Giving Compass' Take:

· At a recent National Education Association (NEA) forum, ten Democratic presidential candidates responded to big questions regarding their position on key issues in education ranging from gun violence to teacher pay.

· What types of questions did were these candidates asked? How did the majority respond? Why are these questions important?

· Here's more on Democrats' position in the charter school debate and school choice.

Vying for an endorsement from the nation’s largest labor union, 10 Democratic presidential candidates responded to educators’ questions on issues ranging from charter schools to gun violence Friday during a National Education Association (NEA) forum.

“They came to listen to you,” NEA President Lily Eskelsen García said during the live-streamed event in Houston, held as part of the union’s annual convention. Each candidate was given a minute to make an introduction and then faced three questions, with three minutes to answer each one. The candidates did not interact with each other, sitting down with Eskelsen Garcia individually.

In the order in which they took questions, the 10 participants were Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro of Texas, former Vice President Joe Biden of Pennsylvania, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, Rep Tim Ryan of Ohio and Sen. Kamala Harris of California.

The forum came in the midst of what the pro-charter Center for Education Reform has referred to as a “jihad” against charter schools, and as the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools is urging Sanders to drop his proposal to keep new charter schools from being created.

Read the full article about Democratic presidential hopefuls on education issues by Linda Jacobson at Education Dive.