Joe Biden’s policies are bad news for students
and parents.
The Biden platform is filled with promises to shovel
more money toward a broken education system that fails millions of kids — and
would shut off programs that give families the freedom to send their kids to
better schools.
School choice is one
of the most important issues for American families and future generations.
Yet on point after point, Biden has made clear he wants to restrict choice and
repeal programs that work.
- Voucher Programs. Biden says he opposes any plan that lets students pay for
private school using the money that would have been spent on their public
school — which is called a voucher. He has already promised to end one voucher system in D.C.,
the Opportunity Scholarship Program, which overwhelmingly benefits Black and Hispanic students.
- Charter Schools.
Biden didn’t mince words: “I am not a charter school
fan.” Yet charter schools — which are public schools that have the freedom to
innovate — have been proven to work, especially for students from
low-income communities and urban areas.
- Scholarship
Programs. The Biden-Sanders unity platform explicitly opposes the creation of tax credit
scholarships, which encourage people to make donations that help kids attend
better schools. Once again, these programs work for the neediest students.
- Education Savings Accounts.
The Biden-Sanders platform also opposes letting families set up a tax-deductible account
to help pay for schooling costs and learning materials. Biden is against giving
families even a little control over their kids’ education.
What
do Biden’s education policies have in common? They are exactly what teachers unions want. The unions
fear any competition which could make them look bad or force larger reforms to
the traditional schooling model.
Biden’s positions are similar in another way, too: They would hurt countless kids who
couldn’t get the world-class education they deserve. America
deserves better than more of the failing educational status quo.
