State Candidates Fine-Tune School Rhetoric for Fall Runs

By John Gehring

Candidates for governor will be sharpening education platforms on the campaign trail in the coming months, as voters in more than half the states prepare to go to the polls this year to choose new state executives.

Well into the primary season, the elections, including those in the populous states of California, Texas and Florida, are unfolding against a backdrop of new federal education legislation that asks more of students and schools at a time when state budget deficits threaten to compromise ambitious education agendas.

In all, 36 states will elect governors in November. Of those, at least 20 will see a change in their top elected officials; in the other 16, incumbents are...