Education issues have been less prominent this election cycle, even though both major candidates have big ideas about how the K-12 and college systems should work.
From student loans to transgender rights, if Vice President Harris and former President Trump are elected, America's students, teachers, and parents will see very different, and sometimes directly opposing, proposals.
Here are the top five education fields with two different candidates.
student loan
More than 45 million Americans currently carry billions of dollars in student loan debt.
Under President Harris' administration, borrowers will see a continuation of student loan initiatives begun under the Biden administration, including the new Savings for a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan and the president's Plan B student debt relief initiative currently underway. and will be defended. Negotiated rule-making process.
The Biden-Harris administration has forgiven more student loans than any previous president, recently forgiving loans for 60,000 public employees.
“Before President Biden and I took office, only 7,000 people received public service loan forgiveness. We fixed the program and now 100 people, from firefighters and nurses to military personnel and teachers, received public service loan forgiveness. More than 10,000 public servants have had their student loans forgiven,” Harris said on social platform X on Friday.
He will likely face tremendous pressure from the left to enact some form of universal debt forgiveness, but President Biden's efforts along these lines have floundered under legal challenges.
President Trump, who has been a vocal critic of the White House's efforts, is likely to be less supportive of student debt relief after doing little on the issue during his previous presidency. He is likely to back the government from the SAVE scheme, which aims to lower monthly payments and provide debt relief for some borrowers.
school selection
School choice has become an increasingly popular policy in Republican-led states and within the national party.
President Trump recently said at a campaign event that school choice is a “civil rights issue of our time.”
He hinted at universal school choice policies, adopting language used by the movement in states that offer education savings accounts for parents who want to homeschool or send their children to private schools.
“I want federal education dollars to follow students, not prop up a bloated, radical bureaucracy in Washington, D.C.,” Trump said in Milwaukee.
Harris didn't say much about school choice, but Democrats actively opposed the proposal, arguing it would take funding away from public schools and ultimately weaken them.
transgender rights
Progress on transgender student rights could vary widely between the two presidents.
Trump previously said he would rescind Biden's expanded definition of Title IX, which includes gender identity and sexual orientation, on his first day in office. Expanding the definition would allow transgender students to use the restrooms and locker rooms of their choice, but has been opposed by Republican states.
Trump also wants Congress to target gender-affirming care and supported the idea of punishing teachers “if they suggest to a child that they could be trapped in the wrong body.”
Harris has been a vocal supporter of transgender rights. She didn't talk much about the issue during her campaign, but she has a track record of advocacy, and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, governs a state known for its “trans refugee” population.
“If you watch sporting events right now, you'll see that Donald Trump's closing arguments demonize people for who they are. They try to claim that it's about access, a clean environment, manufacturing jobs, and keeping local hospitals open. They spend millions of dollars in advertising demonizing people who are just trying to live their lives. ,” Walz said in a recent podcast appearance.
Transgender rights are also the subject of a major case before the Supreme Court this session, which will determine the legality of a Tennessee law that prohibits minors from receiving gender-affirming care. This incident could have a major impact on medical care for transgender children across the country.
Ministry of Education
The fate of the Federal Ministry of Education itself may be at stake after the election.
President Trump has repeatedly threatened to abolish the Education Department, arguing that it creates inefficiencies in government and that schools are best left to state and local governments.
“I always say, I'm dying to get back to this job. We will eventually abolish the Federal Department of Education,” he told the rally.
The conservative platform for the president-elect, Project 2025, which Trump has denied any involvement with, laid out the basis for how the government would function without the department.
This platform essentially moves that workload to other federal agencies or states.
But Trump campaigned to abolish the department in 2016, even before he took office, and there has been little concerted effort from the Oval Office to do so.
Curriculum review
Curriculum is largely left up to states and individual schools, but President Trump has threatened to change that.
Back in March, he announced funding for schools that teach concepts such as “critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other racial, sexual, and political content that is inappropriate for children.” He said that he would reduce the
Harris has not called for an overhaul of the national curriculum, and her administration has criticized efforts by Republican states to block courses such as AP African American Studies.
The Democratic Party's platform calls for uplifting low-income schools and universal preschool, but there is little discussion about limits on school curriculum.
“Democrats believe that every child in America should have access to high-quality early childhood education programs. We will work with states to provide preschool to every 3- and 4-year-old. , expand Head Start and Early Head Start,” the platform states.
