The two major presidential candidates have not made education a central issue throughout the campaign, but there are key differences between the two candidates.

Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump has focused on “culture war” issues and repeatedly threatened to take away funding from school districts he disagrees with. Democratic candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris has been an outspoken supporter of public schools and is running on a platform that includes an expansion of free, universal preschool for 4-year-olds.

Here’s a look at what both presidential candidates have said about education and what it might mean for New Jersey schools.

U.S. Department of Education

Trump has said he wants to shut down the U.S. Department of Education, which oversees a nearly $80 billion budget spanning from pre-K to higher education. This decision, however, belongs to Congress, which would be unlikely to approve it without Republican control of both chambers. Even then, it may not garner enough support. The U.S. Department of Education does not directly oversee individual school districts, but districts are required to meet certain requirements in order to tap into federal funds, such as those for students with disabilities and schools in low-income areas.

In comparison, Harris said she plans to keep the Department of Education in her speech at the Democratic National Convention. The department’s largest federal grant program for K-12 schools sends additional money to schools with high populations of low-income students and pays for services for students with disabilities.

In an interview with Elon Musk on X, formerly known as Twitter, Trump said he wants to move education back to the states. In New Jersey, most funding for public schools is raised locally or comes from the state, and school districts already have a lot of control over their operations.

Trump has said the federal agency allows schools to “indoctrinate America’s youth.” The Republican Party’s 2024 platform calls for revoking funding for any school “pushing critical race theory, radical gender ideology, and any other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content.”

School choice

Trump supports universal school choice, which involves allowing families to use public money to pay for private school. In his first term, he appointed Betsy Devos, a proponent of school choice, to run the department.
Trump’s campaign website calls for the adoption of a “Parental Bill of Rights,” which includes curriculum transparency and universal school choice.

Harris has not commented much on school choice during the campaign, but the Democratic Party’s 2024 platform says, “We oppose the use of private-school vouchers, tuition tax credits, opportunity scholarships, and other schemes that divert taxpayer-funded resources away from public education.”

A group of mostly Democratic state lawmakers introduced a tuition tax credit bill during the current legislative session that was squashed after intense pushback from education stakeholder groups. After the bill was pulled, its lead sponsors said they are open to continuing the conversation about school choice without legislation on the table.

Title IX

Title IX is a federal law that protects people from discrimination based on sex in federally funded K-12 schools, colleges and universities. It has given women athletes the right to equal opportunity in sports and includes rules for how schools should handle sexual harassment and assault complaints.

The Biden-Harris administration recently implemented new regulations that clearly protect people from discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. Before Biden took office, the Trump administration’s interpretation of the rule did not clearly include protections for transgender students.

In New Jersey, students have protections from discrimination based on gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation. The state’s harassment, intimidation and bullying law is also among the nation’s strongest and protects students based on any distinguishing characteristic. It will continue to protect LGBTQ+ students in the state even if Trump rewrites the regulations.

Trump has said that if he is elected, he would roll back protections for transgender students “on day one,” on the talk radio show “Kayal and Company.” Trump has also said he plans to ban transgender student-athletes from competing on the team that aligns with their gender identity.

Pre-K expansion

The Democrats’ 2024 platform includes support for free, universal preschool for 4-year-olds. Expanding universal, free preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds is already a priority in New Jersey, where the state has added 14,000 preschool seats under Gov. Phil Murphy.

The Biden-Harris administration has been supportive of Head Start, a federally-funded program that provides child care and early education to children from low-income families. At the Democratic National Convention, Harris said, “We are not going to let him end programs like Head Start that provide preschool and child care for our children.”

Harris’s policy plan posted on her website includes “affordable, high-quality child care and preschool.”

Trump himself has not called for an end to Head Start, but Project 2025, a conservative policy agenda drafted by many former Trump administration advisers, recommends eliminating it entirely. Trump said he had not read the plan nor does he want to during the Sept. 10 presidential debate.