Where the Republican gubernatorial candidates stand on education issues, including funding and curriculum.
Tudor Dixon
Dixon says her top priority is education reform. She has hopes of working across the aisle on this issue. She wants to see 25 hours of private or semi-private tutoring provided to all Michigan children. She wants to add civics and finance course requirements to school curriculums.
She wants to ban any discussion of gender identity or sexual orientation before 3rd grade and ban drag queens from Michigan schools. She said this will protect children from "sexualization" in schools.
Dixon is also against teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT), and opposed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs. She believes these are rooted in a “liberal indoctrination problem in public education.”
Ryan Kelley
Kelley wants schools to focus on academics, skilled trades, and what he calls American Constitutional civics. He believes a hidden “woke” agenda, including ideas like social justice and Critical Race Theory, aims to indoctrinate students. He wants to ban those ideas from being taught. He also wants to abolish Common Core.
Ralph Rebandt
For K-12 education, Rebandt wants to see expanded school voucher programs, but will determine how to do that using “round-table discussions.” He describes those sessions as stake-holders and experts coming together to discuss tough issues and plan for solutions. If he’s elected, they would take place after he takes office.
Rebandt also wants the Bible to be taught in all schools as a part of the history and literature curriculum.
Kevin Rinke
Rinke believes Michigan’s education system is broken. He wants to focus on academic results for public education and will work against any hidden political agenda. He wants to ban Critical Race Theory (CRT) in public schools, which he believes is an attempt to indoctrinate students with “politically racially motivated courses… that deny our state and country’s progress and history.”
Garrett Soldano
Soldano said that he “want[s] Michigan to be THE Parental Rights state.” He opposes teacher unions saying they are corrupt and anti-parent. He said parents should lead education and be able to choose what their children learn, not teachers or government.
On his twitter account he has said that he thinks “students are being targeted by the woke left” and has said “the woke groomer mafia wants to indoctrinate and subjugate our kids to their warped fantasies.”
