Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

Our educators in NC are some of the hardest working people in the workforce. As a whole, they are concerned for the education of their students and their futures. They are professionals working for our future as a community and a state. Many feel this is not the thought from our state government. Regulations and unfunded mandates have created an environment where teachers feel it is hard to do their job and meet the individualized needs of their students. Steps must be taken to improve our educational system.
Pre-K

* As your Senator, I will work on the continued consolation of state programs such as "More at Four" and "Smart Start" and work to blend them with federal programs like Head Start. This will eliminate waste and aid in streamlining their budgeting process.
* I will continue to create studies in the long-range effectiveness for student growth.

K-12

* I will work at every opportunity to implement more controls at the local level where the public can hold leaders accountable.
* I will work to implement a bill to elect the State Board of Education by regions not as appointed positions of the Governor.
* I will work to streamline the testing system to national standard tests such as the California Achievement Test at benchmark grade levels, Grades 3 and 8.
* I believe accountability needs to be under the control of the local school systems with auditing review teams from the state. The model needs to be similar to the Southern Association Accreditation process.
* I will support the elimination of the cap on charter schools and use them as "think tanks" to generate new practices for the whole system
* I will work for diversification of curriculum to help with economic needs of communities such as vocational programs

Community College

* As a Senator, I will work to ensure a focus on job retraining, basic skills, education of small business owners, and entrepreneurship
* I will support programs that create strong ties with existing businesses to help with their training needs.
* I will implement legislation to encourage proper long-range budgeting to meet the schools' needs in bad economic times.

University System

* An understanding needs to be in place that the university system is part of the whole educational system from Pre-K to college.
* I will work to curtail lobbying from the university system. This needs to be limited and controlled
* I will work to ensure fair practices in tuition costs need.

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