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Legislative House Candidate
Questionnaire
Campaign 2006
Candidate: Harry Crawford, Jr. House District: 21
Candidate responses exceeding 30 words have been truncated.
ADEQUATE FUNDING
1. Presently three methods are recognized by
experts and the courts as reliable means to determine adequate funding: resource cost, best schools, and professional
judgment. Do you support the use of a
recognized, research based study to determine the adequate funding level of
K-12 schools?
Yes
Explain:
I support full funding for K-12. I want excellence in education and I’m
willing to do what it takes to get it.
If you
support an adequate funding study, how would you accomplish this?
We are leaving a couple of billion a year on the
table. If we tax up to the world average
of taxation we can do both the study and the increased funding for education.
2. Do you support the use of area cost
differential factors to provide equity in school funding?
Yes
Rationale
Costs in
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?
Full funding for pupil transportation.
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
Rationale
The time is now.
We need to achieve adequate funding now, not in 10 years.
5. Would you support adequate funding of
Yes
Rationale
Education is our future.
LONG-RANGE FINANCIAL PLAN
The 23rd
and 24th Legislatures identified several revenue sources for
consideration: alcohol tax, cruise ship tax, fuel tax, income tax, sales tax,
and use of the Permanent Fund earnings.
Please
list, in priority order, the sources you would utilize to create a long-range
fiscal plan.
I would
adjust oil and gas taxes up to the level of the world wide average and use the
surplus to set up an endowment to fund education.
PERS/TRS
1. What percentage of their salary at retirement
do you believe public employee retirees should have to retire with dignity?
66%-75%
2. Given that most public school employees will
not be able to collect Social Security benefits due to the federal law
(GPO/WEP), the employees’ retirement income must come from their pension plan
and personal income. Do you believe a defined
contribution plan with a 15% of salary contribution will generate a pension
that will provide a retirement with dignity?
No
If not,
what do you propose to do to provide public employees access to a pension plan
that provides a retirement with dignity?
I believe in a defined benefit pension program
that is paid no matter what the level of funding is, just like the Multiple
Employer Welfare Assoc., just as the building …
3. Would you support returning to a defined
benefits retirement plan as a means of attracting and retaining quality
educators?
Yes
Rationale
They are cheaper and better yet never leave employees
high and dry.
4. According to recent actuarial reports, PERS
and TRS have unfunded liabilities. How
do you see the state eliminating these unfunded liabilities to meet their
financial obligations to retirees?
By funding them sooner rather than later because
the sooner we fund them the better the markets can do to fix the shortfall.
5. Will you commit to consulting with NEA-Alaska
and other employee organizations whose members are participants in TRS and PERS
when changes to the retirement plans are being considered?
Yes
Rationale
Who would know better.
ATTRACTING
& RETAINING QUALITY EDUCATORS
The #1
factor in student achievement is a quality teacher supported by quality
administrators and support staff. It is
well known that
1. What do you believe are the three essential
factors in recruiting and retaining quality teachers?
Good wages and working conditions; good benefits;
time to teach.
2. As a legislator, what will you do to address
these factors?
Same thing I would do as a private citizen. Run
an initiative.
3. Fiscal uncertainty has caused many “new to the profession”
educators to leave Alaskan school districts and even leave the state. According
to Commissioner Roger Sampson, the out-of-pocket cost to a school district of
losing a teacher is $12,000. What would
you do to eliminate this annual turnover that has cost our state so many
valuable educators?
Provide good wages and working
conditions as well as good benefits coupled with smaller class sizes.
4. 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?
Yes
Rationale
Trust but verify.
CLASS SIZE
An
important factor in student achievement is small class size. Bills were introduced in the legislature, but
little has been done to address the issue.
Would you support a bill that sets recommended class size by grade level
and provides for additional funds to schools that meet the standards.
Yes
Rationale
That is part of the citizen’s initiative that we
are proposing.
If yes,
would you introduce such a bill and seek co-sponsors?
Yes
Rationale
We need a bill that coincides with the initiative
we are providing.
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?
Yes
Rationale
Sounds like a laudable goal to me in light of
recent violence.
2. A safe learning environment is a key factor
in student achievement. Would you
support the use of restraining orders for individuals who threaten or endanger
students or public school employees in the public school environment?
Yes
3. Would you support legislation to
make a school-related assault on an education employee an
aggravating factor in sentencing?
Yes
HIGH STAKES TESTING
1. For the past three years, 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
Yes
2. Would you support categorical funding for
district-developed remedial programs for students who do not meet standards on
Yes
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
What
additional ideas do you have to improve K-12 education in
A class size initiative to provide extra funding
for schools that provide classes under 16.
