Choice and Teacher Quality Top McCain’s Education Agenda

Cincinnati

Sen. John McCain of Arizona pledged today to expand school choice programs and direct federal resources to alternative teacher-certification programs. As president, he said he would favor school-level funding for teacher merit pay, and make it easier for parents of students in struggling schools to gain access to tutoring services.

The speech to the annual meeting of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, offered the most detailed picture yet of the direction that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee would take federal K-12 education policy if he is elected to the White House. Sen. McCain had generally sidestepped the subject in favor of foreign policy and other issues that he has been more closely identified with throughout his Senate career.

“If I am elected president, school choice for all who want it, an expansion of opportunity scholarships, and alternative certification for teachers will all be part of a serious agenda of education...