the funds for tutoring or online coursework. In all cases, students would still have to take federally mandated tests.
Funding
Has said he would like to scale back the size of the U.S. Department of Education, possibly combining it with another agency, but has stopped short of proposing to eliminate it.
Choice
Would seek to expand the $20 million D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program, which allows students in the District of Columbia to attend a private school of their choice.
Race to the Top
Said on the primary campaign trail that President Barack Obama’s signature competitive-grant program had “done some good things,” though he was critical of the program in a recent campaign document, saying that it was “poorly designed” and that most states are behind in delivering on their promises.
Teachers
Would make federal funding for teacher quality into a block-grant program and tie the funds to states’ adoption of evaluation systems that take educator effectiveness into account, elimination or overhaul of teacher tenure, and elimination of “last in, first out” dismissal rules.
Higher Education
Has criticized the Obama administration’s decision to have all student loans originate with the U.S. Department of Education, instead of through subsidized lenders. Would beef up the role of the private sector in administering student loans and overhaul the Pell Grant program. Supports keeping interest rates on some federal student loans at 3.4 percent.
Bilingual Education
Strongly supports English-immersion programs, as opposed to bilingual education.
No Child Left Behind Act
In overhauling the current law, would require states to create report cards that would evaluate schools on an A-F grading scale and include information on the states’ performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. But he would no longer subject them to federal mandates when it comes to identifying and intervening in low-performing schools.
Early-Childhood Education
Has yet to sketch out details of an early-childhood-education policy as a presidential candidate, but as Massachusetts governor vetoed as too costly a bill to create a universal prekindergarten program.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Popular Posts