The first presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump was both exactly what you expected and a bizarre evening difficult to fully comprehend.
On Tuesday, both candidates faced each other (and met) for the first time, following President Joe Biden’s decision to end his campaign for reelection in July. The debate took place at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia without an in-studio audience and with some light fact-checking live from the moderators, ABC News’ David Muir and Linsey Davis. On that front, they had their work cut out for them.
During the 90-minute debate, Trump tossed out a slew of conspiracy theories and flat-out lies, including that noncitizens are being encouraged and helped to vote, that Haitian immigrants are stealing and eating pets in Ohio, and that either the governor of Virginia or the governor of West Virginia (he cited both at different points) were committing infanticide.
Unfortunately, the candidates were not asked about their education stances. But history and current events provide our answers on where both Harris and Trump stand on matters of public education.
In office, Trump outsourced his education policy to his education secretary, Betsy DeVos, whose primary goal in her four-year tenure was the constant disparagement of public schools to support her true passion: privatizing those schools.
Compare that with the record of the Biden-Harris Administration, which has made record investments in public education to make up ground lost under Trump and DeVos. That record includes over $136.6 billion in targeted student loan relief to more than 3.7 million borrowers, despite resistance in the courts, as well as the CHIPS and Science Act, which has invested in STEM education and experiential learning.
Delegates at the AFT national convention in Houston in July 2024 greet Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Today, we face a choice between two very different visions for our nation: one focused on the future and the other focused on the past. And we are fighting for the future.
And in our vision of the future, we see a place where every person has the opportunity not just to get by but to get ahead — a future where no child has to grow up in poverty, where every senior can retire with dignity, and where every worker has the freedom to join a union.
We see a future with affordable health care, affordable childcare, and paid leave — not for some, but for all.
We see a future where every student has the support and the resources they need to thrive and a future where no teacher has to struggle with the burden of student loan debt.”
Vice President Kamala Harris speaking to AFT convention delegates in July 2024
What’s past is prologue, as your favorite high school English teacher surely noted. And the two candidates’ deeds in office and words on the campaign trail make clear the distinct differences in their vision for our country and its future.
“Trump is fighting for himself. He’s flailing, and we watched him melt down during this debate,” said Randi Weingarten, AFT president, in a statement after the debate. “The man who once proposed injecting disinfectant as a COVID-19 treatment whined that he didn’t get enough credit for his response to the pandemic. He repeated his delusions about winning the 2020 election. He used the praise of a dictator, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, as a character reference. He claimed the nation is ‘dying.’”
Of Harris, Weingarten reiterated the reasons that AFT was the first union to endorse her: “Harris knows the path to economic opportunity is education. She will invest in great public schools, including pathways to great jobs, while increasing access to housing and affordable health care, taking on price gouging, and strengthening Social Security and Medicare. She has a proud history of fighting for fair wages, unions, and a strong middle class.”
Visit aftvotes.org to get involved in our union’s national efforts to turn out voters this November. For down-ballot races here in Texas, find Texas AFT COPE endorsements and volunteer opportunities at vote.texasaft.org.