Dive Brief:
- The GOP's 2016 Platform, approved during this week's Republican National Convention, details a number of education priorities, none of which are especially surprising.
- Politico reports the party condemns the Obama administration’s interpretation of Title IX for transgender student rights, excessive testing and teaching to the test and the Common Core State Standards while supporting financing mechanisms that create school choice, as well as American history and civics education that focuses on the documents of the founding fathers.
- The platform also supports teaching the Bible as an English elective, abstinence-only sex education, an end to teacher tenure and a constitutional amendment protecting parental control over a child’s education.
Dive Insight:
In general, the Republican platform sticks to traditional priorities of small government and market competition. Yet school choice programs that it touts, like vouchers, sometimes end up subjecting private schools to more governmental oversight than they might like or would have had otherwise.
The statement about transgender student rights is a direct response to the recent firestorm over guidance from the Obama administration that students should be allowed to choose the restroom corresponding to their gender identity, which the administration argues is protected under the federal Title IX law. At this point, nearly two dozen states are suing the administration over this guidance, arguing that law does not actually protect students when it comes to gender identity. The issue is very likely to be decided by the Supreme Court.