CHRISTENSEN

A:

Teachers are leaving the profession for many reasons: They don’t feel supported, lack of discipline in the classroom, wariness over faddish teaching guidelines, prohibitions of teaching students in person, absurd mandates for teacher and students, substandard or politically motivated curriculum, overaggressive teachers unions that have little interest in advancing the needs of children and students, perverse tenure and last-in/firstout policies, and inadequate pension systems.

I would petition the Legislature to directly deal with these issues, changing laws it has passed in recent years, including those dealing with discipline. I would also sponsor legislation to remove the last-in/ first-out policy and extend when teacher tenure could be granted to after three years teaching (if not five years). Currently, teachers only need to work for two consecutive years to be tenured, but most school principals are not able to effectively evaluate new teachers in such a short time frame. There are teachers who agree with this approach. I would advocate for fewer mandates from the Legislature and governor and let school districts make better decisions about how to deal with their students. Also, we need to reverse curriculum processes that are fundamentally misguided like the current math framework.

Q:

The Local Control Funding Formula, approved in 2013, was supposed to provide funds to directly help Englishlanguage learners, foster children and students from poor families. Some say funding has been diverted to other uses. What would you do about this issue if elected?

A:

If the Legislature committed funding to specific programs and money is not going to those programs or used for their intended purposes, I would push forward with audits of these programs. Any money that is misappropriated needs to be returned and those entitled to the funds, especially foster youth, should be made whole.

Q:

State public school enrollment is plunging. How do California school districts adapt to this? Should systemic school closures and layoffs be considered? What role do charter schools or alternative education play?

A:

California is being governed by people who make it very difficult and expensive to live, work and thrive in the state, thus driving a large portion of the frustrated population away. But it’s not just the high costs of living, housing shortages, expensive energy costs and failing education system. There are a lot of cultural divides that also push people away from the Golden State. Of those issues, woke curriculum, educational opportunities and school choice are at the top of issues parents share with me for their reasons in leaving.

While I would hope that the Legislature could promote better policy and law, I would do what I could to sponsor legislation that would improve our schools and education system by giving parents more choice in how they educate their children. School districts are ultimately responsible for the number of teachers they have, but often the costs of contracts, mandates, and benefit and pension costs make it very difficult to keep the right number of teachers. Also, there are districts with administrative bloat that needs to be addressed. And if schools aren’t making the grade, charter schools should be increased in school districts for better competition at a lower cost per student.