President Trump’s administration has not only undermined the public education system at every turn, but also reneged on America’s fundamental promise of a high-quality, safe, equitable education for all, and turned the public education system into a vehicle to propagate cruelty and discrimination.



Put simply: Donald Trump has been the worst president for public education in modern American history. Even when President Trump is gone, and his cruel policies and underfunding of education are reversed, the reality is that America has much work ahead of it to deliver on the promise of equitable and accessible public education for everyone.



The next president needs to immediately undo the massive damage caused by Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos, while moving forward on new, innovative policies that bring America’s education system into the 21st century. Governor Jay Inslee’s “Ready for the Future” education plan will move America past the DeVos disaster and make new, record commitments to America’s public schools, students and teachers.



As governor, Jay Inslee has worked to meet two core values in education: those imparted to him while growing up in a family of educators, most notably his father Frank Inslee, and the Washington state constitution’s call to make “ample provision” for quality, equal education for all students the “paramount duty” of the state. Successes include:

Investing billions in K-12 education during Governor Inslee’s tenure.

Washington state saw the highest average increase in public school teacher pay of any state in the union in 2018-2019 - 31% — and increased the average teacher salary from $56,000 to $73,000.

Funding all-day kindergarten and reducing K-3 class sizes.

Provided free-and-low-cost public college to 110,000 Washingtonians from families in need through a college grant program that goes “farther than virtually any state.”

Expanding access to quality early childhood education for 48,000 children in Washington state.

As president, Jay Inslee will once again make the federal government a partner for states and communities, and the guarantor of justice and equity in our schools. He will meet the challenge of investing in education in the same way that he has in Washington state: by supporting local educators and communities with the resources they need to best educate all of the children they’re responsible for, investing in lifelong learning, prioritizing climate change throughout the education system, and making higher education affordable for everyone so that people can obtain the skills they need to pursue their dreams and work in the country’s fastest-growing fields. Here’s how he’ll do it.