What a week! It’s only been one week since President Biden announced he wasn’t running for re-election, and Democrats quickly consolidated their support for Vice President Harris. This week, many folks have asked us, “What do you know about Kamala Harris’ vision for public schools?” 

Kamala’s K-12 Plans Couldn’t Differ More from Project 2025. With Project 2025, far-right extremist groups like the Heritage Foundation have made clear the war they will wage on public education if their preferred nominee, Trump, is re-elected. 

• One of Project 2025’s most extreme plans is to abolish the US Department of Education, the only federal agency mandated to ensure equal opportunity and accountability and to fund states and school districts for elementary and secondary education.
• As the Center for American Progress has reported, Project 2025 would decimate more than 180,000 teacher positions and would negatively affect the academic outcomes of 2.8 million vulnerable students across the country.
• Trump has promised to defund public schools that teach so-called “critical race theory” and “radical gender ideology,” to roll back protections for vulnerable LGBTQ+ students, and to implement universal private school vouchers. 
• See our recent blog on Project 2025 for more on the far right’s disturbing plan to dismantle public education (along with our democracy). 

The juxtaposition between this extremist plan and Harris’ support for public schools and opposition to school privatization couldn’t be more apparent — and the stakes couldn’t be more critical. 

A Proud Product of Public Schools. Harris, the daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants who grew up in Oakland, California, is proud of her public school roots. As she said in a 2023 speech, “I am a product of teachers and an educational system that believed in providing the children with the full expanse of information that allowed them — and encouraged them — to then reach their own conclusions and exercise critical thought in a way that was directly intended to nurture their leadership. I am fully aware that it is because of that approach that I stand before you as Vice President of the United States of America.” 

Harris’ Pro-Public Education Policy Platform. Harris has long been outspoken on her support of public education. Here are some of the more well-known facets of her K-12 policy platform:

• Teacher pay. In 2019, arguing that the issue of underpaid teachers is a “crisis” with “disastrous consequences,” Harris called for $13,500 raises for teachers by the end of her first term. Her goal was to close the teacher pay gap, or the difference between what teachers are paid and what those with comparable college degrees and experience are paid.
• Privatization and Vouchers. In 2017, Harris opposed an amendment to create tax credit vouchers for tuition at K-12 private schools. She also criticized Trump’s 2016 campaign promise to “divert public school funding to private school vouchers.” As State Attorney General, Harris launched a probe into a for-profit charter school company which used false advertising and inflated attendance numbers, saying she was “particularly concerned with expansions of for-profit charter schools.” 

• • Opportunity funding. Harris has called for increases to Title I funding (federal funds for schools serving students from low-income families) and disability funding (currently funded well below authorized levels) to ensure equal access. In 2022, she launched the “Generation Fund,” a $50 million investment to support every low-income public school student and baby born into poverty. She has also called for more funding for Head Start, which provides federally subsidized preschool to low-income children. 
  • Anti-culture wars. Harris has spoken out publicly against “culture war” legislation, including book bans, attacks on LGBTQ+ educators and students, and mandates to teach revisionist history. In 2023, after the Florida State Board of Education approved educational guidelines that included the idea that enslaved people benefited from their enslavement by learning specialized skills, Harris flew to Florida and delivered a blistering speech condemning the new guidelines. 

• Desegregation. Harris has shown she will be a fierce advocate for school desegregation and racial equity initiatives. In 2019, when both Biden and Harris were competing for the Democratic nomination for president, Harris challenged Biden on his record on school desegregation, sharing her personal experience with a public school integration program as a child. 

• Support for teachers. In 2019, for the first time in three decades, 30,000 educators in Los Angeles went on strike for smaller class sizes, more counselors and librarians, and a full-time nurse in every school. Harris expressed explicit support for the strike, tweeting, “Los Angeles teachers work day in and day out to inspire and educate the next generation of leaders. I’m standing in solidarity with them as they strike for improved student conditions, such as smaller class sizes and more counselors and librarians.” After six days, educators reached a deal which included pay raises, full-time librarians for middle and high schools, a commitment to full-time nurses at every school, and the establishment of thirty community schools.

• Student representation. In 2019, she proposed increased funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), especially to train black teachers. She contended that if a child has had two black teachers by the end of third grade, they’re one-third more likely to go to college, saying, “Investing in public education and in HBCUs matters.” This year, the Biden-Harris administration announced a new record in federal support for HBCUs, including federal grants, contracting awards and debt relief.

• Universal education. During her 2020 presidential campaign, Harris advocated for universal preschool, calling education “a fundamental right” that proper funding would help guarantee. This shows a deep understanding that early childhood education offers significant benefits that last a child’s entire life. Harris also supports debt-free college education, endorsing free college plans at federal and state levels as far back as 2017. 

The Stakes for Public Education in the 2024 Election. Harris believes in public education as the cornerstone of our nation and of democracy itself. As she said in 2023 in Florida, “Part of true patriotism means fighting for a nation that will be better for each generation to come — believing that our nation is worth the investment in fighting for the children of America — that we will provide them with the information they need to go into the world and lead.” We couldn’t agree more.