Survey of 2020 Presidential campaign websites: on Education

Kanye West: Restore prayer in the classroom

We will not hide the truth from our children, but will declare to the next generation His praises and wonder. -- Psalm 78:4

Support faith-based groups to provide vital local services, giving communities a shared purpose in government.

We will provide ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works -- Hebrews 10:24

Creativity and the Arts can be an important source of innovation and development of other national strengths and resources.

He has given them skill in all kinds of work done. -- Exodus 35:35

Kanye West: Widest possible range of educational & vocational paths

Direct your children on the right path. -- Proverbs 22:6

Jo Jorgensen: I will work to eliminate the Department of Education

Rocky De La Fuente: Funding for those in need, but not everyone needs college

Tom Steyer: Sustained $125B federal investment in HBCUs

Without sustained federal investments, we risk losing these institutions that shape so many bright futures. As president, Tom will invest $125 billion to HBCUs over the next 10 years for infrastructure and technology upgrades, student and faculty support, building endowment capacity, and HBCU Centers of Innovation, among other initiatives.

Mike Bloomberg: Make education and training a national priority

Mike will make sure people can access unemployment insurance benefits to help pay for career and technical training programs. He also will launch a pilot program to give people federal student aid for eligible short-term certificate programs.

Mike believes that college should be available to all Americans, regardless of income, doubling the size of Pell grants and removing barriers for DREAMers and formerly incarcerated students.

Mike Bloomberg: More than 126,000 classroom seats added, 600 new schools

Tom Steyer: $1.5 trillion in student loan debt is unacceptable

That doesn't mean everyone needs a graduate degree. It doesn't even mean everyone needs a bachelor's degree. But it does mean that everyone should be able to open the door to a good school, and gain the knowledge they need to succeed, without worrying about the cost.

Americans collectively owe $1.5 trillion in student loans. This is unacceptable. Everyone must be able to acquire new skills, start new careers, and work for whatever it is they want.

Tom Steyer: Keep schools open despite Republican demonization

Schools in Oklahoma and Colorado can't stay open for a full five-day week. Students in Rhode Island and Michigan are suing their states because their public high schools don't properly teach them fundamental things like civics and literacy. Virtually all our public school teachers spend some of their own pay on school supplies for their classes.

Joe Sestak: Subsidize tuition at public community colleges

Priorities:
• Increase access to higher education by providing states with grants to support tuition at community colleges and public universities.
• Reduce costs of higher education by making federal student aid and loans contingent upon each university keeping annual tuition increases at or below inflation.
• Restructure federal student loans so the government no longer makes a profit off of students attempting to improve themselves.
• Establish a national college credit transfer system.
• Create a "Training for a Lifetime" program to increase opportunities for job training and continuing education.

Joe Sestak: Support Common Core and expand pre-K

Priorities:
• Expand early childhood education to all 4-year-olds.
• Support state-led efforts like Common Core to create unified benchmarks for success.
• Increase broadband Internet connectivity across the country, especially in underserved rural and urban areas..

Don Blankenship: My school sang "God Bless America" on most mornings

I also remember that all 36 of us would line up outside the school most mornings to sing "God Bless America" and say the "Pledge of Allegiance."

Later, when I went to middle school/high school in Matewan, West Virginia, there were 700 students and 119 in my class. I remember being scared that I would get lost changing classes, but I never did. I managed to graduate second in my class. Although I didn't want to be, I was elected President of the student body--my first political experience.

Howie Hawkins: Free public education from pre-K through college

• AN ECONOMIC BILL OF RIGHTS: Free Public Education from Pre-K Child Care through College
• JUSTICE: Empower Racially Oppressed Communities and Disempower Institutional Racism through Community Control of Police, Schools, Housing, and Businesses
• PEACE: A Global Green New Deal--Invest the Peace Dividend from Military Spending Cuts inClean Energy, Regenerative Agriculture, and Basic Human Needs Around the World

Eric Swalwell: Future Forum: focus on college affordability & student debt

In April 2015, I founded Future Forum: a group of young Democratic Members of Congress, now numbering almost 50, focused on issues of key importance to millennials including college affordability and student loan debt; jobs and economic opportunity; home ownership; and climate change. As chairman, I visited almost 50 U.S. cities to listen to thousands of young Americans and bring their ideas back to Washington to guide policy.

Eric Swalwell: World-class modern schoolhouses, regardless of ZIP Code

Mike Gravel: Delink property taxes to equalize education funding

The United States should:
• Provide free, high-quality preschool education for all with direct funding to states.
• Delink property taxes and education funding, moving to a federal model for school funding in which all students receive an equal amount of funding.
• Promote the inclusion of climate science, sustainable development and universal human rights into school curricula.

Mike Gravel: Student Debt Jubilee: one-time government debt forgiveness

The United States should:
• Make all public universities and graduate schools absolutely tuition free by providing funding directly to states.
• Announce a one-time "Student Debt Jubilee," with all student debt held by the U.S. government being forgiven.
• Provide debt forgiveness, paid for by the government, of the first $25,000 of private student loan debt.

Marianne Williamson: Universal pre-school; more teacher retention programs

If elected, I will work vigorously for the following:
• Universal pre-school for all children.
• Increased funding for free and reduced-price lunches, so that they cover breakfasts as well.
• A far more expansive array of educational approaches, including social and emotional learning; conflict resolution skills; meditation and mindfulness; comparative religion; anti-bullying programs; and the fostering of other life skills to help prepare children for a meaningful life.
• We need to reduce the amount of high-stakes testing required and the associated model that unfairly associates teacher and school performance with the results of those high-stakes tests.
• Teacher training programs and teacher retention.
• Better management of education infrastructure. Buildings and buses are some of the largest budget items for public schools. Multi-purpose use for buses would improve communities and drive down school costs. The same can be said for school facilities.

Marianne Williamson: Free college via public service; and student loan amnesty

If elected, I will work vigorously for the following:
• Free college or technical school tuition for every qualified student. If we cannot find ideal offsets for this expense, I'm open to exploring ways that students can repay some of these costs with a small payroll tax once they start working (based on Oregon's efforts) or through public service.
• Student loan amnesty. need to reduce the interest rate for repayment of loans to a nominal, if not zero, percentage rate. We need to eliminate the origination fee on federal student loans.
• The most advanced matrix of technical schools in the world. Going to a liberal arts college is not the only option for higher education; we should create more opportunities for people who want to work in the trades or technical areas.
• Low-cost education for those in middle and older age who have been dropped from our economy yet still retain, as all people do, the God-given potential to create meaning for themselves and others.

Andrew Yang: Improving teacher salaries improves student success

Problems to be solved:
• Teacher salaries in this country are too low to incentivize potential teachers with great skill but other options
• Teachers don't have a strong monetary incentive to continually improve their craft

As President, I will...
• Work with states to fund their educational systems to improve teacher salaries and reduce layers of administration, leading to better educational outcomes

Andrew Yang: Require colleges to cut administrative costs

As President, I will...
• Explore a gradual phase-in of a desired ratio of administrators to students of 1 to 30 as a condition of public funding as opposed to the current 1 to 21. The ratio was 1 to 50 in the 1970s --if we can get back to that level then college will be much cheaper.
• Stipulate that any university that receives public funding cannot increase its costs by more than the rate of annual median wage growth.
• Modify the U.S. News and World Report rankings and eliminate the ability of any university to compensate administrators with incentives tied to their rankings.

Howard Schultz: First in family to attend college; offer same at Starbucks

My mother wanted more for me. She believed in the American Dream, and imprinted in me the belief that if I got an education and worked hard, I could create a better life for myself. In 1971, I enrolled in Northern Michigan University.

I paid for school with student loans. I worked two jobs. There were even times I had to sell my blood for some cash. Four years later, I became the first in my family to earn a college degree.

Today, all Starbucks employees can earn a four-year college degree, tuition free. The rising level of student debt is now at $1.5 trillion dollars.

Howard Schultz: 3,000 people graduated college on Starbucks' tuition

My life experience is proof that the American Dream is, in fact, real. And that those who achieve it can pay it forward, and help others achieve it as well. I've spent my life trying to make the opportunities that were available to me, education and good jobs, available to others.