League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	Santa Clara County, CA November 2, 2010 Election
	Candidates Answer Questions on the Issues Board Member; Union Elementary School District

The questions were prepared by the Leagues of Women Voters of Santa Clara County and asked of all candidates for this office.     See below for questions on Funding, Instruction, Future Click on a name for candidate information.   See also more information about this contest. 1. How would you determine that the schools are using federal, state, and local funds wisely and fairly and how would you report your findings to the community? Answer from Brian Stark: Parents and voters can see money is being spent in a general way. What I want is a breakdown of how exactly the money is being spent, how much is going to each school and for what purpose, how much is going to the district office, compensation for administration officials appointed and elected. I also want to put that information on the district website with a direct link to the budget administrator on the same page to ask further questions. Answer from Reid Bierly: Test Scores are one tool to determine the appropriate and fair use of government funds. Monitoring if our elementary and middle school children ultimately graduate from high school and continue on to college is another good way to measure success. Report Findings -School Newsletter -Form a new community committee to prioritize use of non-restricted funds according to parent / community priorities -Website -Home & School Club Meetings Answer from Cindy Goodsell: I carefully review the budget reports both during the budget creation process and as the year progresses. Of course all of our budget workshops are open to the community. In addition, we have added our district's budget information to our website so community members have access to it at all times. We want the budget creation process to be as transparent as possible and that helps to ensure that the funds are spent wisely and fairly. 2. Are the schools offering instruction appropriate to the diverse educational abilities of all the students? Answer from Cindy Goodsell: Making sure that our instruction meets the individual learning needs of each child has been an important focus of the district over the past five years. We have invested in significant training opportunities for our teachers on how to differentiate instruction and have embraced the 'response to intervention' model where students are grouped for language arts each day according to their specific learning needs. The district has put into place software that allows teachers to review students test results individually and see exactly which California standards each student needs additional instruction on. This allows our teachers to better meet the diverse educational needs of our students. Answer from Brian Stark: Individually the schools are run very well. Principals have created a healthy relationship between teachers, students, and parents. Parental involvment is significant in the district and is one of the biggest factors in the success of the district. Teachers work together to create instruction programs which are flexible to different skill levels. Each school has staff dedicated to promoting excellence in at least reading. The district also offers a variety of EL programs which are mostly funded by state and federal money. These programs are more vulnerable to state and federal budget cuts. Answer from Reid Bierly: Overall yes. However there are opportunities to improve instruction for certain subgroups such as special needs and ethnicities. 3. Where do want the district to be 5 years from now? What steps should the district take to get there? Answer from Cindy Goodsell: The district is in the process of going from good to great. We have made significant progress towards this goal over the past five years. This year the district joined an elite group of districts including Los Gatos, Los Altos, Saratoga,and Cupertino with API scores over 900. We have been piloting some new programs that show tremendous promise and we should implement these programs district-wide. In particular, I would like to see the district continue with our 'response to intervention' model. We need to continue providing excellent training for our teachers on how to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of children across the spectrum from learning disabled to gifted. Our finances are stable with a long-term plan, adequate reserves and a balanced budget. We need to continue along this path. To date, we have not lost any teaching days like most of our neighboring districts which have eliminated as many as 5 days of classroom instruction from the school year. I want to see the district continue to maintain a full school year and low class sizes. Our award winning music programs at the middle schools introduce many students to playing an instrument. Maintaining funding for our music and sports programs needs to remain a priority. We need to continue relentlessly pursuing excellence in everything we do! Answer from Reid Bierly: -Educate well rounded students able to compete globally -Desireable work environment to attract superior teachers -Focus the budget on parent and teacher priorities Steps to Achieve 1. Elect Reid Bierly 2. Board Liaison for District Teachers and Classified (Aids, Janitors, Secretaries, etc.) 3. Deep Analysis of Current Budget 4. Community Survey for Under-Funded Priorities Answer from Brian Stark: I really don't want to mess with the academic achievements of the district. My biggest concern is the state budget cuts. If we don't raise the money locally we will have to cut into the muscle of our academics. I think the best way to do that is expanding the use of school facilites during non-school hours to generate more revenue. I also want to promote a constructive environment for teachers and classified employees. They work hard and should feel adequately respected for their efforts. Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' responses are not edited or corrected by the League. Answers must not refer directly or indirectly to another candidate. The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page.