Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

For too long, a lack of focus at the state level has caused confusion and needless work for local school districts and teachers. To protect future competitiveness, we need to be producing independent thinkers with an entrepreneurial mindset. We need to trust teachers to be educational entrepreneurs and not just proctors for standardized tests. The emphasis should be placed on critical thinking and creative problem solving and ensuring that STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education and entrepreneurship experience are presented along with writing and research skills.

There is no question that we need to increase funding for education. The "guarantees' that voters believed were in place with Proposition 98 have not prevented the Legislature from cutting deeply into education funding. Stronger laws to protect funding are needed and we need to take on the hard work of reforming the budget overall to ensure that funding is available for education.

Absolute budget transparency, with 100% of the State's budget available on the Web, is needed, along with performance based budgeting, greater oversight of our state agencies and diversification of our revenues away from our current over-reliance on personal income taxes, a relatively volatile source of funding. We also need to take responsibility for improving those things that the schools can't do "double duty' to resolve. One in four children growing up in California is living in poverty. Every child is deserving of early childhood education, food and healthcare. These are the things that will determine our future as a State.

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