Candidate for
Governing Board Member; Natomas Unified School District

The three most important issues that are facing the District include:

Academic Performance - the issue with highest importance to me is the academic performance of the students in Natomas. The recent focus on standardized test scores has provided school administrators, teachers, parents, students, the news organizations and the general public with an indicator of student achievement. Poor test scores are criticized and attacked with each new release. Improvements are touted with great fanfare. However, test scores tell us very little about how students perform and are not the only way to measure success.

The key to improving student performance is to develop and implement a strong set of standards for which a curriculum can be adapted to meet the needs of the students. Once the standards and corresponding curriculum are in place, then testing and other measures can be employed.

NUSD must continue the current efforts to adopt educational standards and develop appropriate courses for each standard. In addition, NUSD must develop comprehensive evaluation tools to ensure that students are being measured accurately and fairly.

Although I believe standardized tests are necessary, I do not want to rely on these as the only source of information regarding student performance.

In addition to the development of education standards, NUSD must continue to support teachers and students with a variety of comprehensive interventions to ensure learning and success. This includes effective retention policies, Saturday schools, focus classes and tutoring, as examples.

Teachers - the recruitment, retention and development of the highest quality teaching staff is essential to the success of the students in the District. As stated often in the news, California faces a critical shortage of teachers over the next decade. NUSD must work hard to recruit good teachers through competitive salaries and benefits. The District must also provide new, and existing, teachers exceptional support and opportunities for development and growth.

I believe NUSD has an excellent staff of teachers. I want to keep NUSD in the forefront of the greater Sacramento region as a District that is progressive and innovative in how it approaches the hiring and development of teachers. Some of the efforts I want to see continued, expanded or implemented include: staff development opportunities, teacher mentoring, assistance in obtaining advanced college degrees, reduced class sizes, and participation in the District decision-making process.

School Facilities - since Natomas will be growing very fast for the next several years, the District must ensure that new schools are built on a timely basis to ensure that adequate classrooms and facilities are available when new students arrive. This will require careful monitoring of the population growth and exceptional planning to ensure that school sites are developed in advance of the students' arrival. At this point in time, NUSD is positioned very well with respect to the financing of schools. Developer fees, state bond funds, District bond funds and other resources will ensure that NUSD can build the necessary new schools to meet the demand. However, we must continually monitor our progress and the financing of new schools to make sure we have adequate resources to pay for schools. We need to explore other sources of funds, as necessary, to ensure that schools are built on time.

In all of this, I want to make sure that the existing school facilities do not suffer from neglect as the new schools are built. It is important to me that all schools are maintained and equipped to the best of our ability.

In addition to the above three issues, I also believe the following issues are significant:

• School Safety - our schools must be safe for students and staff. In this regard, I support the use of video surveillance cameras to protect staff and students, telephones in each classroom, conflict management programs, and adequate security staff for our campuses.

• Class Size - it is important to keep the number of students in each class at a manageable level. To this extent, I support class size reduction and have been instrumental in developing the District's current policy on interdistrict transfers.

• Parent Involvement - as I have frequently stated at Board meetings, parent involvement in their children's life and education is extremely important to the outcome of the child. The best teacher in the world cannot overcome the barriers to education created by a neglectful, abusive or disinterested parent. My definition of parental involvement does not mean daily visits to the classroom. What I advocate is the need for parents to take responsibility for their children's basic needs: love, affection, attention, feeding, clothing, safety, security, and direction. In addition, parents need to ensure their children are ready for school: a good nights sleep, homework done and understood, good nutrition, and a positive outlook toward education. We need to find ways to get this message across to parents. The schools cannot take on the responsibility for total socialization of a child.

• Automation - technology and automation have become integral parts of our every day life and have been instrumental in the state of our economy. For today's students to succeed, they will need to have a solid understanding of technology and computers. At the same time, we need to provide training to teachers to ensure that they can take full advantage of technology in the classrooms. NUSD has received the Intel "Teach the Future" grant, which will allow us to train all teachers in the next three years.

• Fund Raising - unfortunately, schools have found it necessary to augment their budgets through fund raising efforts. I recognize this reality, but am concerned that we will "sell" our students in exchange for corporate donations. I am opposed to advertising on school campuses or as part of a curriculum. Neither teachers nor students should be subjected to unwanted advertising. I support the establishment of a comprehensive fund raising campaign.

• Binding Arbitration - The Natomas Teachers Association has made binding arbitration an issue in contract negotiations and in the endorsement of school board candidates. Binding arbitration is contrary to the principles of representative government.

As your elected representative to the school board, I disagree with the need for binding arbitration. There are two principle reasons:

First, the Natomas Unified School District has had an excellent record for resolving disputes. In fact, during my tenure on the Board, there have been only two grievances that have been raised to the Board for resolution. Both of these issues were resolved to the satisfaction of the teachers. I am very committed to resolving disputes between the NTA and Natomas Unified School District. Since there is not a history of significant, unresolved disputes between the parties, there does not appear to be a practical need for binding arbitration.

Secondly, I believe the use of binding arbitration represents a significant governance issue. All school districts are governed by an elected school board. The board is ultimately responsible to the voters in the district. Binding arbitration allows for this responsibility to be shifted to a non-elected party that has no responsibility to the voters and taxpayers. In the event of an unfavorable outcome, voters would not have a remedy as the arbitrator is not elected and reports to no one. I believe that the Board would be giving up its duties to the voters if binding arbitration were adopted.

On September 16, 2000, The Sacramento Bee commented on the issue of binding arbitration for law enforcement and firefighters. Here is what the The Sacramento Bee had to say about this issue:

Reject binding arbitration: The most dangerous bill to come out of the legislative session is SB 402, authored jointly by Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, and Assemblyman Antonio Villaragosa, D-Los Angeles. It's a blatant attack on local government.

Pushed by police and firefighter unions who have shoved tons of money and law enforcement endorsements at Democratic candidates, SB 402 mandates binding arbitration for a select group of public employees: cops and firefighters -- a terrible idea.

Under its provisions, if contract negotiations between police and firefighters and local elected officials reach an impasse, an unelected arbitrator accountable to no one would take over. Among other things, the arbitrator could decide how much a city or county will pay police and firefighters, when officers can get raises and what their pension benefits, overtime pay and vacation they will receive.

Fire protection and law enforcement services are the biggest slice of any local government budget. For the state to grab that budget authority and turn it over to unelected arbitrators reduces city mayors, council members and county supervisors -- and local voters -- to meaningless figureheads in running their own local governments. At their annual conference last week, delegates at the League of Cities voted overwhelmingly to sue if Davis lets SB 402 becomes law. They should.

As with law enforcement and fire fighters, teachers should not have binding arbitration. Doing so would undermine YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE and the very basics of our democratic society.