I was pleasantly surprised that the Democratic party's education plank veered sharply away from the education reform narrative under President Barack Obama and his basketball playing buddy Arnie Duncan. The Democratic party education agenda originally mirrored the destructive Obama agenda but the final education plank was far different, It included:
- Support for the traditional neighborhood public schools
- Allowing parents to "opt out" their children from high-stakes tests.
- Eliminate the use of those tests to evaluate teachers.
- Charters should not destabilize or replace traditional schools.
- Only high quality public charter schools should be funded.
- Charters must represent the demographics of the community.
Sounds good right? Unfortunately, there is a problem, the Democratic platform is not the President's platform and Hillary Clinton, despite her friendship with AFT President Randi Weingarten is very close to many hedge fund managers who are the source of funding for the for profit charter schools and some of her closest advisers are part of the education reform movement and believe in teacher accountability by high-stakes testing. What would Hillary do as President? The answer is unknown.
The real problem is that Hillary Clinton is considered dishonest and untrustworthy by 67% of the voters and she and her husband has way too much baggage to dismiss. Be it her email issue, Benghazi, her secret paid speeches to Goldman Sacks, and of course her skirt-chasing husband. While she may not be a crook as Donald Trump likes to say, it certainly appears she believes she is entitled to do as she pleases and the rules don't apply to her. That's why what she would do as President when it comes to education policy is unknown.
Hopefully, Hillary's friendship with Randi Weingarten and the blowback the Obama administration has received as parents and even States rebelled against the Obama imposed high-stakes Common Core tests which forced the resignation of the Education Secretary, will result in the Democratic party's education plank to become policy. Only time will tell, assuming Hillary is the new President .