— President Trump, remarks in the Rose Garden, July 14, 2020
“Abolish school choice, end school choice, abolish — they want to abolish all school choice, end it. They want to abolish charter schools. This is just never-ending.”
— Trump, remarks during an Arizona telerally, July 18, 2020
As president, Bill Clinton was considered a powerful advocate for promoting charter schools, even winning the first-ever lifetime achievement award from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Now, President Trump is charging that former vice president Joe Biden (and his fellow Democrats) has gone so far left that he wants to “abolish all charter schools.” These are publicly funded schools but operated under contract by independent groups, allowing for more flexibility in curriculum and hiring.
Is there much basis for Trump’s claim? Let’s examine what Biden stands for — as well as his position on “school choice,” which Trump also claims he wants to abolish.
The Facts
Trump claims he’s citing a portion of the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force Recommendations, designed to bridge policy gaps between Biden, who has a record as a centrist, and his last rival for the Democratic nomination, the left-leaning Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). The section on charter schools was eventually added to the draft Democratic Party platform for 2020: Continue reading.