Cleveland
Some big-name Republicans in education didn’t make the trip to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, who has a long and serious record on K-12 policy, isn’t here. Neither, for that matter is his brother, former President George W. Bush, an architect of the No Child Left Behind Act.
Also missing from the convention:
Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., the chairman of the House education committee, and an author of the Every Student Succeeds Act. (Kline, who is retiring at the end of this year, told me that he is “probably” voting for Trump, in part because he thinks the presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, would continue some of his least favorite Obama administration policies.)
And we’re told handful of elected GOP state education chiefs are also skipping the convention, including Diane Douglas of Arizona, Jillian Balow of Wyoming, Richard Woods of Georgia, and Sherri Ybarra of Idaho.
We haven’t asked any of these folks their reasons for staying home, so their absence may not have anything to do with their feelings about Trump, either pro or con.