For the upcoming presidential election of 2020, the editorial staff has endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden as the best candidate for president. 

Joe Biden served as Vice President alongside President Barack Obama for two terms, focusing mainly on economic issues and building foreign relations. From 1973 to 2009, Biden was a United States Senator for Delaware. Biden has chosen California Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate during this election, who prior served as the Attorney General of California.

Biden’s policies and future plans align with what is best for the students and schools of America. In contrast, Trump has failed to better education during his time as president and is actively ignoring the voices of Americans that desperately need help amidst this pandemic.

When Trump became president, he chose Betsy DeVos as the Secretary of Education. However, DeVos doesn’t believe in public schooling. Her priority is to take money away from public schools and give them to independently run schools also known as charter schools. Taking away money from public schools damages both the education public students will receive and the amount of pay teachers will earn. 

Biden; however, has goals and means to better the schools of America. Biden seeks to make public colleges less expensive and to increase the income of educators. Biden has also mentioned raising the minimum wage which would benefit students that work. 

Concerning the outbreak of COVID-19, Trump has failed to maintain it, causing schools to shut down across the country. Trump has been actively trying to re-open schools, doing so without a proper plan in place. 

Where Trump lacks, Biden excels. Even as a candidate, Biden has already organized safety procedures to protect students and teachers when returning to school, rather than endanger them. His plans can be seen here.

As a newspaper, it would seem unreasonable and foolish to endorse a candidate who famously tweets “FAKE NEWS” at any source that isn’t praising him. Trump is anti-news and anti-media. He’s denounced the importance of journalism as president, claiming journalists are “among the most dishonest human beings on earth” and “enemies of the people.” Despite this obvious hatred for “fake” news, Trump has time and time again lied to the press and mostly his supporters. “The Washington Post” has documented the instances where Trump has lied and spread misinformation, totaling more than 20,000 false claims as of July.

The candidate should openly support students’ needs and rights. Trump does not reflect these. Trump has made countless sexist and racist comments. His childish and ignorant remarks shouldn’t be pushed aside. Parents and teachers wouldn’t tolerate this behavior from their children or students and neither should the country.

Biden cares for the people. He has created plans and projects to help many marginalized groups including Native Americans, people with disabilities, the LGBT+ community, Black communities, Latino communities, Muslim communities and matters concerning gun control, COVID-19 and climate change. Most of what Biden hopes to fix are subjects that Trump himself has completely denied or ignored.

Some may argue that Trump has made accomplishments with education and schools in America; however, in truth, Trump has had little to no success with funding low-income schools, education policies or maintaining the severity of COVID-19. The only progress Trump has made is funding charter schools. In addition to his few efforts for schooling, Trump’s schooling plans if he was to be elected for a second term are unclear. On Trump’s website, there is no area where one can find his new policies or plans about any political issue let alone education. There is a list of his accomplishments but no insight into what he holds for the future. There are no written plans for education or schooling. 

Biden’s policies can be easily found on his website, which includes entire sections dedicated to his plans for almost every single social and political issue in America. Biden has a clear vision for Americans. As a country, America should place its trust into a candidate that has a blueprint for the future.

No matter how one feels about the candidates personally, it’s evident whose policies and plans will advance this country toward hope instead of fear. Students that are of voting age need to vote in this election. Here is the link for voting poll locations.

As a school, as a newspaper, as teachers and as students, everyone must take in consideration the gravity of this presidential election. Politics represent and reflect the future of America. It speaks volumes that within his four years as president, Trump has done the bare minimum for students and teachers, yet Biden–as a candidate–has established logical policies that cover various issues. The difference in effort, passion and overall knowledge of such issues is telling. Trump’s slogan during his previous and current campaign has been “Make America Great Again;” however, it seems impossible for him to make America “great again” if he doesn’t know how.