FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Democrats for Education Reform on the GOP’s Divisive 2016 Party Platform
Trump’s Republican Party plans to leave students with an education “as worthless as a degree from Trump University”
Washington, DC – Yesterday, the Republican Party released its official 2016 Party Platform at the Republican National Convention, currently underway in Cleveland, Ohio.
DFER President Shavar Jeffries, responded to the Republican Party Platform, saying:
“It’s clear that the GOP has surrendered its Party and now its Platform to Donald Trump and his divisive, small-minded, and at times hateful vision for America. Rather than seeking to unite our country and fight for our children’s futures, Republicans have chosen to forego meaningful policy proposals – both in education and across the board – in favor of fear mongering and pandering to the most extreme elements of their base.
“Republicans can’t quite make up their minds on key education issues. In its preamble, the Republican platform supports “returning to the people and the states the control that belongs to them” and then proceeds to issue a series of edicts to those same states and people about education standards, curricula, religion, and sexuality.
“Should states pick their own education standards? Not according to the Republican platform. Only those states that have repealed Common Core earn the GOP’s “congratulations.”
“Should local communities and educators select their own curricula? Not if their states follow the Republican Party’s platform, which urges “state legislatures to offer the Bible in a literature curriculum as an elective in America’s high schools.”
“Can communities choose how to educate students about health and preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases? Only if they want to risk disapproval of a Republican Party that calls for “replacing ‘family planning’ programs for teens with sexual risk avoidance education that sets abstinence until marriage as the responsible and respected standard of behavior.” For a party that claims to be conservative, this platform dictates rules for how individuals should behave in all arenas of their life – private and public.
“How about LGBTQ rights, an issue that unites voters across the political spectrum? Don’t expect any help from the Republican platform. Weirdly, the Platform applauds Title IX for curtailing sexual discrimination in education and then turns around and indicts President Obama for enforcing it to “impose a social and cultural revolution upon the American people by wrongly redefining sex discrimination to include sexual orientation or other categories.”
“The platform is similarly jumbled, confused, and contradictory when it comes to the federal role in education. Again, the platform praises local control of education and eschews the federal role repeatedly. And then comes this: “The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has opened up unprecedented opportunities for many students. Congressional Republicans will lead in its reauthorization…”
“We couldn’t agree more about the importance of IDEA. It is, however, the biggest override of state and local control of K-12 education in history and rightly so. Before IDEA, schools could and, in massive numbers did, refuse to serve students with disabilities. Because of IDEA, every student with a disability is entitled to a “free and appropriate public education.” Shouldn’t federal and state government provide those same rights to children from low-income families, to students of color, and to others shortchanged by our current system?
“The platform takes a similar 180 degree turn when it comes to the role of private companies and federal student aid in postsecondary education. In one part of the platform, the GOP declares that “Cronyism is inherent in the progressive vision of the administrative state. When government uses taxpayer funding and resources to give special advantages to private companies, it distorts the free market and erodes public trust in our political system. It multiplies opportunities for corruption and favoritism. It is the enemy of reform in education, the workplace, and healthcare.””
“And yet later on, the GOP declares: “The federal government should not be in the business of originating student loans. In order to bring down college costs and give students access to a multitude of financing options, private sector participation in student financing should be restored.”
“That’s code for calling for a return to the Sallie Mae-led student loan system where taxpayers guarantee big banks huge profits on student loans and guarantee the banks against the risk of default. Since President Obama and Congressional Democrats ended corporate welfare in the federal student loan origination business, tens of billions have been saved and plowed instead into bigger Pell Grants and cheaper loans for millions of students and families.
“The Republican platform would turn back the clock to a meaner, more corrupt, and more dangerous America. Donald Trump’s takeover of the Republican party must be rejected.”
Below are a few of the worst excerpts from the Republican Party’s Platform on education:
In which the Republican Party calls for the elimination of the United States Department of Education:
“That is why American education has, for the last several decades, been the focus of constant controversy, as centralizing forces from outside the family and community have sought to remake education in order to remake America. They have done immense damage. The federal government should not be a partner in that effort, as the Constitution gives it no role in education.”
In which the Republican Party doesn’t think our K-12 public schoolchildren are worth investing in:
“In sum…enormous amounts of money are being spent for K-12 public education with overall results that do not justify that spending level.”
In which the Republican Party abandons standards and accountability in our schools, which help safeguard our most vulnerable students – and in which the GOP thinks Common Core is something to be “repealed”:
“We likewise repeat our longstanding opposition to the imposition of national standards and assessments, encourage the parents and educators who are implementing alternatives to Common Core, and congratulate the states which have successfully repealed it.”
In which the Republican Party puts corporate welfare and big banks ahead of college affordability for hard-working American families:
“The federal government should not be in the business of originating student loans. In order to bring down college costs and give students access to a multitude of financing options, private sector participation in student financing should be restored.”
In which the Republican Party actively seeks to deny children access to the bathrooms and facilities of the gender with which they identify:
“Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. It affirmed that “no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” That language opened up for girls and women a world of opportunities that had too often been denied to them. That same provision of law is now being used by bureaucrats — and by the current President of the United States — to impose a social and cultural revolution upon the American people by wrongly redefining sex discrimination to include sexual orientation or other categories.”
In which the small-government Republican Party takes a “Big Brother” approach to reproductive rights and sexual education:
“We renew our call for replacing “family planning” programs for teens with sexual risk avoidance education that sets abstinence until marriage as the responsible and respected standard of behavior.”
In which the Republican Party fails to understand the division of church and state:
“A good understanding of the Bible being indispensable for the development of an educated citizenry, we encourage state legislatures to offer the Bible in a literature curriculum as an elective in America’s high school.”
###
Contact: press@dfer.org