As your member on the Kansas State Board of Education, I will demand accountability, results, and educational excellence. I support high teaching standards and proven certification and aptitude in course subjects, but I also recognize that we need to adjust and reform our policies to recruit quality educators and retain them.

I want to give local boards and local districts control over class offerings and implementing state and federal testing requirements. Local districts and boards (accountable to their voters) should have the authority to implement and adjust policies to ensure students are academically proficient.

Currently, only 33% of Kansas students are considered college-ready when they graduate from high school and we rank in the middle (#25) nationally on 4th grade reading scores. Surrounding states rank much higher on the measure of 4th grade reading than Kansas. This needs to change. We need to revamp our reading assessments and standards for testing 4th grade reading.  Even more alarming, Kansas graduation rates vary by district from 39 percent to 80 percent.  We need to focus on districts with retention issues and aim for 70 percent graduation rate across the board in all districts in Kansas.

We also need to maintain our competitive edge, which requires that we maintain our current, sound and progressive science standards which are void of ideology and political interference.  Furthermore, our schools need less specific mandates from the state on how state testing policies and guidelines are implemented and taught—instead, we should empower teachers, parents, and local districts by giving local boards and districts more discretion in how they implement certain programs, controversial health issues outside of the academic curricula, and staffing hiring and firing policies.  After all, local districts and administrators are held directly accountable by parents and voters.

Our well-performing teachers must be compensated with better pay and benefits--we need to have a system that rewards hard work and dedication. We also need incentives to attract and retain quality teachers coming from outside of our state and bring professionals in business, science, and medical fields into the schools to teach part-time to full-time. Additionally, our high school juniors and seniors would be well-served by a statewide internship/career mentorship program to encourage interest in science, mathematics, and engineering.

Here in the 2nd district, economic growth and business relocation vitally depends on the quality public school systems here in Johnson County.  We need to not only maintain our quality schools, but provide our schools and schools throughout Kansas with the resources to educate students to compete and excel in a globalized economy.  Our students deserve nothing less.  It’s time to get back to the basics while preparing our students for the jobs of tomorrow, not the jobs of yesterday.