Where Bob Dole Stands on K-12 Education

Americans Are Spending More on Education and Getting Less

Bob Dole is a strong believer in America's public education system. He, his wife and his daughter were educated in public schools. But today, too many public schools have been taken over by an education monopoly that fails to give our children the skills they need to compete in our global economy.



Two out of every three 17-year-olds do not know that World War II was fought sometime between 1900 and 1950, according to a study by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The study also reports that 20 percent of high school seniors are functionally illiterate.



Just throwing money at the problem is not the answer. In the past 30 years, per-pupil spending on education has doubled, yet average SAT scores have dropped over 50 points.



Bob Dole Will Empower Low- and Middle-Income Parents With School Choice

As President, Bob Dole will create Opportunity Scholarships for Children, a federal, state and local effort to give four million low- and middle-income families the ability to select the best schools for their children.

Opportunity Scholarships for Children will be funded annually with $2.5 billion in federal funds. Four-year competitive grants will be awarded to children from low- and middle-income families in up to 15 states, including the District of Columbia. States will match the federal contribution.

Opportunity Scholarships will be at least $1,000 for kindergarten and grade school students and at least $1,500 for high school students. These scholarships could be larger with the added support from non-federal sources.

Families can use these scholarships to send their children to any lawfully operating school -- public, private or religious -- that chooses to participate. Scholarship funds will be used to pay tuition, school fees and other reasonable expenses.

This program will help fund scholarships for more than four million children -- nearly 10 percent of all children in elementary and secondary schools.

This new $2.5 billion federal commitment to America's children is budget neutral and will not increase the federal deficit. The funding offsets include reducing the Department of Education overhead, bureaucracy and wasteful spending.



Bill Clinton Fights for His Political Supporters -- Not Our Children

Bill Clinton's opposes school choice because he puts the interests of the educational establishment -- and of his party's political contributors -- above the interests of our children. Clinton has continually fought school choice because he and his Democratic colleagues received $2.2 million from the movement's biggest opponent -- the National Education Association (NEA) -- during the 1992 campaign. That is 17 times more money than they gave to Republicans.



In an address to the NEA before the election, Bill Clinton said that if he became President, "you will be my partners. I won't [make] education decisions that you're not a part of making. I won't forget the people that brought me to the White House."



Since then, Bill Clinton has done everything in his power to kill the school choice movement. Even when Bob Dole tried to pass a modest school-choice bill for the District of Columbia to help low-income families send their children to decent schools, Bill Clinton opposed it. Meanwhile, he sends his daughter to one of the most expensive private schools in Washington.



Bill Clinton is on the side of education's providers -- the teacher's unions, the bureaucrats and everyone else who wants to fight for the status quo. Bob Dole is on the side of education consumers -- the parents and the children.



A Better America

In Bob Dole's America, low- and middle-income parents will be given a real choice in education so that all American children have an equal opportunity to achieve their dreams.

More opportunities. Smaller government. Stronger and safer families

Homepage | Register | Volunteers | Donations

About the Team | Dole Interactive | Newsroom | The Dole Agenda | On the Campaign Trail | Get Involved

Originally Paid for by Dole Kemp '96 Campaign Committee

Original Web Design by Presage Internet Campaigns

To Learn more about Bob Dole, Please Visit the Dole Institute