NEA-Alaska Legislative Candidate Questionnaire
|
Candidate: Bonnie Williams |
Office:
House 7 |
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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No Explain: The current formula seems
to be working. The issue is merely
sufficient funding per student. |
If you support needs based
funding, how would you accomplish this?
|
|
2. Do you support a return to the instructional unit approach to funding schools?
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No Explain: Same as to #1. |
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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I would call for a review of the funding and problems arisen,
determine whether and how changes should be made, and seek those changes as
necessary. This, together with
per-student … |
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?
|
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?
|
What are the
causes? Solving a problem requires
understanding the roots, and that understanding can lead to solutions. If it’s purely uncertainty leading to “pink
slips” for untenured teachers, subsequently … |
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: |
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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No |
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
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ESEA seems unworkable for rural/Bush |
3. What are you willing to
do in concert with NEA-Alaska and other organizations to amend No Child Left
Behind to be “
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Work with the Congressional Delegation, the State Board of
Education, NEA and others to find reasonable amendments. |
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?
|
No |
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
|
Yes – for special
reading and math programs at the elementary level, and for summer school
for junior high students – both limited to test-identified students who are
below grade-level. |
PERS/TRS
1. Would you support a single tier for each
public retirement system as a means of attracting and retaining quality
educators?
|
No |
2. How would you see the state’s public
retirement systems meeting their increasing financial burden?
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The public retirement systems need reform. This means statutory changes to create a
Tier 4; to require liability reports that are no more than 12 months out of
date with … |
Vouchers
1. Do you support the use of public money for
private and religious schools?
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Yes – in limited ways, such
as school buses in |
2. Would you support vouchers?
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Yes |
3. Would you support tuition tax credits
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No Tax credits against what
tax? |
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: Especially: re-empower teachers to control classrooms, and principals to control schools. |
Note: … indicates the response has been truncated.