Auburn Pta Voters Guide '08 (47th).

Auburn PTA Voters Guide '08 This Voters Guide provides Candidate perspectives on WSPTA's top Legislative Priorities. It shares Candidate views on our Priorities with both PTA members and the general public. WSPTA's top Priorities for the 2009 Legislative Session, as passed by our Legislative Assembly are: • • • • •

Basic Education Funding Strengthening Math and Science Curriculum and Education Washington State Assessment System Improvements The State Board of Education's Core 24 Framework Rational Approaches to Teacher Compensation

Find more about WSPTA's perspective on these Issues at our 2008 Issues Guide, www.wastatepta.org/leg/Issue_Guide_08.pdf (pages 5, 8, 14, 12, and 10). We asked Candidates to share their views on our top Priorities and on K-12 education in general.

Candidates statements for Auburn's 47th Legislative District (North Auburn) follow.

Click here to find your District 47th District (Kent, North Auburn) Representatives: Position 1: Geoff Simpson Position 2: Pat Sullivan

map Mark Hargrove Timothy Miller Candidates' Invitations

Candidates put in roughly 50 hours composing and expressing their views on our WSPTA top Priority Issues. We probably put in around 100 on our end. We hope you find this presentation of your Washington State Legislature Candidates perspectives useful.

pat montgomery-

Auburn Council of PTAs Advocacy Chair [email protected]

253/735-6791

Auburn Council of PTAs is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization

47th District for Representative Position 1: Geoff Simpson Every child in our state deserves a great education that adequately prepares them to face tomorrow’s challenges. In fact, our constitution says public education is the “paramount duty of the state.” As a father of three schoolaged children, I intimately understand the desire to see our children receive the best education possible. That is why I have worked hard to make sure our schools have the resources necessary to allow our children to succeed. We all know that teacher quality is one of the most important elements in determining whether students will succeed. Therefore, it is critical that we put policies in place that allow us to attract and retain the best and the brightest to teach our children. At minimum, this means providing teachers with wages that are competitive with what they would earn in private industry. It also requires giving them access to high quality professional development, so that they can continually improve their teaching skills. We must ensure that we have in place a culture that gives our children the best opportunity to succeed. That is why I support policies that encourage small class sizes, early childhood education and programs designed to support individualized learning. Strongly linked to this is the need for an assessment system that is diagnostic in nature and provides timely results so that deficiencies can be addressed quickly and effectively. It is our job to make sure that every child is prepared for life after high school, whether they choose to pursue further education or enter the workforce. That is why I support strong academic standards, especially in the foundational subjects of math, science, reading and writing and have fought hard to provide more money to our schools for vocational education. Students should leave our public schools with a solid foundation of knowledge that they can build upon the rest of their lives. As a committed public servant, and as a father, the health of our educational system is very important to me. That is why I look forward to continuing to fight for strong public education during the next legislative session. Together, we can ensure that every child in Washington State receives the high quality education that they deserve. Rep. Geoff Simpson Website: www.votesimpson.com

47th District for Representative Position 1: Mark Hargrove •

Basic Education Funding

Although we currently spend $11,500 per student per year, at Auburn High School this year, because a few math books needed to be replaced, the department could not afford enough calculators for their classrooms. I fully support efforts to get more of that money to the school districts and schools themselves where they can best decide how it is spent. I expect that additional funding will be possible by acting on audits of our needlessly bureaucratic education system which will yield similar savings to those already found in other areas of our government. •

Strengthening Math and Science Curriculum and Education

I have an engineering degree from the Air Force Academy and taught high school level math at the Air Force Academy Prep School. My wife and daughter both teach high school math at Auburn High School. I fully appreciate the importance of math and science education. But, when seven states were offered millions of dollars for improving advanced math and science education, our state was the only one to decline the offer because of the monetary rewards for additional work or excellence. Our priorities are way out of whack. •

Washington State Assessment System Improvements

Teachers, parents and students have all expressed their frustrations to me that weeks of the school year are spent teaching how to pass the WASL. And once the test is taken and graded, how do we know if our students are getting the best results possible, if we have no other results from other states with which to compare? I am open to discussing alternatives, but it may be that we need to switch to a proven, standardized test. •

The State Board of Education's Core 24 Framework

The pain of repeating a class may be far better than going to the next course without understanding the previous one. The same concept is true of high school graduation. I am convinced that in the long run, students and our country will be better off if we insist on high standards for graduation. Colleges should once again be able to trust that a student who has a high school diploma really is ready for college. •

Rational Approaches to Teacher Compensation

While a certain amount of a teacher’s motivation comes from his desire to teach, simple supply and demand economics requires that our teacher pay structure have the flexibility to attract, motivate and retain the variety of teachers needed in our schools. www.hargroveforhouse.com

47th District for Representative Position 2 Pat Sullivan Basic Education Funding. This simply must be the top priority for the 2009 Legislature. We cannot expect our students and teachers to do more without giving them the resources necessary to do the job. At the same time, we need to develop a better system of accountability to ensure that our new investments are making a difference. We also need to make school funding more transparent and understandable. As a member of the Joint Basic Education Funding Task Force, I look forward to making meaningful recommendations to the Legislature and then working to make sure those recommendations are enacted into law. Strengthening Math and Science Curriculum and Education. Our math and science test scores clearly show that we are struggling with math and science education. While we have made some advances in the past few years by improving our state standards and requiring OSPI to determine which curriculum is best aligned with those new standards, there is much more work to be done. First and foremost, we must attract talented new math and science teachers into the profession to meet the current demand. We must also continue to address the curriculum issue by providing tools to districts to ensure that they have materials fully aligned to our standards. Lastly, we must improve professional development and give our teachers the time necessary to collaborate and plan their coursework. Washington State Assessment System Improvements. As a member of the WASL review task force, I look forward to making common sense recommendations on improving our existing assessment system. We were successful last session in shortening the elementary and middle school WASLs and moving to end-of–course assessments in math. I believe we also need to focus more attention on classroom based assessments and diagnostic tools that will provide useful tools to our students, teachers, and parents. The state also must provide the resources necessary to ensure that districts and schools are able to integrate these new tools into their assessment systems. The State Board of Education’s Core 24 Framework. In order for our students to compete for jobs in the global economy they must have the skills necessary to be successful. The Core 24 framework will move our education system forward and ensure that our students are ready to move on to whatever their goals are after high school – a four-year university, vocational education opportunities, apprenticeships, or moving directly into the workforce. Core 24 will only be successful, however, if we make necessary investments in our K-12 system so that every student has the opportunities that will help them succeed. Rational Approaches to Teacher Compensation. First, we need to increase the base level pay for new teachers. We need to attract the best and the brightest into the teaching profession. Next, we need to provide opportunities for veteran teachers to mentor those that are entering the system and pay them to do so. We also need to recognize and reward school buildings that are doing a great job and recognize regional cost differences for teachers that are teaching in high cost areas. www.votepatsullivan.com

47th District for Representative Position 2 Timothy Miller Basic Education Funding: The primary function of our state government is to fund education. This represents 38% of our annual budget. It is essential that education remains a priority and is funded properly. It is important that the funds are effectively managed and are distributed in a way that will best impact the students’ daily instructional environment and learning. We must cut wasteful spending and redirect those dollars to fund programs that contribute to a total well rounded educational experience for our children. Strengthening Math and Science Curriculum and Education: Technology is a vital part of our daily lives and our children must be ready to face the challenges ahead. Science and Math are an important curricular component to this, and must continue to be at the forefront of our educational system. We need to look to new and innovative ways to adapt these curriculums to address these modern challenges, including increasing the availability of advanced technological tools, and creating a connection between math and science skills to the careers of tomorrow. Washington State Assessment System Improvements: We must develop a fair and comprehensive way of holding our students and teachers accountable to a high and consistent standard of learning. The way we assess this must be fair and just. The current WASL testing system is not the answer. It takes too much time from classroom instruction and forces teachers and districts to “teach to a test” rather than focusing on the education of students. With the cooperation and input of both parents and teachers we can create a more effective way of measuring important educational benchmarks. The State Board of Education's Core 24 Framework: The main function of our educational system is to prepare our students to become contributing members of society. Core 24 will guide our high school students to think about future goals and challenge them to focus on their high school education in obtaining these goals. Currently students can easily complete 20 credits by their junior year. Raising the credit requirements to 24 will have little effect on the budget as this number of credits is already being offered to students. Students would be held to a higher standard and will not have the option of failing classes and still expect to graduate in four years. Rational Approaches to Teacher Compensation: Teachers are on the frontline of our educational programs and play the most important role on our students’ education. We must entice highly qualified professionals into this field, and a competitive rewarding compensation is essential to this. Increased wages need to go hand in hand with increased standards. Reviews need to be put in place with parent, district, community, administrative, and teacher co-operation. Where teachers are not progressing and not rendering the quality of service desired they need to be directed to a different occupation. The state could pay extra compensation for teachers that gain specialized certification in key areas of need or reimburse costs of the extra training teachers must take to gain such specialized certifications. www.millerforchange.com

Auburn PTA Voters Guide '08 - Candidates' Invitation

_

We asked Legislative Candidates to share their perspectives on PTA's top five priorities, with the following email. We followed up with a confirming phone call and emails insuring that they received their invitation to participate: Dear {Legislative Candidate}, On October third, 240 delegates from around the state chose five top priorities for PTA member action around the '09 Legislative session. Many of Auburn PTA Council's 1,200 members will likely vote in the upcoming election. Many are quite concerned with education issues. With 14,500 students in the Auburn School District alone, there is good reason for them to be concerned. With five days remaining before ballots are mailed, we would like to share your perspectives on education with your Auburn and Pierce County PTA constituents. Between now and Monday the 20th, we will assemble a 'Voters Guide', with you and your opponent's views on the following '09 WSPTA Priority Issues: •

Basic Education Funding

Strengthening Math and Science Curriculum and Education

• •

Washington State Assessment System Improvements

•

The State Board of Education's Core 24 Framework •

Rational Approaches to Teacher Compensation

You can find more of WSPTA's views on these five Issues at our 2008 Issue Guide, www.wastatepta.org/leg/Issue_Guide_08.pdf (pages 5, 8, 14, 12, and 10). These are our perspectives, but we're more interested in your views on these issues. We very much hope that you will address these topics directly in our 25th District Voters Guide. Our timeline: •

Wednesday (Oct 15th): Email Candidate Questionnaires

•

Thursday: Phone candidates' campaign offices, confirming delivery, and asking them to participate in the Voters Guide

•

Sunday midnight: Deadline for candidate responses

•

Monday (17th): Assemble responses into your 25th District Auburn PTA Voters Guides. Tuesday and following: Distribute Voters Guides as broadly as possible to Auburn and Pierce County PTA members, local media, and members of the general public.

We've only room for one page of response each, about 400 words. We'll format it to fit, but many more words than 400 will require printing it in a smaller font. Please feel free to include links to your website. We very much look forward to you and your campaign's participation in our 2008 Auburn PTA Voters Guide. Best of luck in the election, and the 2009 Legislative Session.

Auburn Council of PTAs is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization