Issues: Education
Education is one of the most important things government does. We must assure that every child has the opportunity to have the highest quality education possible. The federal government must work with other levels of government to avoid the gross inequalities that often exist between school districts, or even within individual school districts. Teachers perform a valuable service and must receive adequate compensation and the resources to perform their jobs. While we must continue to emphasize math and science, art and foreign languages are an essential part of any curriculum. The federal government needs to provide greater financial resources to broaden the curriculum at all levels. In addition the federal government needs to put more resources into vocational and continuing education. Dispute resolution is an important life skill and should be an important part of any curriculum.
> Vouchers weaken the public school system. The emphasis must be on supporting public education and not subsidizing private schools.
> The No Child Left Behind legislation has serious flaws as it punishes schools as opposed to giving them the resources to improve. Its excessive emphasis on standardized test scores and its narrow curricular emphasis has led school districts to take resources away from those subjects not being tested.
> The basis of school funding in the United States is property and other locally based taxes. This has led to gross inequalities in funding between school districts.
