Candidates' positions are categorized as Pro (Yes), Con (No), Not Clearly Pro or Con, or None Found.
Candidates who have changed their positions are listed as Now their most recent position.
(Candidates are listed in alphabetical order by party; black & white photos indicate candidates who have withdrawn or who no longer meet our criteria.)
Chuck Baldwin, Founder and Minister of the Crossroad Baptist Church in Pensacola, FL, issued the following statement through his Communications Director, Mary Starrett, in an Aug. 11, 2008 email to ProCon.org:
"Education should be free from all federal government subsidies, including vouchers, tax incentives, and loans, except with respect to veterans." Aug. 11, 2008 Chuck Baldwin
Bob Barr, former US House Representative (R-GA), in a June 24, 2008 press release titled "Give Parents a Choice in Education, Says Bob Barr" on his official candidate website, stated:
"While spending so much money on programs that should not exist, in 2003 the Congress created a small voucher program started for students in Washington, D.C., which has some of the worst schools in the nation. Now the Democratic majority is planning on killing the initiative, putting nearly 2000 students back into the failed public school system...The only federal education program Congress wants to get rid of is the one doing the most to help poor kids." June 24, 2008 Bob Barr
John McCain, US Senator (R-AZ), stated at the Dec. 9, 2007 Republican Presidential Debate in Coral Gables, FL:
"Choice and competition is the key to success in education in America. That means charter schools, that means home schooling, it means vouchers, it means rewarding good teachers and finding bad teachers another line of work...It means rewarding good performing schools, and it really means in some cases putting bad performing schools out of business." Dec. 9, 2007 John McCain
Cynthia McKinney, former US House Representative (D-GA), issued the following statement through her campaign in a chicagotribune.com resource titled "The Voter Guide" (accessed Oct. 2, 2008):
"In Congress, she consistently supported improved education funding, [and] opposed voucher schemes aimed at undermining our public schools." Oct. 2, 2008 Cynthia McKinney
Ralph Nader, attorney, author, and political activist, was quoted in an article titled "Major Players: The 2000 Presidential Candidates," posted on the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University website (accessed Apr. 9, 2008)
"Vouchers unacceptably erode the democratic foundation of public education and the role of public education in establishing our democratic foundations." Apr. 9, 2008 Ralph Nader
Barack Obama, US Senator (D-IL), in a Feb. 13, 2008 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article titled "Obama Addresses State, US Topics," stated:
"If there was any argument for vouchers, it was 'Let's see if the experiment works'...And if it does, whatever my preconception, you do what's best for kids." Feb. 13, 2008 Barack Obama
[Editor's Note: Prior to Barack Obama's Feb. 13, 2008 Not Clearly Pro or Con position, his position was Con as indicated in his July 10, 2007 statement in the American Federation of Teachers' "2008 US Presidential Candidate Questionnaire" below.]
"We need to invest in our public schools and strengthen them, not drain their fiscal support. And for this reason I do not support vouchers. In the end, vouchers would reduce the options available to children in need. I fear these children would truly be left behind in a private market system." July 10, 2007 Barack Obama
INACTIVE CANDIDATES
(Candidates who have withdrawn or who no longer meet our criteria appear
below in black and white and in alphabetical order by party.)
Hillary Clinton, US Senator (D-NY), stated in a July 6, 1999 article titled "NEA Representative Assembly Closes with Infusion of Energy and Resolve" on the National Education Association website:
"What they (vouchers) have done is to divert public funds for a few and weaken an entire system." July 6, 1999Hillary Clinton
Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas, stated in a Dec. 28, 2007 article titled "Exclusive Interview: Huckabee on Education and School Choice" on CNSNews.com:
"I don't support federally mandating vouchers. If a state wishes to implement a voucher program, they have to decide how it works, and how well it works, and what the criteria would be.
What I don't want to do is to have the federal government coming down and telling all 50 states here is how you are going to fund education, here is what vouchers are going to look like. Because in some states, for example mine, it would be very problematic to create a statewide voucher system when most of our schools are rural, they're small, they are miles from another school, the economies of scale simply wouldn't necessarily make it that easy to implement a widespread voucher system. But if local districts wished to do it, if states wish to do it, I think that's fine. It goes back to the basic concept that this is a state's decision." Dec. 28, 2007Mike Huckabee
ProCon.org emailed the Imperato campaign on Jan. 21, 2008 with this question. Mr. Imperato provided a response to this question and 26 others during a recorded 45-minute telephone interview with ProCon.org on Mar. 11, 2008. On Mar. 21, 2008 Mr. Imperato no longer met our eligibility criteria for inclusion on this site, and we stopped transcribing his verbal responses as of that date.
Alan Keyes, former Assistant US Secretary of State, stated in an Oct. 26, 2004 debate sponsored by WTTW and the City Club of Chicago:
"We have the wherewithal and, in addition to everything else, if we adopted a proper voucher program, we would equalize the scandalous inequities in education that occur in Illinois because of the funding mechanism that leaves some kids stuck in poor districts. Give every parent the same amount that they'll be able to spend on their child, and you can bet, in faith schools and parochial schools and other, non-government schools, they'll be able to get better results for less money than we're getting right now." Oct. 26, 2004Alan Keyes
Frank McEnulty, an Independent candidate and President of Our Castle Homes, in a Feb. 28, 2008 email to ProCon.org, stated:
"Yes and no. The federal government should fund educational monies to the states and the states should determine how those monies should be spent without federal government interference. That being said, I believe that school voucher programs are an excellent way to give lower income students a chance at a better education and give some competition to the entrenched public school systems." Feb. 28, 2008 Frank McEnulty
Ron Paul, US Representative (R-TX), stated in a Sep. 30, 2003 "Speech of Hon. Ron Paul of Texas in the House of Representatives" in the Congressional Record on the Library of Congress, THOMAS website:
"Mr. Speaker, many of those who share my belief that the most effective education reform is to put parents back in charge of the education system have embraced government-funded voucher programs as a means to that end. I certainly sympathize with the goals of voucher proponents and I believe that States and local governments have the right, protected by the Tenth Amendment, to adopt any sort of voucher program they believe meets the needs of their communities. However, I have a number of concerns regarding proposals to implement a voucher plan on the Federal level.
The basic reason supporters of parental control of education should view Federal voucher programs with a high degree of skepticism is that vouchers are a creation of the government, not the market. Vouchers are a taxpayer-funded program benefiting a particular group of children selected by politicians and bureaucrats. Therefore, the Federal voucher program supported by many conservatives is little more than another tax-funded welfare program establishing an entitlement to a private school education. Vouchers thus raise the same constitutional and moral questions as other transfer programs." Sep. 30, 2003 Ron Paul