On Tuesday, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) are set to participate in the vice presidential debate, five weeks ahead of the election. Invest in Education Coalition, a pro-school choice group with an emphasis on empowering parents, is sending out a release on Monday to highlight the differences between the candidates on school choice and education. Townhall was granted an exclusive sneak peek.
Not only does the press release point out that there is a "stark contrast" between the candidates when it comes to school choice, but it also warns that Walz will be a "disaster" for parents of K-12 students.
Vance supports school choice legislation and is a cosponsor of the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA). Invest in Education praised the senator for his role in education and as a cosponsor of the bill when he was first announced as former and potentially future President Donald Trump's running mate in July. The group is particularly supportive of ECCA.
Such a bill, as Invest in Education Coalition describes it, "is designed to expand access to school choice for children nationwide by funding K-12 scholarships through private donations that cover essential elements such as tuition, tutoring, education technology, and special needs services."
"School choice actually is necessary to give parents the ability to give their kids a good education," Vance shared during a "Fox & Friends" interview in late June, shortly before he was selected as Trump's running mate.
Meanwhile, Walz has referred to school choice programs as "schemes," as he did when criticizing a school choice bill that Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA) signed in January of last year. Walz also went with the oft-used, false narrative about Republicans "banning books" when speaking to Iowa Democrats on a podcast interview in August of last year ahead of an Iowa Republican fundraiser.
The governor is also not willing to compromise with Republicans in his state on education. Last month, The Washington Post put out a headline on how "Walz’s education record: Pro-union, covid cautious and big jump in funding," with the subheadline noting that "Opponents say he catered to the teachers’ union and focused on the wrong issues as test scores fell."
The report describes Walz as being even less open to negotiations than he once was, and someone who was even willing to shut down the state government over vouchers. Also, even The Washington Post had to correct a claim from the governor, who has made plenty of false claims before, and on a variety of issues.
The report includes plenty of damning details:
The 2019 state budget negotiations in Minnesota were tense, with a deadline looming, when the speaker of the House offered Gov. Tim Walz a suggestion for breaking the impasse.
They both knew that the Republicans’ top priority was to create a school voucher-type program that would direct tax dollars to help families pay for private schools. House Speaker Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, floated an idea: What if they offered the Republicans a pared-down version of the voucher plan, some sort of “fig leaf,” that could help them claim a symbolic victory in trade for big wins on the Democratic side? In the past, on other issues, Walz had been open to that kind of compromise, Hortman said.
This time, it was a “hard no.”
“It was like kind of ‘Over my dead body,’” she recalled in an interview. “He would have shut down state government if they insisted on vouchers.”
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During the chaotic 2020-2021 pandemic-rattled school year, Walz took a cautious approach toward school reopening that was largely in line with teachers, who were resisting a return to in-person learning, fearful of contracting covid. Critics say that as a result, Minnesota schools stayed closed far too long — longer than the typical state — inflicting lasting academic and social emotional damage on students.
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Walz’s sweeping agenda has been met with pushback from conservatives, who point to falling test scores to argue that he was focused on the wrong issues and catering to the teachers union.
Scores fell across the country during the pandemic, but in Minnesota, reading and, in particular, math scores fell more than the national average. In 2015 and 2017, the state’s fourth-grade math scores were 10 points higher than the average national score on the National Assessment of Educational Progress; in 2022, they were only four points higher. Eighth-grade math scores also fell faster than average, to their lowest level in three decades.
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As the budget deadline approached, Republican Paul Gazelka, the Senate majority leader at the time and one of Walz’s staunchest political opponents, continued to press his voucher plan but met unyielding resistance.
Hortman recalled that at a point during their closed-door talks, the governor replied, “You know I’m a member of Education Minnesota, right?” (He actually was no longer a member but had been as a teacher.)
Gazelka walked away frustrated.
“I was willing to give up a lot to get that, but it just didn’t happen,” Gazelka said. “We just weren’t asking that much, but that’s how passionate he was against any kind of education reform. He would never go against the teachers union.”
Other local outlets have also covered how Minnesota test scores have indeed fallen sharply after the pandemic.
Not only is school choice a popular issue, and one that has been bipartisan, but a poll from Real Clear Opinion Research found that 76 percent of voters say they are more likely to vote for a candidate who supports school choice. This includes 86 percent of Republicans, 77 percent of Democrats, and 67 percent of Independents. Eighty percent of black Americans are also more likely to vote for a pro-school choice candidate.
A statement from Anthony J. de Nicola, the chairman of Invest in Education Coalition, emphasized the differences between the vice presidential candidates. "American families deserve leadership in Washington that supports empowering parents and creating opportunities for every student regardless of zip code. The contrast could not be clearer: J.D. Vance supports parental choice and K-12 educational freedom, and Tim Walz does not," he said.
The debate between Vance and Walz is to take place at 9pm ET with CBS News.