Education Platforms

We've added many of the presidential candidates' positions on education to our righthand column under Education Platform. Some candidates have full-fledged education issues pages while others have only brief mentions of education and still others don't have an "education" issues page, but a "youth" page.

We didn't include a link to John McCain, because I couldn't find education among his issues. If anyone could offer one, I'd welcome a link.

Tuition Breaks for Children of Illegal Immigrants

The issue of immigration has been particularly divisive within the Republican Party and, today, presidential candidate Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, criticized his GOP opponents for backing tuition assistance for children of illegal immigrants. Usually, what this means is states give students whose parents are illegal immigrants the lower-tuition, in-state status if they meet all other residency and academic requirements. (I blogged about this, too, on my EdWeek blog, Campaign K-12).

Specifically, Romney targeted former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee for supporting 2005 legislation in Arkansas that would have granted in-state tuition for children of illegal immigrants and former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani for supporting a similar policy at City University.

Huckabee has openly defended his support of such measures. Last month, he said on Jim Lehrer's NewsHour:

"You don't punish the child for the parents having broken the law. We don't do that. We don't say, 'OK, your parents broke a law, so we're going to punish you for it.' I just don`t understand why anybody would think that that's a good thing to do."

Policymakers and judges have been wrestling with this for years, which reminds me of the important 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case Plyler vs. Doe. In that case, the justices ruled that no, it wasn't a very good thing for Texas in the mid-1970s to deny a free public education to children of illegal immigrants.

The majority (it was a 5-4 vote) decision states that the state shouldn't have "impose[d] its discriminatory burden on the basis of a legal characteristic over which children can have little control."

Though this is a different situation -- and college aid isn't guaranteed by any state's Constitution -- the fundamental issues are very similar, even decades later.

Giuliani: Education is the key

What's the biggest impediment to the country's long-term economic success? The K-12 education system, says GOP front-runner Rudy Giuliani.

“I’d like to point out that I think the biggest economic problem we face long term is our education — our K-12 education,” Giuliani said near the close of Tuesday's Michigan debate on the economy. “If we can reform that and change it around choice, I think the sky’s the limit for the United States.” (Thanks to Education Daily for catching the quote.)

Giuliani's key reform for all that ails education is school choice. Expanding options for parents is one of his campaign's "12 commitments." As he said recently in a California campaign stop, "We’re going to take the decision-making and we’re going to put it in the hands of the people who really know the children, really love the children, really care about the children, more than anyone else: the parents."

To hear Giuliani's June comments about how he wants to "save" American public education with choice, click here.

(Photo credit: St. Petersburg Times)

'Baby Bonds' for College, the Youth Vote, and More

Hillary Rodham Clinton proposed a plan last Friday to give every child born in the United States a $5,000 “baby bond” that could be used to pay for college or for a buying a house.

Rudolph W. Giuliani already has moved in to attack the idea. As he made the rounds of the diners of New Hampshire yesterday, the former mayor criticized Ms. Clinton for borrowing from George McGovern's failed playbook when she offered up the college-savings proposal, according to The New York Times's political blog.

In other college-related news reported at Campaign U. this week, the U.S. Census Bureau released a "special edition" fact sheet on voting statistics.

The numbers showed that fewer than half of U.S. citizens ages 18 to 24 voted in the last presidential election while nearly three-quarters of those ages 55 and older did. The good news about the youth vote is that the 47 percent rate of voting among the 18-to-24 age group in 2004 represented an increase of 11 percentage points over the previous presidential election, in 2000.

A college degree also makes a big difference in whether a citizen is likely to go to the polls.

Other items from The Chronicle blog that may be of interest include a discussion of Democratic candidates' stances on how to respond to the recent controversy that has mired the student-loan industry. Ms. Clinton, for instance, has not called for ending the Federal Family Education Loan program, even though her husband is credited with creating direct lending.

Late last week, Barack Obama also outlined a plan that he said would narrow disparities in the nation's criminal-justice system. Among the proposals he put forward in a speech at Howard University, Mr. Obama advocated recruiting more public defenders by forgiving the student loans of people who go into the profession.

Giuliani's Tough-Guy Record on Higher Education

Rudolph W. Giuliani hasn’t said much yet about his campaign plans for higher education, but the Republican does have a controversial record on the issue.

In the first of our series of profiles of the leading presidential candidates, The Chronicle of Higher Education takes a look at Mr. Giuliani’s higher-education record as mayor. We also highlight his undergraduate experiences (he wrote political columns that, among other things, criticized Barry Goldwater) and summarize his platform positions that do mention postsecondary education.

As mayor, Mr. Giuliani worked to end open enrollment and raise admissions standards at New York City’s public university system, the City University of New York. To his supporters, his actions represented a bold move that has improved CUNY’s rigor. To his critics, Mr. Giuliani’s approach was bullheaded and threatened to undermine the urban university’s historic mission to educate all New Yorkers.

Both his supporters and his critics say Mr. Giuliani’s record on CUNY shows how he aggressively pursues his convictions, often without regard for public opinion, and illustrates the kind of leadership style — and heated debate — that Mr. Giuliani might bring to the White House if he were elected.

On another front, John Edwards released a plan on Friday to reform elementary and secondary education. It included a proposal to create a "West Point for teachers."

Columbia Students for Clinton, Obama ... and Romney (and maybe Giuliani)

Are students at New York's Columbia University leading the way in the 2008 race -- or just reflecting what the rest of the country is thinking?

So far, according to this article in today's Columbia Spectator, the student newspaper, Columbia students have formed three, maybe four, "Students For ..." groups: You got your Students for Hillary Clinton, your Students for Barack Obama ... and your Students for Mitt Romney. Who knew the kids in Morningside Heights had Mitt in mind?

You also got your Students for Rudy Giuliani -- maybe. As the article notes, that group "could not be reached for comment, and the College Republicans did not respond to requests for comment."

Already, Romney's machine is headed to Upper Broadway ... the story notes that Romney son Craig (pictured) will headline an Oct. 2 meet-and-greet.

Note to Craig: If the College Republicans don't feed you, there's a great pizza place down the block. Make that two.

Giuliani's "spotted record"

Hizzoner didn't achieve nearly what he wanted to when it came to education, the LA Times reports this morning. Giuliani pledged to fix New York's troubled schools, the Times says, yet the district endured eight years of chaos during his term.

"He left behind an expired union contract, an army of angry teachers and a school system that by his own admission was still delivering inferior educations to hundreds of thousands of students."

The Times quotes several of Giuliani's opponents and supporters, who generally reach the same conclusion: That his combative style worked against his efforts for school reform. To read the full report, click here.

Rudy for choice

Rudy Giuliani hit C-SPAN's Road to the White House last week, and the videos are making the rounds now. During his New Hampshire speech, the former New York mayor reiterated his strong support for school choice. Here's an excerpt:

"Colleges and universities are still among the best in the world. ... American K-12 is not outperforming the rest of the world. In K-12, we've got a lot of countries outperforming us. Now why is that? ... The difference is that American higher education is based on a quintessential American principle that always means improvement, called choice and competition. If the federal government helps you to get a higher education, the federal government does not direct you where to go to school. ... That doesn't happen in K-12 by and large. The government controls that completely. It demands and requires and by law directs you as to where you have to send your child to school. And the school could be great, the school could be awful. ... So I would give parents control over their children's education."

To view the entire clip, click here.

Giuliani, NY Yankees and me

Hi all -- I'll be blogging about Rudy Giuliani, with whom I share a great affection for the New York Yankees. I'm an assistant managing editor at The Chronicle of Higher Education. I've been with The Chronicle for 10 years, first as a political reporter and then as an editor overseeing our government and politics coverage. I have followed the education platforms of the candidates in past elections and covered the conventions in 2000 and 2004 for The Chronicle. Before coming to Washington, DC in 1997, I was a reporter at the Wilmington (NC) Star-News, the Arizona Republic, and the Ithaca (NY) Journal.

Greg Toppo notes in his earlier post that the Republicans, at least Mitt Romney, haven't talked much about education. The same is true of Rudy Giuliani. But at a campaign stop today, Giuliani did mention schools -- in that he thinks it's okay to include prayers at school graduation
ceremonies. According to the Des Moines Register, Giuliani said there needs to be a balance between constitutional protections against the government establishment of religion and people's right of religious freedom. "It's OK to say a prayer," he said. Maybe we can say a prayer to get the candidates to start talking about education.

-- Jeff Selingo