October 20, 2008 2:22PM # Tomorrow’s Presidential Surrogate Education Debate By [Andrew J. Coulson](https://www.cato.org/people/andrew-coulson) --- SHARE The Teachers’ College at Columbia University is hosting an education [debate tomorrow between surrogates of the Obama and McCain campaigns](https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&eventid=122206&sessionid=1&key=F133A5219746027376C0662466473BDD&sourcepage=register). Here are three questions that I would love to see moderator David Hoff put to the participants: 1. Why do both candidates support NCLB given that 1) The already modest NAEP test score growth rate has been *slower* since the law passed, and 2) U.S. scores on the international PISA and PIRLS tests [have stagnated or declined across grades and subjects since NCLB](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8850)? 2. Why does the Obama Campaign [tout Eisenhower’s National Defense Education Act](http://www.barackobama.com/2008/07/16/fact_sheet_obamas_new_plan_to.php) as a model of federal education policymaking, given that [test scores went down in the eight years following passage of that law](https://www.cato.org/2008/09/09/obama-touts-failed-federal-program/) (and didn’t return to pre-NDEA levels for decades)? 3. Does Senator McCain support national school choice programs, and if so, how does that gibe with a federal government of limited, enumerated powers (education not being among said powers)? ##### Related Tags [Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).