While the topic of education may be taking a backseat to other important issues on the presidential campaign trail, it’s getting some prominent attention in candidates’ television ads. Here are a couple of the latest:

Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, who recently got the endorsement of the New Hampshire affiliate of the National Education Association in this early-voting state, talks of a “new beginning” and bashes the No Child Left Behind Act as an “unfunded mandate” that’s been “difficult for so many.” The ad started running yesterday in Iowa and New Hampshire.

And in this one, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Republican, who nabbed the Republican endorsement of the New Hampshire-NEA, talks about giving children a “better America.” The ad features a screen-shot listing “better schools” and “higher test scores” (I’m guessing he’s referring to results from his time as Arkansas governor). The ad started airing today in the early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.