Bobby Jindal recently announced that he’s running for president. The two-term governor of Louisiana is one of fourteen hopefuls in the increasingly crowded race for the GOP primary. He’s also the subject of the eighteenth installment of the Eduwatch 2016 series chronicling presidential candidates’ stances on education issues.
A lifelong Louisianian, Jindal has been involved in politics since the mid-nineties, when he worked for Governor Murphy Foster. He went on to represent the Bayou State’s First Congressional District for two terms in the House of Representatives, after which he returned to state politics to take Louisiana’s helm. In his long career, he’s had a lot to say about education. Here’s a sampling:
1. Common Core: “We want out of Common Core....We won't let the federal government take over Louisiana's education standards. We're very alarmed about choice and local control of curriculum being taken away from our parents and educators....Common Core's become a one-size-fits-all model that simply doesn't make sense for our state.” June 2014.
2. High Standards: “High standards for our students? Count me in. My dad was not happy with straight As. If my brother or I got a 95 percent, he wanted to know what happened on the other 5 percent.” April 2014.
3. Low-income students and school choice scholarships: “In Louisiana, we...believe every child deserves the opportunity to get a great education. That’s why we started a school choice program in 2008 in New Orleans and expanded it statewide in 2012. Low-income families with children in schools graded C, D, or F by the state are eligible to apply for a scholarship and send their children to schools of their choice.” September 2013.
4. Charter schools: “We reformed education, with nearly 100 percent charter schools in New Orleans. And now we have statewide school choice.” June 2015.
5. Teacher employment policies: “I’ve said this before, and I will say it again—teachers are the backbone of our education system....Having a highly effective teacher and the impact on a student cannot be emphasized enough....Our plan to empower teachers has new components for current and incoming teachers, but they all boil down to two very simple ideas—we are going to create a system that pays teachers for doing a good job instead of for the length of time they have been breathing, and we’re going to give districts the tools to recognize and keep the best teachers.” January 2012.
6. Local control: “[A]llowing the federal government to dictate education to states and local government? No thanks....I'm from the school that believes education is a matter best left for local control....We can have rigorous standards without giving control to the federal government.” April 2014.
7. Parents’ role: “Maybe a student will perform well in a traditional public school, or a charter school, or a virtual school, but the point is that parents should be able to decide, not bureaucrats in Baton Rouge or Washington.” September 2013.
8. Career and technical education: “To ensure our economy achieves its full potential, we need more of the technical training, certificate, and other programs that non-traditional institutions can help supply.” May 2014.
9. Free community college: “President Obama has increased our national debt by $7.5 trillion dollars and created a new entitlement program at a time when our current entitlement programs are going bankrupt....So of course, now he is planning to offer two years of taxpayer-paid college. Why stop there? Why not have the government buy a car and a house for everyone?” January 2015.
10. Reform experience: “Every Republican will say they are for school choice, shrinking government, cutting the government workforce, and getting rid of Common Core. But talk is cheap. Talk is just talk. I haven’t just talked about doing these things, I’ve actually done these things.” June 2015.
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There you have it—Bobby Jindal. Next up is Jim Webb. Until then.
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Read what Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, Rick Santorum, George Pataki, Martin O'Malley, Lindsey Graham, Lincoln Chafee, Rick Perry, Donald Trump, and Chris Christie have said about education.
