League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Marin, San Francisco, Sonoma Counties, CA November 2, 2004 Election
	Andrew D. Felder Answers Questions Candidate for State Senator; District 3

Read the answers from all candidates.

Questions & Answers

1. What does California need to do to address the current budget crisis?

Impose a hard spending cap on all future outlays. Limit increases in spending to the rate of population growth plus inflation.

2. What should the state's priorities be for K-12 education? For the Community College System?

Focus should be on improving student performance. Too much money is wasted catering to powerful political constituencies within the school system such as the service employees unions and teacher's unions. Schools should be about the students, not the bureaucrats, administrators, and related workers. Schools don't exist to create jobs for political supporters, but to educate our children. That, and that alone, should be our focus.

3. What measures would you support to address California's water needs?

Better balance is needed between agricultural interests and the needs of urban and suburban residents.

4. What should the Legislature be doing to address the needs of Californians without health insurance?

The public's investment in health care needs to do more to emphasize Wellness, instead of strictly treatment. Wellness investment is practices within the corporate world because it's good economics for the employer, good for the lifestyle of the individual, and good policy for community. It's a win-win-win. We in government need to similarly start shifting resources towards wellness to reduce our longterm healthcare costs.