Campaigns always outline K-12 education principles for Missouri's 900,000 elementary and secondary students.

The two men running for the state's top job, just like Missouri's 64,000 teachers, want to make sure every student across the state is prepared for the future.

Garth and Sue Haugen teach at Lewis and Clark Middle School in Jefferson City. Like the 19th century explorers, every day is an adventure for the Haugens.

"You may teach the same lesson to four different classes, but the way they react to the lesson is going to be different almost every time," Garth said. He teaches health and technology to sixth, seventh and eighth graders.

In a classroom upstairs at the middle school, Sue teaches sixth grade math.

From 8 a.m. until 3p.m., the teaching team is known as "Mr. and Mrs. Haugen." When they get home, they're known as "mom and dad."

"Certainly becoming a parent made me a different kind of teacher," Sue said.

The Haugen's two sons, eight year-old Tanner and five year-old Aiden, are both in elementary school, so the Haugens really have four reasons to care about the future of Missouri's schools.

When it comes to voting on education issues, the Haugens come from the same school of thought.

"The way I approach it is really the same whether I'm an educator or whether I was just the parent of the student. I am looking at what they are going to do that is best for kids," Garth said.

"If there is a candidate who is in support of something that I am opposed to, it is a deal-breaker," Sue said.

Attorney General Jay Nixon and Congressman Kenny Hulshof explained their plans for the future of Missouri's schools.

"Were trying to focus on the K-12 area on a couple of things. First of all, we need to respect teachers again, respect the public education system. It's just at no end of annoyance to all of us when issues involving public education are used as wedge issues to divide people, and I think that's the way my opponent and his forces have attempted to use the voucher question. We can't afford to fund our public schools if tax dollars are given to private schools," Nixon said.

"I'm not going to be the superintendent-in-chief, by the way, if I'm elected governor, but, to me, in some schools they're doing this and to continue to if they choose it, and that's to test the students at the beginning of the school year and at the end of the school year and you can really measure progress over the year. Right now, if you test a fourth grade class this year and a fourth grade class next year and compare it to previous years, the fact is each class is going to have its own identity. And measuring classes against each other is not the best way in my view to measure progress," Hulshof said.