If McCain proposes an ambitious school voucher program, as he did in 2000, it will underline stark philosophical differences between the GOP and Democratic presidential candidates on education policy. . .

Clinton and Obama share many policy goals but often differ on the means to achieve them. For instance, both have committed to spending an additional $10 billion annually on programs for children under 5. That would mean doubling the current federal investment in early childhood education.

But their approaches diverge sharply. While Clinton has proposed universal pre-kindergarten for all 4-year-olds, Obama would offer Early Learning Challenge Grants — modeled after an Illinois program — for states to use in a variety of ways.

“These proposals reflect two competing strains of thought in the early education advocacy field,” said Sara Mead, an education expert at The New America Foundation.

Clinton’s approach is largely favored by educators. Obama’s is preferred by most child care advocates, who “think universal pre-k is too late and insufficiently focused on poor kids, and we need to work to improve quality and access across the birth-through-5-year-old spectrum,” said Mead. . .

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