10.28.15 by msedblog ED WEEK: Vocational Education, Arming Teachers, Block Grants Get Air Time in GOP Debate If you were hoping that the release of test scores on “The Nation’s Report Card” would spur any notable discussion of K-12 policy at the Republican presidential debate Wednesday night, you got just a few scraps. In the main ten-candidate GOP debate, hosted by CNBC and held at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Ohio Gov. John Kasich reiterated his plan to consolidate some 100 programs in the U.S. Department of Education into four block grants for states to use. But although he made a broad attack on the regulatory power of federal agencies like the Education Department, he didn’t use the debate to specify what exactly those block grant programs would look like or deal with.