• McCain supports school vouchers. 

• Supports sending federal dollars directly to local schools, cutting back on
red tape and saving administrative costs.

• McCain wants to place parents and children at the center of the education
process and empower parents by greatly expanding the ability of parents to
choose among schools for their children. 

Editor’s note: We found it difficult to pinpoint the position of John McCain on
education from his campaign website and decided to publish an unedited copy of
his position directly from his website.

Excellence, Choice, and Competition 
in American Education 

John McCain believes American education must be worthy of the promise we make
to our children and ourselves. He understands that we are a nation committed to
equal opportunity, and there is no equal opportunity without equal access to
excellent education.

Public education should be defined as one in which our public support for a
child's education follows that child into the school the parent chooses. The
school is charged with the responsibility of educating the child, and must have
the resources and management authority to deliver on that responsibility. They
must also report to the parents and the public on their progress.

The deplorable status of preparation for our children, particularly in
comparison with the rest of the industrialized world, does not allow us the
luxury of eliminating options in our educational repertoire. John McCain will
fight for the ability of all students to have access to all schools of
demonstrated excellence, including their own homes.

No Child Left Behind has focused our attention on the realities of how students
perform against a common standard. John McCain believes that we can no longer
accept low standards for some students and high standards for others. In this
age of honest reporting, we finally see what is happening to students who were
previously invisible. While that is progress all its own, it compels us to seek
and find solutions to the dismal facts before us.

John McCain believes our schools can and should compete to be the most
innovative, flexible and student-centered - not safe havens for the uninspired
and unaccountable. He believes we should let them compete for the most
effective, character-building teachers, hire them, and reward them.

If a school will not change, the students should be able to change schools.
John McCain believes parents should be empowered with school choice to send
their children to the school that can best educate them just as many members of
Congress do with their own children. He finds it beyond hypocritical that many
of those who would refuse to allow public school parents to choose their
child's school would never agree to force their own children into a school that
did not work or was unsafe. They can make another choice. John McCain believes
that is a fundamental and essential right we should honor for all parents.

As president, John McCain will pursue reforms that address the underlying
cultural problems in our education system - a system that still seeks to avoid
genuine accountability and responsibility for producing well-educated
children.

John McCain will place parents and children at the center of the education
process, empowering parents by greatly expanding the ability of parents to
choose among schools for their children. He believes all federal financial
support must be predicated on providing parents the ability to move their
children, and the dollars associated with them, from failing schools.