League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Santa Clara County, CA November 2, 2004 Election
	Ernie Konnyu Answers Questions Candidate for Member of the State Assembly; District 24

Read the answers from all candidates.

Questions & Answers

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

The Legislature must accept Governor Schwarzenegger's spending priciple, that is, spend no more than you have to spend. The Legislature should seriously evaluate the key spending controls recommended to it by the Reason Foundation through their Citizen Budget Plan. Using these tools combined with the Governor's spending control negotiations with spending groups should allow us to avoid tax rate increases that would damage our recovering economy.

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

Teach each child to read, write, and speak the English language by graduation. The $25 billion dollar special categorical spending through some 110 educational programs has created a giant level of unaccountable maze of spending that even experts can't figure out. Most of the funds should be re-categorized into block grants (no strings attached except it is for results based educational improvement) for schools. Testing should be continued and pressure to improve should be placed on low performing schools.

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

The state must work with the president and the U.S. Congress to settle federal/state water allocation issues. The Legislature should consider the Governor's recommendations on water issues.

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

The key is to create more competition among insurance companies for lower rates. In urban areas require employers to offer multiple health care plans for employees to choose from the same as the federal government offers their civil service employees.