|
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,
Curriculum,
Goals
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 Chris Zhang:
We must spend money smartly, and responsive to our local community needs. We need to recognize just throwing money at a problem will often not solve the problem. Every issue needs to be studied carefully, and everyone in the community should have a voice. As a board member, I will do my homework and listen broadly to everyone.
Answer from Anjali Kausar:
I am a very involved board member, I study and prepare for every board meeting, asking good questions and always keeping the focus on children in our district. The message is shared with community in various ways, such as district wide communications, being involved in the community and talking to parents and interested community members, using social media, etc.
Answer from Soma Bhattacharyya McCandless:
My key principal when managing the complexity of a public school system budget will be to put students first. As a member of the district's Budget Advisory Committee, I regularly review the CUSD budget and fiscal processes. As a member of the Citizen's Parcel Tax Oversight Committee, I review and certify that tax expenditures are made in accordance with the law. As a Trustee, I will participate in the budget process and engage regularly with teachers, students, administrators, parent and community members.
We all have a stake in keeping our schools great for Cupertino and surrounding cities. This is why I've been a leader in the CUSD, advocating for excellent education, supporting capital expansion and securing stable recurring funding. I am passionate about seeing our children succeed and I am ready to contribute further.
Answer from Kristen Pan Lyn:
As an experienced finance professional, I will work diligently on understanding the operation of the district as well as the relevant federal, state and local laws of the funding to assure our district spends funds wisely and fairly. Transparency, Communication, Fiscal Responsibility and Accountability are my top priorities and the Board needs to reach out to the entire community through forums, e-mails, social media and one-to-one conversation with the stakeholders.
|
2. Are the schools offering instruction appropriate to the diverse educational abilities of all the students?
|
Answer from Soma Bhattacharyya McCandless:
As the economic environment improves, CUSD has the opportunity to expand what and how it teaches. The new common-core standard has the potential to enhance our students' primary educational experience, challenging our students to understand concepts, apply them to novel situations and articulate their reasoning. The standard promotes collaboration and embraces diversity of background and thought. Once adopted, our District will have an even greater capacity to serve a diverse community and generate excellent outcomes.
Like any large change, adoption will continue to require additional training and diligent management. CUSD has improved its performance even during the most challenging economic period in generations. As a board member, I will continue to be a strong financial steward while managing the adoption of the federal and state standards.
Answer from Kristen Pan Lyn:
CUSD has an excellent reputation in terms of offering instruction appropriate to the diverse educational abilities of all the students. We will continue on the right path and provide adequate professional development for teaching staff as well as multiple assessment of students at different grade levels for proper placement (such as Common Core Math), timely and adequate support to meet the need of all the students.
Answer from Anjali Kausar:
We are in the first full year of common core implementation, for the last 2 years we have been providing extensive professional development for our teachers and communicating with our families so everyone understands the changes that are happening in our district. Common Core has given us the opportunity to further meet the needs of our diverse populations by making instruction more customized.
Answer from Chris Zhang:
For the most part, our schools are doing well to cater the needs of our unique local students. However, 2014 is the first year of full implementation of Common Core. While its impact is still being evaluated, the school board needs to provide full support to our teachers and students to help make the transition as smooth as possible.
|
3. Where do you want the District to be five years from now? What steps should the District take to get there?
|
Answer from Soma Bhattacharyya McCandless:
By 2019, the state will be nearing the end of the LCFF restoration timetable, restoring the schools' per ADA funding to 2008 levels. I want our District to be fiscally at least as well off as we project now, given the funding restoration and the prudent steps we've taken so far. In the intervening time, I will continue to advocate for stable sources of funding, including the continued provision of contingency funding to stabilize our forecast.
I also want CUSD to remain one of California's most sought after districts, and enhance its academic and enrichment programs to offer our students even more. Part of what motivated me devote so much effort to Project Cornerstone, was the program's mission to help students learn about character traits that lead to academic, social and emotional wellness.
With a stable budgetary forecast, we have the opportunity to improve not just what we teach, but how we develop confident, capable citizens for the next century.
Answer from Anjali Kausar:
In 5 years common core should be fully implemented and we would have learned what worked and what did not. Thus we should use the good strategies and make it even better for our students. We should have an environment where we teach and learn in every single interaction. We are on that path as we embrace the changes with common core.
Answer from Chris Zhang:
We will continue to improve the quality of our schools over the next 5 years. As common core takes hold, we need to make sure our schools excel under the new curriculum. At the same time, over-crowding and traffic congestion threaten to compromise our education quality. The school board needs to work with other local governments to collaboratively tackle these issues - control residential development, increase learning and play space per pupil, and find innovative solutions to reduce traffic congestion.
Answer from Kristen Pan Lyn:
I have listed what I want the District to be five years from now with the proposed steps:
1. Adequate funding (as CUSD is currently one of the lowest per-student funding districts in our area- based funding of $6,363 per ADA): work with the legislators as well as other organizations such as CSBA (California School Board Association), CTA (California Teachers Association) and our stakeholders to reach this goal.
2. Sufficient facilities and qualified teaching staff (to address the increase of enrollment and CCSS implementation):
a. Facility Bond implementation(on our Measure H Bond Program ($220M) - $95M for elementary schools, $77M for middle schools and $48M for district wide. The implement plan is from 2013-2018)
b. continuous funding for staff professional development.
Responses to questions asked of each candidate
are reproduced as submitted to the League.
Candidates' statements are presented as
submitted. The answer to each question should be limited to 400 words. Direct references to opponents are not permitted.
The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page.
| 
League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
