Rudy Giuliani (R) On Education
Ledyard King / USA Today
On No Child Left Behind law
Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani has not explicitly criticized the education standards law known as No Child Left Behind. Signed by President Bush in 2002, the law requires every state to test students annually. Schools failing to make academic progress over several years could be closed or have their faculty replaced.
Giuliani talks about giving parents more control over decisions affecting their children’s education, instead of giving it all to the federal and state agencies that are central to the law’s structure. “My mother did a much better job with my education than a government bureaucrat could do,” he said on his campaign website.
On making college affordable
Giuliani doesn’t offer many specifics, except to say he wants the competitive marketplace to sort things out. “Give people more of the decision-making about education and schools will become more competitive,” he told Scholastic News Online in September 2007 during a stop in Houston.
Other education priorities
Giuliani’s mantra on the campaign trail is to talk about school choice, such as more charter schools and vouchers for low-income families to pay for tuition at private schools. He has said repeatedly that the federal government should not be telling local schools what to do.
