Education Platforms for America

Education Platforms for America



To examine those differences, DA turned to the Republican and Democratic national political platforms. While political platforms rarely offer detailed policy proposals, and of course are never binding on a president’s administration, they do provide valuable insight into each party’s philosophy and approach.

What follows is the K12 education section from each party’s 2012 political platform, each printed in its entirety.

Democratic Platform: Moving America Forward

The Democrats seek to out-educate the world and offer greater access to higher education and technical training.

Democrats believe getting an education is the surest path to the middle class, giving all students the opportunity to fulfill their dreams and contribute to democracy and our economy. Public education is one of our critical democratic institutions, and we are committed to ensuring that every child in America has access to a world-class public education so we can out-educate the world and make sure America has the world’s highest proportion of college graduates by 2020.

Early Learning Plans

This requires excellence at every level of our education system, from early learning through post-secondary education. It means that we must close the achievement gap in America’s schools and ensure that in every neighborhood in the country, children benefit from high-quality educational opportunities. This is why we have helped states develop comprehensive plans to raise standards and improve instruction in early learning programs, and [have] invested in expanding and reforming Head Start.

Groundbreaking Reforms

President Obama and the Democrats are committed to working with states and communities so they have the flexibility and resources they need to improve elementary and secondary education in a way that works best for students. To that end, the president challenged and encouraged states to raise standards so students graduate ready for college or career, and can succeed in a dynamic global economy. Forty-six states responded, leading groundbreaking reforms that will deliver better education to millions of American students. Too many students, particularly students of color and disadvantaged students, drop out of school, and Democrats know we must address the dropout crisis with urgency. The Democratic Party understands the importance of turning around struggling public schools, and will work to expand public school options for low-income youth, including magnet schools, charter schools, teacher-led schools, and career academies.

Honoring Teachers

Because there is no substitute for great teachers in classrooms, the president helped school teacher of year with obamadistricts save more than 400,000 educator jobs. The Democrats seek to honor our nation’s teachers, who do a heroic job for their students every day, and if we want high-quality education for all our kids, we must listen to the people who are on the front lines. The president laid out a plan to prevent more teacher layoffs while attracting and rewarding great teachers, which includes raising standards for the programs that prepare teachers, recognizing and rewarding good teaching, and retaining good teachers. We also believe in carefully crafted evaluation systems that give struggling teachers a chance to succeed and protect due process if another teacher has to be put in the classroom. We also recognize there is no substitute for parental involvement in their child’s education.

Republican Platform: We Believe in America

The Republicans want to “give every child a chance.”

Parents are ultimately responsible for the education of their children. We do not believe in a one-size-fits-all approach to education and support providing broad education choices to parents and children at the state and local level. Maintaining American preeminence requires a world-class system of education, with high standards in which all students can reach their potential. Today’s education reform movement calls for accountability at every stage of schooling. It affirms higher expectations for all students and rejects the crippling bigotry of low expectations. It recognizes the wisdom of state and local control of our schools, and it wisely sees consumer rights in education—choice—as the most important driving force for renewing our schools.


Money Does Not Insure Quality


What Works


We support the innovations in education reform occurring at the state level based upon proven results. Republican governors have led the effort to reform our country’s underperforming education system, and we applaud these advancements.


Consumer Choice



Reform Legislation

In sum, on the one hand enormous amounts of money are being spent for K12 public education with overall results that do not justify that spending. On the other hand, the common experience of families, teachers, and administrators forms the basis of what does work in education. We believe the gap between those two realities can be successfully bridged, and Congressional Republicans are pointing a new way forward with major reform legislation. We support its concept of block grants and the repeal of numerous federal regulations, which interfere with state and local control of public schools.


Bolstering the Power of Family



Protecting Teachers

