The 74 made a valiant effort to bring education to the forefront of the 2016 presidential election early on, holding several education summits last year to get to know the candidates’ stances better.

But though the conferences represented promise, education sunk into the background soon enough.

So The 74 gathered a group of impressive education experts, including “former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington [and] prominent researchers across the education policy spectrum and classroom teachers on the front lines” to ask them what issues in education the candidates should be addressing.

The questions are designed to "move beyond what has sufficed as education discussion in the campaign so far: 'The Common Core is evil!' on the right and 'Free college for everyone!' on the left,’” The 74 said.

Nate Bowling, Washington state’s teacher of the year, for example, wants candidates to address how they intend to help states recruit and retain teachers.

"What changes need to be made at the national and state level to help attract and retain our most effective educators?”

Arne Duncan wants to ask candidates how they’ll best communicate with local communities and educators to make education better on a federal level by cultivating best practices.

"What are the candidates willing to do to invest in, and take to scale, the best evidence-based ideas that come not from Washington, D.C., but from local communities and educators?”

Rick Hess, director of Education Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute wants to know where the candidates stand on the federal role in education, an especially important question considering the passing of the Every Student Succeeds Act.

"What do you believe to be the appropriate federal role in American education? How do you draw the line as to what Washington should do that is appropriate and constructive, and what do you think constitutes inappropriate or counterproductive overreach?”

Sen. Patty Murray wants to know where candidates stand on keeping the momentum going for improving early education.

"The Every Student Succeeds Act that was signed into law in December 2015 includes dedicated funding for preschool — a first for the nation’s primary elementary and secondary education law — but there is still much more work to be done to ensure that every child in this country is prepared for kindergarten. What will you do as president to expand access to high-quality preschool for more children?"

Read the full list of questions here.

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

2/25/2016