NEA-Alaska Legislative Candidate Questionnaire
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Candidate: Bob Doll |
Office: House District 4 |
Candidate responses exceeding
30 words have been truncated.
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 needs-based funding because it is the only way I know of
overcoming the inconsistencies in educational opportunity that have grown up
over time in Alaska, as communities have …. |
If you support needs based
funding, how would you accomplish this?
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The statewide needs assessment conducted a decade or so ago provided a
basis for determining the funding needs for the state's schools. While it was never used to determine the …. |
2. Do you support a return to the instructional unit approach to funding schools?
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No Response Explain: I am not sufficiently familiar with this approach to comment on it. |
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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It seems to me that pupil transportation is one
of those easily quantifiable operatiing costs that literally every school
district faces. It would also appear
that a pupil-mile ratio is …. |
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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The solution to this and many other education funding issues lies in (1)
correcting the fiscal gap and (2) as a part of that process, ensuring that
education is given its proper …. |
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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Yes Explain: I expect that this kind of situation could
be readily examined and verified by use of the well-established auditing
processes in place for many other business areas. |
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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The Act will never be effective for more than a
small portion of the nation so long as differences remain in the financial
support given to education by each community …. |
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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The first, and most urgent requirement, is to
obtain a commitment from the |
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 is a state responsibility, and funding
is at the heart of that responsibility.
Just as teachers and staff must be paid when they are actively at
work, so must …. |
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: Safety takes many forms. One of those is represented by the federal program for "Safe Routes to Schools." We can take advantage of that program, as well as providing in-school …. |
Note: …. indicates the
response has been truncated.