The Nov. 4 midterm elections may flip the balance of power in the U.S. Senate, which could change the way ISU students and future generations receive their educations. 

Democrats and Republicans have very different ideas about how the government should manage education and help students. A flip in the controlling party in the Senate could lead to some major changes in education policy. 

Democrat Bruce Braley and Republican Joni Ernst, candidates for Iowa’s open U.S. Senate seat, have also taken very different positions regarding education.

“Republicans in general don’t like things such as Common Core [State Standards], they want to have local control [of education],” said Mack Shelley, ISU political science professor. “Ernst is on record of saying, “Just get rid of the U.S. Department of Education.’”

Ernst has said she would like to abolish the Department of Education at the federal level. Ernst was asked how eliminating the department would affect students during the Sept. 28 U.S. Senate debate.

“It doesn’t do anything to those [students] who receive Pell Grants and student loans,” Ernst said. “Those are programs that are very necessary for our college students, but they can easily be housed in the Department of Treasury.”

Other Republicans, including Rep. Steve King, R-4th District, have said competition between providers of student loans can bring down rates.

“One of the things we have done and pushed for is to provide competition on student loans,” King said. “If the government runs it, it sets the rates. If we let the free market and private markets compete, then competition can keep the rates down.”

Democrats, including Braley, typically are the opposite, Shelley said.

“Democrats in general want to invest. They don’t say spend; they say invest. In particular, Democrats like early childhood education. Democrats are more likely to want to put more money into higher education as well as K-12,” she said. 

Shelley also mentioned Democrats in Congress and the White House have pushed policy that makes it harder for companies providing loans to gauge or charge higher interest rates.

Democrats are more likely to push for increased spending when it comes to funding. Republicans are generally in favor of spending cuts, which may affect education funding.

Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, chairs the Education Committee in the Iowa Senate and is also an economics professor at Iowa State. He said a reduction in funding would end up hurting students and teachers.

“Fewer resources means fewer services,” Quirmbach said. “We have record-high enrollments. We’re having to hire more people to teach more classes. If there were cuts in funding, we couldn’t hire as many instructors. That would mean that either the class sizes would get much larger, or we wouldn’t be able to offer enough sections to accommodate students.”

Quirmbach also discussed how education policy at the state level — including two years of tuition freeze at state schools — and programs such as work study can ease the burden of student loan debt.

“The Board of Regents agreed not to ask the students for more; that is in-state undergrad tuition has not gone up,” Quirmbach said. “This year’s juniors are paying the same tuition as they did when they were freshman.”

Quirmbach also mentioned that Iowa House and Senate Democrats are on board for a tuition freeze for the third year and that he will push for it in the upcoming legislature.

Even though the parties are very different, should voters choose a candidate based on education? David Andersen, ISU political science professor, said not really.

“People love to say they care about education, but they don’t tend to vote on it,” Andersen said. “There’s always something more important. Usually, the economy and national security.”

Iowa polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Nov. 4.