Rick Santorum on Education Republican Jr Senator (PA); 2012 presidential frontrunner

Common sense instead of Common Core

Reform education; only 30% get college degrees

Santorum painted a picture of the country in which 70% of Americans lack college degrees. Maybe they're struggling with family breakdown or drug abuse, he said, but they still want to work hard and better themselves--they just have holes in their boats.

Supporting America's workers starts with education reform, Santorum said. Then it means reforming welfare--and that includes corporate welfare, he added.

"You want to show that you're relating to the folks who are working in America? Then we have to go out and prove it." Santorum received huge applause for decrying the Common Core and touting his last go-around in Iowa.

Governments running our local schools is a bad idea

The first step to recognize that expecting the federal or even state governments to run our local schools is a bad idea. The system of compulsory public education in America is a relic on industrialization that swept the country at the end of the nineteenth century.

Government is the problem here. Bureaucracies don't care about the customer; they are focused on making and following rules. Success is determined by whether the process was strictly followed, not by the result.

Schools with collective bargaining are worse for students

The link is pretty clear. Our schools as a whole are doing poorly, but school systems with collective bargaining tend to do far worse.

The Bible is at the heart of Western civilization

Only place to start is the public schools. They're supposed to belong to us, the people, but we've let activist courts, liberal politicians, and bureaucrats turn them into hostile territory. What is at the heart of Western civilization and at the heart of the American project? The Bible, of course. Yet it is forbidden to teach from it in most public schools in the land.

Common Core is another version of mass-produced education

Karen and I have seven children, and we can tell you that each one has different interests, different needs, and different ways of learning. If they all went to the same public school, you'd see wildly different results. Committed parents know better than any bureaucrat what is best for their children.

2006: college for all; 2012: college for all is snobbish

But the last time Santorum ran for public office, he was right there with Obama, running on his promise to make college more accessible to all Pennsylvanians. On Santorum's 2006 Senate campaign website is his "Commitment to Higher Education:"

"In addition to Rick's support of ensuring that primary and secondary schools in Pennsylvania are equipped for success, he is equally committed to ensuring the every Pennsylvanian has access to higher education. Rick Santorum has supported legislative solutions that provide loans, grants, and tax incentives to make higher education more accessible and affordable."

I should not have voted for No Child Left Behind

PAUL: Well, they should be abandoned if you're not telling the truth. But if you're exposing a voting record I think it's quite proper. There was one ad that we used against Sen. Santorum, and I only had one problem, is I couldn't get all the things in I wanted to say in one minute. We mentioned No Child Left Behind; he supported raising the national debt; he voted for prescription drug programs; he voted against right-to-work.

SANTORUM: Rep. Paul has been quoting a lot of left-wing organizations. With respect to some of the votes that they elicit, I admit, I'm a strong conservative, but I'm not perfect. President Bush's signature initiative of No Child Left Behind, I voted for it, I shouldn't have. It was something that I said, and I will say publicly, that we should repeal. In fact, we should repeal all of federal government's role in primary and secondary education, and if you give me the opportunity, I'll do that.

Our education system doesn't serve the customer

JOHNSON: I am going to promise to advocate the abolishment of the federal Department of Education.

SANTORUM: 20 years ago, the federal contribution to education was 3%. It's now at 11%, and our schools are doing worse. It's because the federal government's meddling. The bottom-line problem is that the education system doesn't serve the customer of the education system. And who's the customer? The parents, because it's the parents' responsibility to educate their children--from the moment they were born, they began the education of their children. At some point, the government has convinced parents that it's no longer their responsibility. They force them, in many respects, to turn their children over to the public education system and wrest control from them and block them out of participation of that. That has to change or education will not improve in this country.

2001: Keep Department of Education; 2012: it's unnecessary

However, he indicated in that questionnaire that he wanted "national standards" from the federal government and he didn't support eliminating the Department of Education. This bears itself out in his record. Santorum supported No Child Left Behind in 2001, which greatly expanded Washington's control over education.

Santorum now appears to have reversed course. In that same 2011 interview, Santorum said, "Well, the Department of Education is, in my opinion, unnecessary and overseeing a state bureaucracy which is already a big problem."

While Santorum's school choice goals move in the right direction, he undermines that with support for too much federal government control.

One-time $500 contribution to every low-income child

Rich people already have school choice; give it to the poor

School choice today takes two forms. The most obvious form is the choice exercised by those who can afford to pay the cost of private school.

Second, there's an affordable from of school choice, which happens every day in every community in America. It's called MOVING.

So we've got residential school choice already. And you know what? The same hysterical criticisms made by those against making school choice viable for low-income families already apply to residential school choice. It creams off the best students! More resources go to school that are already better!

So we have plenty of school choice today already. But it's inefficient and unfair. It's disruptive and costly to move. And it's inequitable. Low-income families can't move, so they are stuck; their children are stuck. We must empower ALL our children with scholarships if we are to achieve common good.

1990s: School uniforms happen to be a good idea

School uniforms. They happen to be a good idea, but they're not the responsibility of the president. Yet as a politician I have to shake my head in wonderment at the sheer political artistry of such a move. It cost Bill Clinton nothing; there was no changes that this "campaign" would go anywhere. Yet by loudly trumpeting his interest in school uniforms, Pres. Clinton was able to portray himself as someone who got it when it came to questions of America's moral health.

Family, religion, and schools: most fundamental institutions

Schools [are one of] the most fundamental institution of society for three reasons.
1. Like the family, schools are directly involved in the raising of children, which is always the central task of any society.
2. Because it is impossible to raise a child in a genuinely value-neutral way, schools are--like churches--value-transmitting institutions.
3. Schools are enormous generators of social capital, bringing parents, families, and whole communities together in a common endeavor.

Comprehensive sex ed has no impact on pregnancy or STD rates

But studies show that we can help young people make the healthy choice to delay sexual activity--preferably until marriage, but at least until adulthood. An analysis revealed that adolescent girls who signed a virginity pledge were 40% less likely to have child out of wedlock than girls who did not sign a pledge.

Yet in this country, we continue to pour millions more dollars into comprehensive sex ed, which "protects" against the "effects" of UNHEALTHY behavior, rather than promoting virtue, which will lead to HEALTHY behavior.

Home-schooled six children with wife Karen

We didn't set out with any grand plan for homeschooling. It just happened rather naturally, when we couldn't find a kindergarten for our oldest child that we were happy with. Eventually, we took the same approach with all our children. But we did it one year at a time, each year making a decision as to what was the best course for each child.

The greatest thing about homeschooling is that, though it's hard and stressful at times, you develop this amazingly close relationship with your kids.

Multiculturalism insists we teach about comic books

Multiculturalism would not be so destructive if it limited itself to opening up the canon of great books to Eastern masterpieces. However, its relativist premise also rejected the distinction between high culture and low culture. According to the postmodern theory that underwrote multiculturalism, the difference between a great book and an ordinary book is merely the result of an exercise of power by the establishment culture. The canon of great books was rejected as an ideological prop for "dead white European males," as the saying went. The latest mystery novels and even comic books were just as worthy of study as Tolstoy or Shakespeare.

Expose kids to legitimate debate of evolution & creationism

"Anyone who expresses anything other than the dominant worldview is shunned and booted from the academy," Santorum said in an interview. "My reading of the science is there's a legitimate debate. My feeling is let the debate be had."

Discovery Institute raised money for "Unlocking the Mystery of Life," a DVD shown on PBS stations. The institute has sponsored opinion polls and underwrites research for books sold in secular and Christian bookstores.

Teach about disagreements in biological evolution theories

1. Good science education should prepare students to distinguish the data or testable theories of science from philosophical or religious claims that are made in the name of science; and
2. Where biological evolution is taught, the curriculum should help students to understand why this subject generates so much continuing controversy, and should prepare the students to be informed participants in public discussions regarding the subject.

Kids are trapped without choice in the public schools

More teachers & more funding just means more of the same

Voted NO on $52M for "21st century community learning centers".

Voted NO on $5B for grants to local educational agencies.

• $2.5 billion for targeting grants to local educational agencies
• $2.5 billion for education finance incentive grants

Voted NO on shifting $11B from corporate tax loopholes to education.

• Restore education program cuts slated for vocational education, adult education, GEAR UP, and TRIO.
• Increase the maximum Pell Grant scholarship to $4,500 immediately.
• Increases future math and science teacher student loan forgiveness to $23,000.
• Pay for the education funding by closing $10.8 billion in corporate tax loopholes.

Voted NO on funding smaller classes instead of private tutors.

Voted NO on funding student testing instead of private tutors.

Voted NO on spending $448B of tax cut on education & debt reduction.

Voted YES on Educational Savings Accounts.

Voted YES on allowing more flexibility in federal school rules.

Voted YES on education savings accounts.

Voted YES on school vouchers in DC.

Voted YES on $75M for abstinence education.

Voted YES on giving federal aid only to schools allowing voluntary prayer.

Rated 27% by the NEA, indicating anti-public education votes.

The National Education Association has a long, proud history as the nation's leading organization committed to advancing the cause of public education. Founded in 1857 "to elevate the character and advance the interests of the profession of teaching and to promote the cause of popular education in the United States," the NEA has remained constant in its commitment to its original mission as evidenced by the current mission statement:

To fulfill the promise of a democratic society, the National Education Association shall promote the cause of quality public education and advance the profession of education; expand the rights and further the interest of educational employees; and advocate human, civil, and economic rights for all.

Make employee educational assistance tax-deductible.

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to restore and make permanent the income tax exclusion of amounts paid under employer-provided educational assistance programs for employees.