HKS Authors

See citation below for complete author information.

Professor of Public Policy, HKS; Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Government, FAS

Abstract

WITH THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN NOW UNDERWAY, education-policy proposals previously at the edge of the political debate are entering the mainstream. On the Republican side, the Trump administration has intensified its campaign for school choice. U.S. education secretary Betsy DeVos is asking Congress to enact $5 billion in tax credits annually to encourage donations to state-approved organizations providing scholarships that, if the state allows, could be used to attend private schools. Meanwhile, several Democratic candidates are calling for tuition-free college, an idea proposed in 2016 by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont but rejected that year by the nominees of both political parties. Democratic candidates are also promising dramatic increases to the federal fiscal commitment to K-12 education. Responding to recent teacher strikes for higher pay, Senator Kamala Harris of This year, for the first time, we also surveyed a sample of 415 high-school students and their parents.

Citation

Henderson, Michael B., David M. Houston, Paul E. Peterson, and Martin R. West. "Public Support Grows for Higher Teacher Pay and Expanded School Choice Results from the 2019 Education Next Survey." Education Next 20.1 (January 2020).