Praise for school choice appears to have become a mainstay in Donald Trump's campaign speeches.
The Republican nominee mentioned school choice at his campaign rally in Manchester, N.H., Thursday. "[Hillary Clinton] opposes school choice," Trump said. "Education is a disaster." He immediately moved on to immigration.
The comment, as brief as it was, seems to show that Trump plans to continue calling for school choice. His shift seems to have started at the Republican National Convention, when he said, "We will rescue kids from failing schools by helping their parents send them to a safe school of their choice."
He also mentioned school choice last week in Wisconsin and two weeks ago in Detroit and North Carolina. Sometimes he specifically mentions public charter schools.
The Wisconsin speech was specifically tailored for black voters, and he criticized Milwaukee for low graduation rates and failing schools. Milwaukee, perhaps not coincidentally, is home to the first private school voucher program in the country.
Despite school choice's increasing presence in Trump's speeches, he hasn't given much detail on how he would go about supporting it. School choice is typically a state and local issue, although there are a few limited options for a federal role. Would he support education savings accounts for Native Americans? What about making targeted federal funding for low-income students portable, so that those students can use that funding at private schools or other public schools?
In an education policy video posted in January, Trump did say that "Education has to be at a local level. We cannot have the bureaucrats in Washington telling you how to manage your child's education."
But it's still not clear how far Trump would go in pushing for local education, especially since it remains to be seen how different education will be as the Every Student Succeeds Act is implemented. The act, passed in December 2015, is the successor to No Child Left Behind.
There are seven fairly detailed position papers on Donald Trump's campaign website, but none focuses on education. Perhaps school choice will soon join the series.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.