Presidential election could chart new course for hot button Tennessee issues like school choice and book bans

                                Trump and Harris at the CNN presidential debate in September. (Screenshot) 

Over the course of their presidential campaigns, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have focused most of their rhetoric on differences relating to immigration policy, the economy, gun laws, and reproductive rights. However, the two candidates also have notable differences when it comes to education.

While Harris and Trump have expressed some similar stances previously on the importance of career and technical education and concerns about the rising cost of higher education, the two candidates have completely different visions for education policy in the U.S., particularly when it comes to “school choice” initiatives like Education Savings Accounts, which allow families to use tax dollars to enroll their children in private schools.

Over the course of his political career and this campaign, Trump has signaled support for school choice initiatives, while Harris and the Democratic Party have argued that such initiatives could divert funds from public schools that are already struggling. But Harris has not been entirely hostile to school choice initiatives herself, and previously considered picking Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate despite his support for private school voucher programs in Pennsylvania similar to the ones opposed by Tennessee Democrats and proposed by Republican Gov. Bill Lee, a major Trump supporter.

Overall, Harris and her party have been generally timid to support school choice and have expressed some apprehension about the expansion of school choice policies. The Democratic Party platform itself also stresses the need to strengthen traditional public schools that are struggling, instead of diverting public funds to private schools, a main criticism of school choice policies like ESAs.

Trump has been more of an outspoken proponent of school choice, calling it a “civil rights issue” of our time. Despite his general view that education policy should be left to local and state leaders, Trump has shown support for federal initiatives that would make school choice universal. This also somewhat contradicts his campaign promise to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education entirely, which helps funnel more than $800 million into Tennessee alone.

“We want federal education dollars to follow the student, rather than propping up a bloated and radical bureaucracy in Washington, D.C.,” Trump said at a recent campaign rally, referring to school choice policies.

According to a report from The Week, one of Harris' most notable statements on education was her selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a former teacher, as her running mate. As governor, Walz signed an anti-book-banning bill to stop school and university libraries from removing a book "based solely on its viewpoint or the messages, ideas, or opinions it conveys," while Republicans and the Trump campaign have expressed support for such measures. The culture war debate has also divided conservatives and liberals at school board meetings in Tennessee and nationally in recent months.

According to the nonprofit PEN America, there were more than 4,300 instances of book bans in schools between July and December 2023, a notable increase from the previous year. Of the titles banned in states like Tennessee where book bans have continued to gain traction in 2024, the nonprofit said close to 40 percent of them touch on topics relating to multiculturalism and LGBTQ issues. Republicans and Trump himself have expressed support for book bans, under the belief that some books seek to indoctrinate children into adopting more progressive opinions on gender and race.

Harris said in a July speech to the American Federation of Teachers that she will oppose such measures moving forward if elected. She said when it comes to banning things more generally, her administration will seek to ban assault weapons, which has been met with the support of groups like Moms Demand Action, who believe the federal government should do more to curtail the prevalence of mass shootings in U.S. public schools.  

“While you teach students about our nation’s past, these extremists attack the freedom to learn and acknowledge our nation’s true and full history — including [supporting] book bans.  Book bans in this year of our Lord 2024,” she said. “So, we want to ban assault weapons, and they want to ban books.”