Issue
Education & Student Debt
Officials on Education & Student Debt
Positions on record
- James P. McGovernStated position
Expand access to healthy school meals and breakfasts for students nationwide so no child comes to school hungry, by enacting his bipartisan Healthy Meals / Healthy Breakfasts Help Kids Learn Act.
View position & sources → - Dan McKeeStated position
Meet the goal for Rhode Island to reach Massachusetts student achievement levels by 2030 (a challenge set the prior year and reaffirmed in the 2024 address).
View position & sources → - Jared PolisStated position
Establish universal full-day kindergarten and preschool in every Colorado community (a 2017 campaign pledge; full-day kindergarten was funded in 2019 and free preschool launched in 2023).
View position & sources → - David McCormickStated position
Support families by expanding access to school choice, banning social media for children under 16, providing tax credits for childcare and fertility treatments such as IVF, and investing more resources in technical training and vocational skills.
View position & sources → - David McCormickStated position
Eliminate all taxpayer funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, particularly in the military, and make federal funding for U.S. universities contingent on stamping out antisemitism.
View position & sources → - John KennedyStated position
Committed to working to ensure parents have the authority and power to make education decisions for their children.
View position & sources → - Peter WelchStated position
Continue fighting to ease the burden of student loan debt for students and families.
View position & sources → - Bill CassidyStated position
Introduced the College Transparency Act to give students and families data on likelihood of graduating, getting a job, and borrowing before choosing a college.
View position & sources → - Marsha BlackburnStated position
As governor, Blackburn commits to fight to stop what she describes as 'woke' anti-American curriculum being taught in Tennessee schools.
View position & sources → - Marsha BlackburnStated position
As governor, Blackburn commits to work with the state legislature to fully implement Tennessee's new school-choice law so that every child, regardless of family income or ZIP code, has access to an education that fits their needs.
View position & sources → - Michael F. BennetStated position
Launch a Child Care Infrastructure Revolving Loan Fund to provide low-interest financing to providers offering affordable care.
View position & sources → - Michael F. BennetStated position
Lead a state effort to ensure every kid in Colorado has the tools to read confidently by the end of third grade and reach math proficiency by fifth grade.
View position & sources → - Michael F. BennetStated position
Work with school districts and teachers to implement a statewide ban on cellphones in Colorado classrooms.
View position & sources → - Ashley MoodyStated position
Committed to funding vocational and technical schools through her TRADES Act, financed by targeting large university endowments, to train Floridians for skilled trades.
View position & sources → - Martin HeinrichStated position
Will take a first step toward making educator pay at Bureau of Indian Education schools more competitive, by examining how to raise it, so those schools can recruit and retain talented teachers.
View position & sources → - Michael F. BennetStated position
Will provide schools with the resources needed to combat chronic absenteeism and ensure students receive the education and support they deserve.
View position & sources → - Mazie K. HironoStated position
Pass the Pell Grant Preservation and Expansion Act she co-introduced to nearly double the maximum Pell Grant award (from $7,395 to $15,000 over six years), index it to inflation, and protect it from future cuts.
View position & sources → - Tommy TubervilleStated position
Pledged, as governor, to remove what he described as 'woke gender ideology,' DEI, and Critical Race Theory content from Alabama school curricula.
View position & sources → - Mazie K. HironoStated position
Continue fighting to pass the All Students Count Act she co-introduced, which would require federal education agencies and school districts to collect and report disaggregated data for AANHPI student subgroups so schools can identify and address disparities.
View position & sources → - Tate ReevesStated position
Expand school choice / 'education freedom,' giving parents and students more schooling options across the state.
View position & sources → - Mike DeWineStated position
Announced that the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce would launch a new "Statewide Attendance Dashboard" on April 15, 2026, providing weekly attendance data for every district and school to help address chronic absenteeism.
View position & sources → - Mike DeWineStated position
Directed the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce to add 50 more ReadOhio literacy coaches in the fall of 2026, extending the program's reach to at least 70 more schools (from 97 coaches in 151 schools).
View position & sources → - Gretchen WhitmerStated position
Fund free, full-day pre-K for all Michigan four-year-olds, proposing $181.1 million to expand the Great Start Readiness program to an estimated 68,000 children.
View position & sources → - Gretchen WhitmerStated position
Enact the largest targeted literacy investment in Michigan history — the 'Every Child Reads' plan — proposing $625 million to raise K-12 reading achievement (Michigan ranks 44th in 4th-grade reading).
View position & sources → - Gretchen WhitmerStated position
Make Michigan's universal free school breakfast and lunch for all 1.4 million public-school students permanent in state law.
View position & sources → - Patty MurrayStated position
Vowed to keep fighting Trump administration efforts to dismantle the Department of Education and to protect students' access to education.
View position & sources → - Wes MooreStated position
Propose a historic $10 billion in state funding for Maryland's public schools.
View position & sources → - Ned LamontStated position
Committed, through the state budget, to provide free school breakfasts for all students.
View position & sources → - Ned LamontStated position
Committed to make another sizeable deposit into the state's childcare endowment using budget surplus.
View position & sources → - Ned LamontStated position
Called for banning phones 'bell to bell' in all schools and, working with neighboring states, requiring that no child under age 18 be able to access certain apps without parental permission.
View position & sources → - Ned LamontStated position
Committed to sign an executive order creating a Blue Ribbon Commission on K-12 Education.
View position & sources → - Bill LeeStated position
Raise Tennessee's minimum starting teacher salary to $50,000, proposing $339 million in his 2026 budget that includes funding to bring starting teacher pay to $50,000 by the time he leaves office.
View position & sources → - Bill LeeStated position
Double the Education Freedom Scholarship (school voucher) program to a total of 40,000 scholarships for the 2026-27 school year.
View position & sources → - Janet MillsStated position
Establish free community college by covering the last-dollar cost of up to two years of tuition for Maine high-school classes graduating 2020-2023.
View position & sources → - Josh GreenStated position
Increase affordable child-care support for working parents.
View position & sources → - Spencer CoxStated position
Get every Utah child reading at grade level, addressing that nearly half of third graders are not, through high standards and individualized support for struggling readers.
View position & sources → - Matt MeyerStated position
Make a nearly $50 million investment in early childhood education in the next year.
View position & sources → - Michelle Lujan GrishamStated position
Establish clear, consistent statewide literacy and math requirements so every student graduates with real skills.
View position & sources → - Michelle Lujan GrishamStated position
Enact a $160 million recurring funding increase for universal child care to guarantee universal access for New Mexico families.
View position & sources → - Abigail SpanbergerStated position
Make Virginia's public schools the best in the nation, including investing in schools and educators and grounding students in reading and math.
View position & sources → - Jim PillenStated position
End DEI and CRT in Nebraska's higher education system through budget language and sign it into law.
View position & sources → - Brian KempStated position
Invest $325 million to create and fund the University System of Georgia's DREAMS Scholarship, described as the state's first need-based college scholarship program.
View position & sources → - Kay IveyStated position
In her 2026 State of the State address, Ivey proposed increasing funding for the CHOOSE Act school-choice education savings account program to $250 million for the 2027-28 academic year.
View position & sources → - Larry RhodenStated position
Committed to preparing the state to implement its new school choice / education savings account program by January 1, 2027, working with private schools, public schools, and the homeschooling community.
View position & sources → - Kay IveyStated position
Ivey announced her proposed Education Trust Fund budget would include another two percent pay increase for Alabama teachers.
View position & sources → - Kay IveyStated position
Ivey proposed an additional $50 million for K-12 school safety efforts.
View position & sources → - Kim ReynoldsStated position
Ban certain artificial food dyes and preservatives from K-12 school meals.
View position & sources → - Katie HobbsStated position
Committed to tackling waste, fraud, and abuse in the K-12 Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) voucher program to ensure taxpayer dollars go toward educational purposes, while pledging to leave untouched the program's original mission for students with disabilities and in military families.
View position & sources → - Brad LittleStated position
Right-size (reduce) funding for online schools while adding accountability measures.
View position & sources → - Henry McMasterStated position
Freeze college tuition for in-state students with a $39.2 million appropriation in the FY2026-2027 budget.
View position & sources → - Katie HobbsStated position
Called for renewing Proposition 123 this legislative session to increase school funding and teacher pay and stem teacher departures.
View position & sources → - Gavin NewsomStated position
Newsom pledged that his proposed budget would fully fund California's universal transitional kindergarten (TK) program for all four-year-olds.
View position & sources → - Phil ScottStated position
Committed to propose a multi-year plan to transform Vermont's Pre-K-through-12 education system, including an entirely new 'student-centered funding formula' to control costs.
View position & sources → - Katherine M. ClarkStated position
Pass the CCAMPIS Reauthorization Act to reauthorize the federal campus child care program through Fiscal Year 2031 and fund it at $500 million per year to expand on-campus child care for parenting students.
View position & sources → - Deb FischerStated position
Committed to work to secure federal funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant so that reforms in her bipartisan Child Care Modernization Act can be implemented and continue serving families needing child care assistance.
View position & sources → - Robert C. "Bobby" ScottStated position
Lower child care costs for working families and increase the quality and supply of child care through the Child Care for Working Families Act (H.R. 4418), which Scott sponsors.
View position & sources → - Katherine M. ClarkStated position
Pass the Child Care for Working Families Act to cap the typical family's child care costs at no more than $15 a day, with no eligible family paying more than 7 percent of its income on child care.
View position & sources → - Elissa SlotkinStated position
In her 'Economic War Plan' address, Slotkin called for banning cell phones in every K-12 classroom in America.
View position & sources → - Ted CruzStated position
Committed to leading the effort until universal school choice—via his Universal School Choice Act's federal tax-credit scholarship program—is available to every American family.
View position & sources → - Kathy HochulStated position
Make New York the largest state in the nation to require statewide, bell-to-bell restrictions on smartphones in K-12 schools, effective for the 2025-2026 school year.
View position & sources → - Matt MeyerStated position
Pass a holistic public-school funding reform framework by the summer.
View position & sources → - Jared HuffmanStated position
Sponsor and pass the IDEA Full Funding Act to phase in mandatory funding for the full 40 percent federal share of special-education costs long promised under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
View position & sources → - Josh SteinStated position
Propose a $4 billion public school construction bond, to be put to a vote of the people, to repair old and unsafe school buildings.
View position & sources → - Josh SteinStated position
Establish a bipartisan Task Force on Child Care and Early Education to find solutions to child care access and affordability.
View position & sources → - Mark GordonStated position
Expand school choice by enacting the Steamboat Legacy Scholarship Act (House Bill 199), broadening K-12 education savings accounts and creating a need-based Pre-K voucher program.
View position & sources → - Ron DeSantisStated position
Recommend increased state funding dedicated to raising teacher salaries in the state budget.
View position & sources → - JB PritzkerStated position
Proposed to allow community colleges to offer four-year bachelor's degrees in in-demand career fields such as nursing and advanced manufacturing.
View position & sources → - JB PritzkerStated position
Pledged to advance legislation requiring every Illinois school district to adopt a policy banning cell phone use during classroom instruction.
View position & sources → - Tony EversStated position
Committed to increasing the state's special education reimbursement rate to 60 percent, backed by a more than $1.1 billion investment, in the 2025-27 budget.
View position & sources → - Patrick MorriseyStated position
Allow West Virginia schools to ban cell phones in the classroom.
View position & sources → - Ned LamontStated position
Committed to seed a Universal Preschool Endowment with $300 million from the FY25 surplus, with the budget anticipating nearly $1 billion in the endowment over the next few years, to make pre-K and early childhood education more affordable.
View position & sources → - Josh ShapiroStated position
Increase K-12 public education funding by an additional $526 million routed through the new 'adequacy' formula that directs money to the most underfunded districts.
View position & sources → - Kevin StittStated position
Change the State Superintendent of Public Instruction from an elected office to one appointed by the governor.
View position & sources → - Greg AbbottStated position
Enact and fund school choice / education savings accounts making public dollars available to Texas families for private-school and other education expenses, declaring school choice an emergency item.
View position & sources → - Chris Van HollenStated position
Reintroduced the Keep Our PACT Act, committing Congress to fully fund Title I education grants and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA / special education), which the federal government has never fully funded.
View position & sources → - Henry McMasterStated position
Enact a new Education Scholarship Trust Fund (private-school choice) program and appropriate $30 million to it, letting parents rather than attendance lines choose their child's school.
View position & sources → - Mike BraunStated position
Raise the minimum salary for public school teachers by $5,000.
View position & sources → - Mike BraunStated position
Enact universal school choice in Indiana.
View position & sources → - Mike KehoeStated position
Recommend a $200 million increase for the K-12 Foundation Formula — described as the largest increase since the current formula was created.
View position & sources → - Mike KehoeStated position
Enact voluntary open enrollment in public schools, letting families choose a public school regardless of zip code; in 2026 he added $7.5 million in the budget to implement it.
View position & sources → - Mike KehoeStated position
Pay child care providers who partner with the state at the beginning of each month and pay on enrollment (like private pay), starting in fiscal year 2026, ending late payments; and issue an executive order for a complete rewrite of child care regulations.
View position & sources → - Spencer CoxStated position
Remove cellphones from Utah schools, escalating from getting phones 'out of schools' to a 'bell-to-bell' phone ban covering the full school day.
View position & sources → - Tony EversStated position
Pledged, through a 'Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids' initiative, to end school meal debt and ensure every student receives a healthy breakfast and lunch at school at no cost.
View position & sources → - Tony EversStated position
Pledged that his budget would include ongoing funding to make the Child Care Counts program permanent to lower child care costs for Wisconsin families.
View position & sources → - Tony EversStated position
Pledged to again propose 'historic investments in K-12 education' in his 2025-27 state budget, which he introduced as a more than $3.15 billion increase for K-12 public schools.
View position & sources → - Brian KempStated position
Fund a further $159 million for school and campus safety.
View position & sources → - Tim ScottStated position
Committed to work to include financial literacy provisions so Americans have knowledge of and access to tools for financial success.
View position & sources → - Joe LombardoStated position
Make teacher pay raises permanent in the budget and extend pay raises to all charter school teachers.
View position & sources → - Bob FergusonStated position
Enact legislation providing free breakfast and lunch to every K-12 public school student as part of their basic education.
View position & sources → - Laura KellyStated position
Consolidate early-childhood functions now spread across state agencies into a single Office of Early Childhood (a one-stop shop for families and child-care providers).
View position & sources → - Laura KellyStated position
Fully fund Kansas K-12 public schools every year she is in office (her budget again fully funds them for a seventh consecutive year).
View position & sources → - Laura KellyStated position
Include budget funding to provide free school lunches to over 35,000 Kansas students currently on reduced-price meals.
View position & sources → - Kathy HochulStated position
Provide universal free breakfast and lunch to every one of New York State's more than 2.7 million public-school students.
View position & sources → - Kim ReynoldsStated position
Pass a bill ensuring children struggling in math are identified and receive personalized help.
View position & sources → - Kathy HochulStated position
Dedicate $110 million to build new child care centers, renovate existing ones, and expand child care options.
View position & sources → - Sarah Huckabee SandersStated position
Committed to make school breakfast completely free for Arkansas students.
View position & sources → - Kim ReynoldsStated position
Establish an Early Childhood 'Continuum of Care' program providing three-year grants to preschool programs and child care providers that integrate their services.
View position & sources → - Tina KotekStated position
Committed in her Recommended Budget to increase the State School Fund current service level by $600 million, for a total K-12 investment of $11.36 billion.
View position & sources → - Greg GianforteStated position
Invest a historic $100 million in the state budget to raise teacher pay, with a focus on early-career educators (the TEACH Act).
View position & sources → - Kelly AyotteStated position
Strengthen and expand the Education Freedom Accounts program so more families can choose their children's learning environment.
View position & sources → - Andy BeshearStated position
Enact universal pre-K ("Pre-K for All") for every 4-year-old in Kentucky, extending publicly funded preschool to roughly 34,000 additional children.
View position & sources → - Kelly ArmstrongStated position
Fund Education Savings Accounts in the executive budget — money set aside for each student to direct toward services or tuition across public, nonpublic, or homeschool settings.
View position & sources → - Kelly ArmstrongStated position
Increase Challenge Grant funding to $50 million in the executive budget to leverage private dollars and drive $150 million of higher-education investment over two years.
View position & sources → - Brad LittleStated position
Recommend $50 million to expand school-choice / education options for Idaho families (subsequently enacted as the Parental Choice Tax Credit).
View position & sources → - Brad LittleStated position
Provide over $150 million in new public-school funding to address gaps in rural school facilities, mental health, school safety, and literacy.
View position & sources → - Ted CruzStated position
As incoming Senate Commerce Committee chairman, committed to making reform of college athletics a priority and to convene hearings on the issue in the next Congress.
View position & sources → - Jeff LandryStated position
Give Louisiana public school teachers a permanent pay raise.
View position & sources → - Donald J. TrumpStated position
I want to close up Department of Education, move education back to the states where, states like Iowa, where states like Idaho… I'll bet you'd have 30, 35 states that'll be much better. And you know what it'll cost? Less than half what it is in Washington.
View position & sources → - Jeff LandryStated position
Establish and expand the LA GATOR education savings account (school choice) program, phasing in eligibility starting with special-needs students and working up the income ladder toward all families.
View position & sources → - Mike DunleavyStated position
Enact teacher recruitment and retention incentive payments through his education bill, House Bill 106.
View position & sources → - Virginia FoxxStated position
Reform federal higher education law through her College Cost Reduction Act (H.R. 6951) to reduce college costs for students and hold colleges and universities more accountable for student outcomes.
View position & sources → - Kim ReynoldsStated position
Raise Iowa's statutory minimum teacher salary from $33,500 to $50,000, and create a $62,000 minimum for teachers with 12 years of experience (paired with an Area Education Agency overhaul).
View position & sources → - Gabe EvansStated position
Support school choice and education savings accounts that let parents and donors make tax-free contributions so families can choose the school that best fits their child.
View position & sources → - Mark DeSaulnierStated position
Enact the Protecting Student Athletes from Concussions Act to condition states' receipt of federal education funds on schools adopting and enforcing minimum concussion prevention and management plans for student athletics.
View position & sources → - Kevin CramerStated position
Cramer committed to passing the PEACE Act to prohibit federal education funding from being used to promote Critical Race Theory and 'divisive concepts.'
View position & sources → - Elizabeth WarrenStated position
Make child care more affordable, working toward universal, low-cost child care for families.
View position & sources → - Tim WalzStated position
Championed providing free breakfast and lunch to every Minnesota student, framing it as a top investment for the state.
View position & sources → - Elizabeth WarrenStated position
Pass the Child Care for Every Community Act to guarantee affordable child care for every family, capping costs so that half of families pay no more than $10 a day.
View position & sources → - Joe LombardoStated position
Submit legislation to create an Office of School Choice within the Nevada Department of Education.
View position & sources → - Joe LombardoStated position
Provide $2 billion in new K-12 education funding in the budget, an increase of more than 22 percent over the prior biennium.
View position & sources → - Joe LombardoStated position
Impose a new five-year rule requiring schools to improve literacy scores and preventing students who are not reading-proficient from advancing beyond third grade until they reach grade level.
View position & sources → - Sarah Huckabee SandersStated position
Vowed to make education reform the hallmark of her administration, which became the LEARNS Act (Act 237 of 2023).
View position & sources → - JB PritzkerStated position
Committed to making public college tuition free for every working-class Illinois family.
View position & sources → - JB PritzkerStated position
Pledged to make preschool available to every family in Illinois, expanding access to universal pre-kindergarten statewide.
View position & sources → - JB PritzkerStated position
Pledged to eliminate child care deserts and expand child care options across the state.
View position & sources → - Maura HealeyStated position
Create and fund a new program, MassReconnect, in her first budget to offer free community college to students over age 25.
View position & sources → - Maura HealeyStated position
Pass child care legislation in line with the Common Start proposal so that every family pays what they can afford for child care.
View position & sources → - Mike JohnsonStated position
I will pass the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act to prohibit the use of federal funds for any sexually-oriented program, event, or literature for young children.
View position & sources → - Joe BidenStated position
Forgive all undergraduate tuition-related federal student debt from two- and four-year public colleges and universities and private HBCUs and MSIs for debt-holders earning up to $125,000.
View position & sources → - Joni ErnstStated position
During her 2014 Senate campaign, committed to closing the federal Department of Education, arguing children are better educated when responsibility rests with the states.
View position & sources →