League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Los Angeles County, CA March 5, 2013 Election
	Antonio Sanchez Answers Questions Candidate for Board Member; Los Angeles Unified School District; District 6

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. What is the single most important issue facing LAUSD today? As a Board Member, what would you do to deal with it?

There is no panacea or simple solution to fix the system. We need to develop a comprehensive, multi-step plan that can help us address various issues plaguing our schools. We need to ensure that teachers are vital and helpful partners. They must have access to the necessary resources and support to offer their students the best education possible. On-site administrators must be equipped to manage their teachers and staff--they need to equitably support, discipline and inspire a school site to succeed.

2. How would you prioritize your local constituency in overseeing LAUSD management, setting District policy, and day-to-day decision-making?

We need to prioritize students and ensure they are in the best learning environments possible. We can start by increasing expectations for all students. We should hold students to the highest standards of achievement possible. More importantly we need to take strategic steps. For instance, WE KNOW which schools are failing and succeeding. For each failing school, we need to bring additional resources to the campus to help analyze and evaluate the problems, and make the necessary changes in order to have our students learn and be successful. We need to create a team of education experts and best teachers and send the team to each failing school. LAUSD is upside down- the best teachers and administrators work at the best schools where students typically start with the higher test scores. To be true problem solvers- the best need to help improve the troubled schools and students. I would propose a teacher/ administrative team to spend a week or more at the challenge school: Analyze, Evaluate and Make Recommendations for action steps to improve the school. We should then monitor their progress towards those recommendations. We must also encourage local control and ownership of schools, empower principals, and promote models that bring parents, teachers, and principals together to develop strategies to improve student performance.

3. What experience in general management, fiscal management, and budgetary oversight would you bring to the job of Board Member?

The voters helped stabilize the budget with the passage of Prop. 30, but we're still in a budget crunch. I will prioritize the classroom and student learning. I'll do everything I can to build the quality of education our students receive.

4. How should LAUSD deal with its rapidly increasing costs for retiree and employee health care?

Facing significant pension and healthcare liabilities, part of the solution lies in attacking the underlying causes of escalating healthcare costs -- health risk factors such as obesity, diet, stress, and lack of exercise; variability in the availability and consistency of care; and a lack of "transparency" in the purchase of healthcare. Structural changes are needed at the state and national level for better health care costs.

5. What part should standardized testing play in LAUSD’s educational programs?

Standardized testing is just a component of student achievement that does not reflect multiple intelligences. Moreover, many students are not good test takers. It is convenient for public officials to use, rather than address other factors - like parent involvement, attendance, & discipline.

There are many factors that affect student growth and we don't have a reliable model that isolates teacher effectiveness. Developing a fair system that pertains to all teachers and does not punish teachers who work with the neediest students is still a major gap.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League. 

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: January 8, 2013 11:44
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