2-Oct-Nov 2020 ELECTION pp 12-20 Advisor

DECIDING

OCTOBER – NOVEMBER 2020 CEA ADVISOR 3

BIDEN (D) ON THE ISSUES

TRUMP (R) ON THE ISSUES

Education Funding Supports increased opportunities for students and educators. According to Biden, “Educators deserve a partner in the White House.” His plan for education includes tripling funding for Title I, eliminating funding disparities between schools, ensuring families have access to support services and modernized school buildings, and increasing the federal government’s investment in educators. He believes “educators shouldn’t have to fight so hard for resources and respect.” COVID-19 Reopening Schools Understands that schools need resources now more than ever. “Americans deserve a president who will ensure that reopening is as effective and safe as possible.” In his plan, Biden assures that his administration would mobilize the federal government, in cooperation with educators, childcare providers, unions, communities, and families. To safely reopen schools, he recommends federal resources for food relief, PPE, and enhanced sanitation efforts, especially for Title I schools; alterations to classrooms, schedules, class sizes, and transportation so that students can physically distance; upgraded technology and broadband; support for social-emotional learning; and training for educators, parents, and students as they adapt to new circumstances.

Education Funding Supports public money for private schools. His administration supports cutting education programs by $5 billion to fund a federal voucher program for private school scholarships.

COVID-19 Reopening Schools Open or else. Ignoring his own White House guidelines and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations, Trump has demanded that schools reopen to in-person classes or he “may cut off funding.” Repeatedly rejecting science and the realities of the pandemic, he and his administration failed to prepare the country for a virus that has so far cost more than 210,000 Americans their lives and put tens of millions of Americans out of work.

Union and Workers’ Rights Supports union and workers’ rights. To ensure public school teachers have a greater voice in the decisions that impact their students and their working conditions, Biden would establish minimum collective bargaining rights and create a cabinet-level working group to promote unions.

Union and Workers’ Rights Opposes unions and the rights of workers. Publicly Trump aligns himself with American workers but supports “decreased labor protections, rolled-back worker safety, and weakened federal unions.”

“Against every law of society and nature, our children are taught in school to hate their own country.” President Donald Trump Racial and Social Justice The Trump Administration has dismantled the civil rights offices at the Departments of Education and Justice, rolled back guidance on racial disparities in school suspensions, and eliminated protections for transgender students. With an equally lengthy record of racially offensive language, Trump claims that “he is the least racist person there is anywhere in the world,” but describes efforts to ensure racial and social justice as a “merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children…” Class Size Tried to cut funds that would reduce class size. For FY 2021, Trump proposed collapsing 29 major education programs into a single reduced block grant, including $2.1 billion in Title II funding. These resources provide funds for high- need districts to hire teachers and reduce large class sizes. Educator Compensation Talk is cheap. Despite “admiring” teachers, Trump’s FY 2021 budget request proposed eliminating funding for programs like the Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants, Supporting Effective Educator Development Grant, and Teacher and School Leader Incentive programs, which provide funding to recruit, prepare, develop, and compensate educators. Public School Options School privatization is a priority. Trump has stated that his administration is “fighting for school choice, which really is the civil rights [issue] of all time in this country.” According to him, his “proposed budgets have made school choice a priority…by including $1 billion in funding to Furthering Options of Children to Unlock Success Grants for public school choice and $250 million to promote private school choice through the Education Innovation and Research Program.” The president believes that the COVID-19 pandemic is the opportune moment to urge Congress to support a $5 billion school tax credit that would transfer public funds to private schools. Early Education Kicks the can down the road on preschool programs. Trump doesn’t support universal access to preschool and marginally funds the Preschool Development Grants program, Head Start, and the Child Care and Development Block Grant. Instead, he has proposed “an independent working group [that] would make recommendations to Congress for more efficient use of the nearly $40 billion in childcare and early education funding that American taxpayers provide each year.”

Racial and Social Justice Proposes systemic investments to ensure racial equity. Biden acknowledges that the country is “seeing a national reckoning on racial justice and the tragic human costs of systemic racism.” In his plan to “Build Back Better by Advancing Racial Equity,” he outlines more than a dozen proposals to expand black, brown, and native families’ access to affordable housing, higher education, fair compensation, and clean energy.

Class Size Supports smaller class sizes. Biden recognizes that many educators across the country are experiencing stagnant wages, slashed benefits, growing class sizes, and fewer resources for their students. As a U.S. Senator, he introduced legislation to reduce class size and suggested that small classes should be “one pillar of our education system.”

Early Education Sees universal pre-K as an investment. Biden has committed to providing high-quality, universal pre-kindergarten for all three- and four-year olds. He believes that “this investment will ease the burden on our families, help close the achievement gap, promote the labor participation of parents who want to work, and lift our critical early childhood education workforce out of poverty.”

“Teaching is the single most consequential profession in

Public School Options Opposes vouchers and federal funding of charter schools. As a supporter of public schools, Biden does not agree with any federal funding going to for-profit charter schools, and he supports increasing overall accountability of charter schools. He has stated that “when we divert public funds to private schools, we undermine the entire public education system. We’ve got to prioritize investing in our public schools, so every kid in America gets a fair shot.”

terms of whether or not the United States succeeds in the world.” Presidential candidate Joe Biden

Educator Compensation Supports raises for educators. Biden has proposed tripling federal funding for Title I to help school districts offer educators competitive salaries. He believes that educators “are the most important profession.”

For more information, go to educationvotes.nea.org/presidential-2020/biden-vs-trump.