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Updated September 27, 2024
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
Kamala Harris (D)
The Biden-Harris Administration has advocated extensively for student debt relief through “Public Service Loan Forgiveness.” Prior to the current presidential administration (in 2019), Vice President Kamala Harris proposed relieving the debt of Pell Grant recipients who used their success to benefit impoverished communities.
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.
Chase Oliver (L)
On his campaign website Oliver highlights that “92% of all student loan debt is held or backed by our federal government, with some $1.61 trillion out of $1.75 trillion outstanding.” He blames the “student debt crisis” on “massive boondoggle, which creates perverse incentives to raise the costs of tuition by artificially inflating demand beyond that which the market would normally provide.”
In order to combat this Oliver seeks to immediately end the Federal backing of student loans by asking Congress to make all current loans interest-free, while simultaneously ending all future government-guaranteed loans. Oliver also seeks to make student loan debt dischargeable in bankruptcy.
Oliver says he would make these changes revenue neutral by requiring the Department of Defense to cut costs by closing overseas bases and installations.
Jill Stein (G)
Jill Stein pledges to “abolish all student debt for 43 million encumbered Americans.” Stein first called student loan bailouts in 2016, arguing that it was a stimulus package for students that would lead to economic growth. “Young people were lured into these loans with the promise there would be jobs, but what happened in 2008, Wall Street crashed the economy, so they basically reneged on their end of the deal. So we have young people who are going to college with the expectation of jobs. But what kind of jobs have been created? There’s no question the jobs that have come back are massively jobs that are low wage, part time and temporary.”
The Green Party has been critical of the Biden administration's student loan forgiveness plan, calling it racist, and advocating for full loan forgiveness. “The average Black household’s student loan debt is close to 3x that of white households, due a generational wealth divide that can be traced back to slavery and Jim Crow. Forgiving $10k for white households whose average debt is $12k is functionally bringing most white households out of the red while leaving a massive burden on people of color. We absolutely need universal, full loan forgiveness, the idea Dr. Stein pushed to the national stage, which has since been too popular to ignore.”
Gender Identity and Race in Schools
Kamala Harris (D)
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ administration expanded the interpretation of Title IX to include sexual orientation and gender identity under protections against sexual discrimination, permitting students to use their desired bathrooms.
Harris’ expresses support for racial and ethnic studies in schools, and she criticized schools for backing away from such studies.
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.
Chase Oliver (L)
No specific stance found.
Jill Stein (G)
Stein says her administration would develop and implement 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusive public education to combat bullying, including providing school and community training, specific school counseling, and inclusion of 2SLGBTQIA+ history in school curricula.
The Green Party platform also advocates for “youth rights” including providing young people with “education regarding their own and others' sexuality at the earliest appropriate time.”
The Green Party platform calls for the “dismantling white supremacy in our schools, represented in curricula, discipline, teacher recruitment and more…” and wants to end the requirement for Common Core which they believe “neglects the contributions and struggles of people of color.”
Federal Funding
Kamala Harris (D)
The Biden-Harris Administration announced efforts, both in January and May, to increase federal funding for schools serving more low-income families, special education programs, and English-language learning programs. The Biden-Harris Administration has invested over $18B in support of Historically Black and Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
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.
Chase Oliver (L):
Oliver Supports abolishing the Federal Department of Education. “To fix education, we need to cut federal involvement. Abolish the Department of Education, return funds to states and taxpayers, and get the government out of student loans to drive down costs.”
Jill Stein (G)
Stein supports guaranteed lifelong free public education for all institutions of learning, including trade schools and Pre-K through college and graduate school. The Green party states that “federal policy on education should act principally to provide equal access to a quality education.”
Stein also emphasizes that under her administration the Department of Education would fully fund and include Tribal Sovereignty Curriculum developed by Tribal leaders in all states.
College Tuition
Kamala Harris (D)
Vice President Kamala Harris promised, in 2019, free two-year college programs for low-income Americans, if elected in 2020. She also proposed free community college and debt-free four-year public college.
The Biden-Harris Administration promised, in 2020, to make college tuition free at public schools and private HBCUs for students in low-income families. It has since increased investments to those causes.
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.
Chase Oliver (L)
Chase Oliver supports ending federal student loans to drive down costs.
Jill Stein (G)
Stein supports guaranteed lifelong free public education for all institutions of learning, including trade schools, college and graduate school. Stein seeks to “abolish all student debt for 43 million encumbered Americans”
Teacher Pay
Kamala Harris (D)
Harris called attention, in 2019, to the “teacher pay gap” and proposed a $13,500 salary increase to close it. This proposal has not been carried out.
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.
Chase Oliver (L)
No specific stance found.
Jill Stein (G)
In 2016 Jill Stein posted on X, “We need small classroom sizes, well-paid teachers and strong teachers' unions.”
Universal Pre-K
Kamala Harris (D)
Kicking off her 2020 presidential campaign at a rally in 2019, Vice President Kamala Harris said, “I am running to declare education is a fundamental right, and we will guarantee that right with universal pre-K.” Universal pre-K has not since been established under the Biden-Harris Administration.
Donald Trump (R)
According to his voter base, he does not support the funding of universal Pre-K.
Cornel West (Ind.)
No stance found.
Chase Oliver (L)
Oliver does not support Universal Pre-K. “To fix education, we need to cut federal involvement. Abolish the Department of Education, return funds to states and taxpayers…”
Jill Stein (G)
Stein supports guaranteed lifelong free public education for all institutions of learning, including Pre-K.
This blog was written by Harry Ding, Content Intern (Center bias). It was reviewed and edited by Henry A. Brechter, Editor-in-Chief (Center bias); Malayna J. Bizier, News Analyst and Social Media Editor (Right bias); Johnathon Held, News and Bias Analyst (Lean Right bias); and Joseph Ratliff, Design Consultant (Lean Left bias). It was updated by Malayna J. Bizier and Krystal Woodworth (Center bias).