Candidates are listed in alphabetical order. Positions are categorized as Pro (Yes), Con (No), Not Clearly Pro or Con, or None Found.
Candidates who have withdrawn or who no longer meet our criteria are listed last.

Pro (Yes)

Con (No)

Clinton, Hillary (D) - Con Hillary Clinton, U.S. Senator (D-NY), stated in a video titled "Clinton on No Child Left Behind" on the Glassbooth.org website (accessed Jan. 28, 2008): "For those who are in education, you already know that the No Child Left Behind Act, which was intended to provide more resources for schools and create more support for the teaching and learning enterprise has unfortunately not been either funded or implemented, in my view, effectively or appropriately." Jan. 28, 2008 Hillary Clinton

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Gravel, Mike (Lib) - Con Mike Gravel, former U.S. Senator (D-AK), stated in an Oct. 16, 2007 article titled "Election '08: Talk with the Candidates" on washingtonpost.com: "No Child Left Behind is a failure. Our whole system of education is in trouble. All of the stakeholders are all at fault -- a third of our children don't graduate from high school. That is appalling." Oct. 16, 2007 Mike Gravel

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Keyes, Alan (Ind) - Not Clearly Pro or Con Alan Keyes, former Assistant U.S. Secretary of State, stated during an Oct. 22, 2004 interview on the Mancow Show: "I don't believe in federal control of education, and I believe that No Child Left Behind leads to a consolidation of control in the hands of the federal bureaucracy, which is something I've fought against in education. I think it's a parental, family, community, local responsibility, and we shouldn't be allowing federal bureaucracy to take it over." Oct. 22, 2004 Alan Keyes

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McCain, John (R) - Pro John McCain, U.S. Senator (R-AZ), stated in a Washington Post online election resource guide titled "The Presidential Field: John McCain" (accessed Jan. 25, 2008): "The principles underneath No Child Left Behind -- standards, accountability, transparency, and choice-- are a major step in the right direction; taking away power from education bureaucrats and returning it to those on the front lines of education -- the local schools, the local teachers and the local parents. It has provided support and guidance to our state and local communities to strengthen our schools, while also giving much needed flexibility for every state in the use of federal education dollars. It also contains many initiatives that have helped ensure that more federal education dollars reach our classrooms rather than being lost in bureaucratic black hole." Jan. 25, 2008 John McCain

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McKinney, Cynthia (Grn) - Not Clearly Pro or Con Cynthia McKinney, former U.S. House Representative (D-GA), stated in an article titled "Cynthia McKinney on Education," posted on the Cynthia for Congress website (accessed Apr. 8, 2008): "In the years since President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, none of his budgets has come close to meeting the level of funding authorized in the Act. The cumulative Administration budgets have fallen billions of dollars short of the amount authorized for funding... The bipartisan National Governors Association even voted unanimously to label Bush's No Child Left Behind Act an unfunded mandate. States and localities struggle to keep up with the new requirements." Apr. 8, 2008 Cynthia McKinney

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Nader, Ralph (Ind) - Con Ralph Nader, attorney, author, and political activist, stated in a July 16, 2004 speech at a Nader-Camejo 2004 campaign rally in San Francisco, CA: "And they say we are going to leave no child behind and these corporate consulting firms in Washington, they want to sell more of these hyper-muliple-choice standardized tests in order to avoid a broader, more personal appraisal of the multiple intelligence of young children. And so they get [George W.] Bush to say 'leave no child behind.' And he doesn't fund it, number one, and he is forcing these tests on these children and forcing the teachers to teach to the test and envelope these schools in rigid, bureaucratic, unfunded anxiety on stupid tests that should be thrown into San Francisco Bay." July 16, 2004 Ralph Nader

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Obama, Barack (D) - Con Barack Obama, U.S. Senator (D-IL), stated in an article titled "Issues: Education" on his official campaign website (accessed Jan. 28, 2008): "No Child Left Behind Left the Money Behind: The goal of the law was the right one, but unfulfilled funding promises, inadequate implementation by the Education Department and shortcomings in the design of the law itself have limited its effectiveness and undercut its support. As a result, the law has failed to provide high-quality teachers in every classroom and failed to adequately support and pay those teachers." Jan. 28, 2008 Barack Obama

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Paul, Ron (R) - Con Ron Paul, U.S. Representative (R-TX), stated in a May 23, 2001 article titled "Statement on No Child Left Behind" on his official campaign website: "Congress is now considering whether to continue this cycle by passing the national five-year plan contained in H.R. 1, the so-called 'No Child Left Behind Act.' A better title for this bill is 'No Bureaucrat Left Behind' because, even though it's proponents claim H.R. 1 restores power over education to states and local communities, this bill represents a massive increase in federal control over education. H.R. 1 contains the word 'ensure' 150 times, 'require' 477 times, 'shall' 1,537 and 'shall not' 123 times. These words are usually used to signify federal orders to states and localities. Only in a town where a decrease in the rate of spending increases is considered a cut could a bill laden with federal mandates be considered an increase in local control! If, after the experience of the past thirty years, you believe that federal bureaucrats are better able to meet children's unique educational needs than parents and communities then vote for H.R. 1. However, if you believe that the failures of the past shows expanding federal control over the classroom is a recipe for leaving every child behind then do not settle for some limited state flexibility in the context of a massive expansion of federal power: Reject H.R. 1 and instead help put education resources back into the hands of parents by supporting my Family Education Freedom Act and Education Improvement Tax Cut Act." May 23, 2001 Ron Paul

CANDIDATES WHO HAVE WITHDRAWN OR WHO NO LONGER MEET OUR CRITERIA      Biden, Joe (D) - None Found   Withdrew on Jan. 3, 2008; no position found as of that date Top      Brownback, Sam (R) - None Found   Withdrew on Oct. 19, 2007; no position found as of that date Top      Dodd, Chris (D) - None Found   Withdrew on Jan. 3, 2008; no position found as of that date Top    Edwards, John (D) - Con John Edwards, former U.S. Senator (D-NC), in an article titled "Restoring the Promise of America's Schools" on his official campaign website (accessed Jan. 29, 2008), stated: "George Bush's No Child Left Behind law is not working for schools, teachers and – most importantly – our children, and it needs to be radically overhauled." Jan. 29, 2008 John Edwards Top      Gilmore, Jim (R) - None Found   Withdrew on Aug. 14, 2007; no position found as of that date Top    Giuliani, Rudy (R) - Con Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City, stated at the Oct. 21, 2007 Republican Presidential Debate in Orlando, FL, hosted by FOX News: "It seems to me the thing that's wrong right at the core of No Child Left Behind is the enforcer of standards should not be the bureaucrat in Washington or on the board of education. It should be the parent. We should have choice. We should empower parents. They should decide -- private school, parochial school, public school, charter school, home school. That will give the parents the kind of control over their children's education. They understand their children better. Why should a government bureaucrat be sending 168,000 children to failing schools when parents think they can do better for their children? I think it's the single biggest civil rights issue that we face in the 21st century." Oct. 21, 2007 Rudy Giuliani Top      Huckabee, Mike (R) - Not Clearly Pro or Con Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas, in an article titled "Issues: Education and the Arts" on his official campaign website (accessed Jan. 24, 2008), stated: "As President, my education agenda will include working towards a clear distinction between the federal role in assisting and empowering states and in usurping the right of states to carry out the education programs for their students. While there is value in the 'No Child Left Behind' law's effort to set high national standards, states must be allowed to develop their own benchmarks." Jan. 24, 2008 Mike Huckabee Top      Hunter, Duncan (R) - None Found   Withdrew on Jan. 19, 2008; no position found as of that date Top      Imperato, Daniel (3rd/I) - None Found 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.   Top    Kubby, Steve (3rd/I) - Con Steve Kubby, a Libertarian candidate and founder of the American Medical Marijuana Association, stated in a Jan. 31, 2008 email to ProCon.org: "No. Government involvement in education -- and particularly federal government involvement in education -- doesn't work. The federal government provides a small percentage of overall education funding in America, but NCLB [No Child Left Behind] imposes uniform standards and central planning on thousands of schools and millions of students in very diverse places and situations. No two communities are the same. No two STUDENTS are the same. How can we expect a bureaucrat in Washington, DC to know what all those communities and all those students need from their schools?" Jan. 31, 2008 Steve Kubby Top      Kucinich, Dennis (D) - None Found   Withdrew on Jan. 25, 2008; no position found as of that date Top    McEnulty, Frank (3rd/I) - Con Frank McEnulty, an Independent candidate and President of Our Castle Homes, in a Jan. 24, 2008 email to ProCon.org, stated: "I don't believe so. A one size fits all approach to education will never work in a country as diverse as ours. All it has accomplished is the establishment of another bureaucracy and a system that now does its best to teach to the test so that they look good. Whether or not the children truly learn anything is irrelevant, as long as they do well on the 'test'." Jan. 24, 2008 Frank McEnulty Top      Richardson, Bill (D) - None Found   Withdrew on Jan. 10, 2008; no position found as of that date Top    Romney, Mitt (R) - Pro Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts, issued the following statement in an article titled "Issues: Raising the Bar on Education" on his official campaign website (accessed Jan. 25, 2008): "Governor Romney Will Improve Upon And Enhance No Child Left Behind (NCLB). He believes that No Child Left Behind has played an important role in stressing the role of accountability and high standards in improving our schools. Governor Romney will improve NCLB by giving states that meet or exceed testing requirements additional flexibility in measuring student performance. He will also improve the law by focusing more attention on individual student progress, rather than the overall progress of schools." Jan. 25, 2008 Mitt Romney Top    Smith, Christine (3rd/I) - Con Christine Smith, a Libertarian candidate and a social and political activist, stated in a Feb. 27, 2008 email to ProCon.org: "No." Feb. 27, 2008 Christine Smith Top      Tancredo, Tom (R) - None Found   Withdrew on Dec. 20, 2007; no position found as of that date Top      Thompson, Fred (R) - None Found   Withdrew on Jan. 22, 2008; no position found as of that date Top      Thompson, Tommy (R) - None Found   Withdrew on Sep. 12, 2007; no position found as of that date Top      Vilsack, Tom (D) - None Found   Withdrew on Feb. 23, 2007; no position found as of that date

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