2014 NE Senate debate: on Education


Dave Domina: Treat public education as a basic right of citizenship

It is time for Americans to recognize the right to an education as a basic, civil right of citizenship. Without education for all Americans, stability, upward mobility, and progress are not attainable. Education must be measured by, and rooted in, strong public schools. Care must be taken to permit alternatives to public education, but the public schools mandatory curriculum must be met or satisfied through proficiency testing.
    The US needs a comprehensive educational policy for the 21st Century
  1. Education as a basic civil right for all Americans.
  2. More and better resources for classroom teachers
  3. Rigorous evaluation of schools of education and alternative pathways to the teaching profession.
  4. Improved and invigorated teacher education in enhanced schools of education.
  5. Strengthened professional standards for teaching
  6. Pre-K educational investment through federal formula based funding
  7. Vocational education at high school and post-high school levels.
Source: 2014 Nebraska Senate campaign website, DaveDomina.com Sep 1, 2014

Ben Sasse: Opposes Common Core State Standards

On education, Sasse said he opposes Common Core State Standards--which were developed by groups such as the National Governors' Association but have come under fire by wary conservatives. Sasse said they were supposed to be voluntary and state-based, but are "no longer either." Sasse said raising kids is the responsibility of parents and local government and shouldn't be "centrally done in Washington."

Domina said the federal government has a "pretty dynamic interest" in making sure all students have common levels of understanding, noting that he may differ on education from Sasse, who attended private colleges and homeschools his children "which I applaud him for." The problem is, both George W. Bush and Obama didn't trust teachers to decide who should pass, Domina said.

Source: WatchDog.org on 2014 Nebraska Senate debate Jun 2, 2014

Dave Domina: Common Core: feds have an interest in common understanding

On education, Sasse said he opposes Common Core State Standards--which were developed by groups such as the National Governors' Association but have come under fire by wary conservatives. Sasse said they were supposed to be voluntary and state-based, but are "no longer either." Sasse said raising kids is the responsibility of parents and local government and shouldn't be "centrally done in Washington."

Domina said the federal government has a "pretty dynamic interest" in making sure all students have common levels of understanding, noting that he may differ on education from Sasse, who attended private colleges and homeschools his children "which I applaud him for." The problem is, both George W. Bush and Obama didn't trust teachers to decide who should pass, Domina said.

Source: WatchDog.org on 2014 Nebraska Senate debate Jun 2, 2014

Ben Sasse: At Midland U., fixed broken system of higher ed

When Sasse was appointed president of Midland University three years ago, Midland was in dire straits and contemplating bankruptcy. Sasse turned out to be a prodigious crisis manager. In the last three years, Midland's enrollment has gone from 590 students to 1,100. Oddly enough, his vision for reforming higher ed grew out of his experience trying to fix America's dysfunctional health care system.

"The only sector that even compares with higher ed for being broken is health care. Think about how similar they are. They're both dominated by third-party payment, and that third party is mostly public funders that don't know how to hold anybody accountable for outcomes. The institutions exist primarily for the good of their own workers, not their own customers--students or patients. Quality is hard to measure, but to the degree you can measure, you have to measure things that are team outcomes, not solo, virtuoso outcomes," he says.

Source: The Weekly Standard on 2014 Nebraska Senate race Jun 17, 2013

  • The above quotations are from 2014 Nebraska Senate debates.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Education.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
  • Click here for more quotes by Don Stenberg on Education.
  • Click here for more quotes by Shane Osborn on Education.
Candidates and political leaders on Education:

Retired Senate as of Jan. 2015:
GA:Chambliss(R)
IA:Harkin(D)
MI:Levin(D)
MT:Baucus(D)
NE:Johanns(R)
OK:Coburn(R)
SD:Johnson(D)
WV:Rockefeller(D)

Resigned from 113th House:
AL-1:Jo Bonner(R)
FL-19:Trey Radel(R)
LA-5:Rod Alexander(R)
MA-5:Ed Markey(D)
MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R)
NC-12:Melvin Watt(D)
SC-1:Tim Scott(R) 		Retired House to run for Senate or Governor:
AR-4:Tom Cotton(R)
GA-1:Jack Kingston(R)
GA-10:Paul Broun(R)
GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R)
HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D)
IA-1:Bruce Braley(D)
LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R)
ME-2:Mike Michaud(D)
MI-14:Gary Peters(D)
MT-0:Steve Daines(R)
OK-5:James Lankford(R)
PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D)
TX-36:Steve Stockman(R)
WV-2:Shelley Capito(R) 		Retired House as of Jan. 2015:
AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R)
AR-2:Tim Griffin(R)
CA-11:George Miller(D)
CA-25:Howard McKeon(R)
CA-33:Henry Waxman(D)
CA-45:John Campbell(R)
IA-3:Tom Latham(R)
MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R)
NC-6:Howard Coble(R)
NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D)
NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R)
NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D)
NY-21:Bill Owens(D)
PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R)
UT-4:Jim Matheson(D)
VA-8:Jim Moran(D)
VA-10:Frank Wolf(R)
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Page last updated: Dec 06, 2018