Education

EDUCATION IS ONE of the most salient domestic issues in American politics. Americans generally agree that the primary purpose of the public education system is to provide students with the tools they need to become effective contributors to society. As such, taking steps to produce the best education system possible is a common theme in political campaigns. Education issues are relevant to federal, state, and local level politics and campaigns.

Because the U.S. Constitution makes no provision for education, the federal government bears limited responsibility for educating citizens. This constitutional arrangement makes individual states the principal providers of education for U.S. citizens; therefore, the states fund, develop, implement, and monitor public education. At the local level, school systems are charged with implementing the standards devised by state and federal officials.

State autonomy produces interstate variability in the quality of American public education. One source of these state differences is disparity in school funding. Local property taxes provide the preponderance of funding for public schools. During the 2004–05 school year, the federal government provided approximately 10 percent of educational funding. The remaining 90 percent was generated by state and local sources. The resources allocated to public schools are largely contingent upon local assets. Education issues have substantial currency for candidates because of their broad appeal within the electorate. Voters can relate to candidates who address issues pertinent to public schools. A large proportion of Americans have children who attend public schools, and many voters have been the beneficiaries of public education. Education issues are also politically valuable because citizens who are more likely to vote, as well as those who are the strongest party identifiers, are more likely to view education as an important issue.

The 1950s and 1960s produced numerous examples of education's prominence as an issue in American politics, and elections have generated intense debates concerning educational policies. In 1954, the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education Topeka ended segregation in American schools, producing one of the most controversial political issues of the era. American public schools provided the context for dismantling Jim Crow, the system of segregation that had been present in American life since the 19th century. For years following that decision, federal, state, and local level politicians engaged in passionate debates regarding equitable access to quality education. Such discourse contributed to the 1971 Supreme Court decision that upheld a system of bussing to promote racial integration in public schools. In 1962, the public education system became the context for a Supreme Court decision involving the separation of church and state. In Engel v. Vitale, the court decided that prayer sponsored by New York's public schools was unconstitutional.

Traditionally, education was an issue claimed by Democratic candidates, and voters tended to associate the Democratic Party with education policy. The high-profile acts of governmental intervention taken during the 1960s and 1970s to integrate public schools became closely associated with Democratic presidents John E Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. During the 1988 presidential election, the Democratic monopoly on education issues was contested. Republican nominee [Page 193]George H.W. Bush made a bold pledge to become the “education president.” Although, as Helmut Nor-poth and Bruce Buchanan note, people were more likely to assume that Michael Dukakis, the Democratic presidential nominee, had made the pledge, the Republican Party began to take a different approach to education issues. As such, modern campaigns feature candidates from both parties taking vocal positions on education issues.

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