NEA-Alaska Legislative Candidate Questionnaire
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Candidate: Dawn Allen-Herron |
Office: House District 1 |
Adequate Funding
1. Do you support a needs
based process for determining the level of school funding?
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Yes Explain: I support educational funding that is based on pupil needs and assures
that school districts have the resources required to meet local, state, and
federal standards. |
If you support needs based
funding, how would you accomplish this?
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I support a comprehensive review of our state's educational needs. Fully funding educational needs in a cost
effective manner must be included in any long rage fiscal plan. |
2. Do you support a return to the instructional unit approach to funding schools?
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Yes Explain: I support this method as one good approach. My primary concern is achieving adequate funding. Accountability should be ensured by requiring categorical funding to be spent on its intended purpose. |
3. The recent changes in funding for pupil
transportation have had negative impacts in a number of school districts. How would you address this issue?
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School transportation should not be funded with
money intended for classrooms. I
support adequately funding both instructional and trasportation needs, and
eforts to assure that transportation programs are run efficiently. |
4. Will you commit to working with NEA-Alaska
and other groups in developing a long-range plan to supplement current funding
levels and achieve adequate funding for schools within a decade?
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Yes |
Attracting & Retaining Quality
Educators
1. Fiscal uncertainty has caused many “new to
the profession” educators to leave Alaskan school districts and even leave the
state. What would you do to eliminate this annual event that has cost our state
so many valuable educators?
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We need to make educators feel secure in investing their lives and
careers in |
2. Would you work to amend state statute to make
sure that district claims of financial shortfalls are verified by independent
third parties when dealing with the layoff of tenured teachers?
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No Response Explain: Layoffs will be rare if we adequately fund
education! I support amendments which
would assure that the discretion of school boards is not abused in layoff
decisions. |
Elementary
and Secondary Education Act/No Child Left Behind (ESEA/NCLB)
1. Would you support categorical funding so educators (teachers and instructional aides) can receive professional development to meet the standards set by ESEA/NCLB?
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Yes |
2. What amendments to the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act (No Child Left Behind) do you believe need to be made
to make the law workable in Alaska?
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I strongly agree that no child should be left
behind. However, |
3. What are you willing to
do in concert with NEA-Alaska and other organizations to amend No Child Left
Behind to be “Alaska friendly” and to gain full funding of the Act?
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I will work with NEA-Alaska ad others in a
bipartisan coalition focused on making NCLB more |
High Stake Testing.
1. This past year, some students did not receive
diplomas for the sole reason they did not pass the High School Graduation
Qualifying Examination (HSGQE.) Would
you support amending the law to allow schools to assess student knowledge and
abilities through a variety of means and not just through a single test?
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Yes |
2. Would you support funding for additional
programs/staff to specifically assist students having difficulty passing the
HSGQE?
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Yes |
3. Would you support categorical funding for
district-developed remedial programs for students who do not meet standards on
Alaska’s benchmark exams?
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Yes |
PERS/TRS
1. Would you support a single tier for each
public retirement system as a means of attracting and retaining quality
educators?
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Yes |
2. How would you see the state’s public
retirement systems meeting their increasing financial burden?
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Education money is being consumed by this
problem. It must be fixed as a part of
a long range fiscal plan to ensure that new money only goes into classrooms. |
Vouchers
1. Do you support the use of public money for
private and religious schools?
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No |
2. Would you support vouchers?
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No |
3. Would you support tuition tax credits
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No |
Safe Schools
1. Students and staff must feel safe and secure
in our schools for learning to take place.
Would you support funding for programs/staff that have been demonstrated
to increase student and staff safety?
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Yes Explain: Teachers and students deserve a safe working environment. The state should support programs that ensure school safety and can be duplicated across the state. |
Note: …. indicates the
response has been truncated.