CNN N. H. Town Hall: on Education

Bernie Sanders: Freeze private charter schools; they have no accountability

SANDERS: Yes.

Q: Why?

SANDERS: Because I think that charter schools are able to do things that public schools can't. They can pick and choose the students that they get. Their teachers are not able to become union members. They don't have the accountability that public schools do. And we have seen many, many problems in charter schools. And they are taking money away from public education. So I think public money should go to public schools, and we're going to freeze all private charter schools funding.

Deval Patrick: A year of college fees for a year of service

PATRICK: I think the fact that we are divided is one thing. The fact that it's so easy to divide us is another deeply concerning thing. It's one of the reasons why, in something we call our democracy agenda we have proposed essentially universal national service, either civilian or military, as a way to bring people from different parts of the country together to work alongside each other in service of an unmet national need for a year or two or three. Indeed, for every year of service, we provide a year of college tuition and fees, as well.

Pete Buttigieg: Stand up and support public education

BUTTIGIEG: If we could honor our teachers a little more like we do our soldiers and pay our teachers a little more like we do our doctors, this entire country would be a better place. So what we've got to do is make sure, yes, first of all, that more resources are going into public education. It means making sure that we massively expand the funding for Title I because, in particular, I'm concerned about those districts and schools where the students are most in need. And a lot of that needs to go to the compensation of teachers. The time has come for us to stand up and support public education in this country. And, yes, that begins with having a secretary of education who believes in public education and supports the profession.

Elizabeth Warren: My secretary of education will be a public school teacher

Americans need a government on their side that's not just a debt collector on student loans. They need a government that says, "I believe in your education." I'm going to cancel the student loan debt so you can actually get a start in life, so you can actually get out there and try a different job, so you can move out of your mom's basement, so you can save up some money to buy a car, so you can start a small business, because I believe in you. I want to invest in you.

Tom Steyer: Hold charter schools to same standards as public schools

STEYER: Actually, I'm not a supporter of charter schools. What I'm a supporter of is making the public school system work and supporting teachers in that public school system so they can be as effective as possible. And I would put much more money into it, both in terms of paying teachers, but also in terms of supporting teachers with the kind of services, like librarians and nurses and mental health support. When I think about what we're trying to do in terms of school, this is the basic investment in ourselves and in our future prosperity. Look at any successful country in this world, they spend [on] making sure that the kids can succeed. We spend ten times more in our budget on defense than we do on education, $70 billion on education. The defense number is over $700 billion. That is a dramatic misplacement of values in our society.