Debate Predictions: Education and the First Presidential Debate
POLITICO: Morning Education
September 26, 2016
IT’S DEBATE NIGHT! The education policy world will tune into tonight’s presidential debate looking for any mention of their issues, and there’s a lot of hot topics that could come up, including college affordability, preschool access, child care and school choice. One Democratic source said a question about Donald Trump’s $20 billion school choice plan could happen “during the prosperity part of the debate. Something about how he would execute it given that he’s planning to eliminate the Education Department to pay for his tax cuts.” American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, who’s attending the debate at Hofstra University, said that if anything edu-related gets a mention, it will probably involve tackling student debt and child care affordability. And the folks at Bellwether Education Partners speculated that college access and affordability issues could make a debate appearance.
– Center for Education Reform founder Jeanne Allen suspects Hillary Clinton will plug her plans for debt-free college and universal pre-K. “As for Trump, he will likely find the opportunity a couple of times to mention school choice, as well as the need for better schools. And in a hopeful aspiration for bipartisanship, I suspect – if it comes to a conversation about working mothers – they will likely both agree on child care … on some level.”
