2007 Democratic Primary Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada, Nov.15, 2007: on Education


Bill Richardson: Create science and math academies with 100,000 new teachers

The key to a good education is a strong teacher. One of the problems we have in this country is we disrespect teachers. We underpay them. I would have a minimum wage for all teachers starting out at $40,000 per year. We need to be bolder with No Child Left Behind. I would junk it. This is a disaster. It’s got to go. I would have preschool for every child. I would have full-day kindergarten. The US is 29th in science, to the European Union, to Japan. We need to have science and math academies. Hire 100,000 science and math teachers. Have art in the schools. We need also to have a college education policy that deals with these huge loans that are killing our college students. What I would do is in exchange for two years of tuition, government pays tuition, one year of national service to this country. Those are the kind of creative solutions we want in this country.
Source: 2007 Democratic debate in Las Vegas, Nevada Nov 15, 2007

Chris Dodd: Merit pay for poor areas ok; not for better neighborhoods

If you define excelling by teachers who will go into rural or poor urban areas and make a difference, mentor children after school, put in extra time to make a difference, then that sort of merit pay has value. If you’re judging excelling by determining whether or not that teacher has students who do better because they’re in better neighborhoods or better schools, I’m totally opposed to that. Every other issue we grapple with depends upon our ability to have the best-educated generation we’ve ever produced. We need to have far more cooperation at the national level. We spend less than 5% of the national budget on elementary and secondary education. That is deplorable. It’s basically Title I. We need to fundamentally reform No Child Left Behind. No Child Left Behind is a disaster for most schools and most teachers. I started the Children’s Caucus, 26 years ago, with Arlen Specter. I wrote the legislation dealing with after-school programs, infant screening, autism issues, as well.
Source: 2007 Democratic debate in Las Vegas, Nevada Nov 15, 2007

Hillary Clinton: Get more teachers into hard-to-serve areas

I support school-based merit pay. We need to get more teachers to go into hard-to-serve areas. We’ve got to get them into underserved urban areas, underserved rural areas. The school is a team, and it’s important that we reward that collaboration. A child who moves from kindergarten to sixth grade in the same school, every one of those teachers is going to affect that child. You need to weed out the teachers not doing a good job. That’s the bottom line. They should not be teaching our children.
Source: 2007 Democratic debate in Las Vegas, Nevada Nov 15, 2007

Joe Biden: Laid out a $30 billion plan over five years for education

An excellent teacher should be judged by whether or not that teacher outside of the classroom improves themselves and their teaching skills. My wife got two master’s degrees and a doctorate degree. That’s merit pay. She went out and she gathered this additional knowledge, not just being a good teacher. Here’s the problem with simple merit pay, based on the principle. Who makes the decision, based on merit pay? There should be teaching excellence. We should demand more of our teachers in continuing education and participation after school and in school. But you’ve got to pay them. The idea you start teachers at $28,000, in most states, where, in the countries we’re competing with, they start off and they graduate their graduating seniors are getting the same pay that engineers are getting in those same schools. I’ve laid out a $30 billion plan over five years to 16 years of education is what our kids need. They need to start two years earlier and be guaranteed two years after school.
Source: 2007 Democratic debate in Las Vegas, Nevada Nov 15, 2007

  • The above quotations are from 2007 Democratic Primary Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada, Nov.15, 2007.
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2016 Presidential contenders on Education:
  Republicans:
Gov.Jeb Bush(FL)
Dr.Ben Carson(MD)
Gov.Chris Christie(NJ)
Sen.Ted Cruz(TX)
Carly Fiorina(CA)
Gov.Jim Gilmore(VA)
Sen.Lindsey Graham(SC)
Gov.Mike Huckabee(AR)
Gov.Bobby Jindal(LA)
Gov.John Kasich(OH)
Gov.Sarah Palin(AK)
Gov.George Pataki(NY)
Sen.Rand Paul(KY)
Gov.Rick Perry(TX)
Sen.Rob Portman(OH)
Sen.Marco Rubio(FL)
Sen.Rick Santorum(PA)
Donald Trump(NY)
Gov.Scott Walker(WI) 		Democrats:
Gov.Lincoln Chafee(RI)
Secy.Hillary Clinton(NY)
V.P.Joe Biden(DE)
Gov.Martin O`Malley(MD)
Sen.Bernie Sanders(VT)
Sen.Elizabeth Warren(MA)
Sen.Jim Webb(VA)

2016 Third Party Candidates:
Gov.Gary Johnson(L-NM)
Roseanne Barr(PF-HI)
Robert Steele(L-NY)
Dr.Jill Stein(G,MA)
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Page last updated: Nov 30, 2018