In education policy, conservatives have often been more identifiable by what they are against than what they are for. Ronald Reagan ran in 1980 promising to eliminate the Department of Education, and since then, numerous conservative politicians have stated they wish to do the same. At times, conservatives have been known to support school choice policies and accountability, but that has not been universal. Voters want policymakers to put forth a substantive vision of society and pursue policies to achieve it. Most of those policies, conservatives believe, should happen at the state and local level, but the federal government has a role to play. The education system is the foundation of our society, democracy, and economy. If conservatives do not advance principles and policies to shape it, nonconservatives will. In education policy discussions, the system tends to be divided into three parts: the time before students enter elementary school, the time they spend from kindergarten through high school, and the time they spend in college. This report looks at each period and offers principles and policies that conservatives at the federal level can and should pursue.