Democratic Party (United States)

==== Education ====
Democrats favor improving [[public education]] by raising school standards and reforming the [[Head Start (program)|Head Start program]]. They also support [[universal preschool]], expanding access to primary education, including through [[charter schools]], and are generally opposed to [[school voucher]] programs. They call for addressing [[student loan]] debt and reforms to reduce college tuition.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/papers_pdf/101962.pdf |title=Moving America Forward 2012 Democratic National Platform |publisher=presidency.ucsb.edu |date=September 14, 2012 |access-date=January 13, 2018 |archive-date=August 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819093203/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/papers_pdf/101962.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Other proposals have included tuition-free public universities and reform of [[standardized testing]]. Democrats have the long-term aim of having publicly funded college education with low tuition fees (like in much of Europe and Canada), which would be available to every eligible American student. Alternatively, they encourage expanding access to post-secondary education by increasing state funding for student financial aid such as [[Pell Grants]] and [[college tuition]] [[tax deductions]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Clinton Joins Key Senate Democrats to Release Report on "The College Cost Crunch"|date=June 28, 2006|url=http://clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=258005|work=clinton.senate.gov|access-date=November 25, 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061025234254/http://www.clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=258005|archive-date=October 25, 2006}}</ref>