Thursday, October 07, 1999
Where school board candidates stand
LOUIS BUSCHLE
Vouchers or charter schools: Charter schools work best when the mission is beyond the scope of public schools. Vouchers should be offered if a school continually does not meet Ohio standards and the district offers no other choices.
Priority for district money: Funds should be spent for student instruction, first; administration, second; and building repairs third. Spending must be monitored to ensure value.
Dealing with state: CPS should lobby to increase its share of Ohio funding while maintaining local control. CPS must develop rapport with Columbus officials.
Teachers' pay: CPS teachers are near the top in Greater Cincinnati. Salaries should be competitive so CPS can recruit the best teachers. Compensation should be based on performance.
Community involvement: CPS doesn't adequately reach out. The board should encourage more dialogue at meetings and be represented in groups like Cincinnatians for Public Education. Board members and administrators should attend school and community functions.
Most important issue: Student achievement must improve quickly and dramatically. CPS must restore public confidence.
JOHN GILLIGAN
Vouchers and charter schools: Vouchers and charter schools might play a useful role in public education but only if subject to the local school board's governance. Public financing requires public accountability.
Priority for district money: Top priority is improving instruction. This involves a constant assessment of what works and what doesn't.
Dealing with state: The district should work closely with other districts, especially the Big Eight, to press the state into meeting its constitutional responsibility of maintaining an educational system fair to every student and taxpayer.
Teachers' pay: If we want a quality educational program, we have to offer teachers' salaries and benefits comparable to those in other successful urban districts.
Community involvement: There must be a constant and vigorous campaign to involve citizens in school governance, and the news media must be engaged in this effort.
Most important issue: Helping the general public understand problems confronting schools, and everything that must be done to support districts in their efforts, including providing financial support.
ARTHUR HULL
Vouchers and charter schools: These are competitors. My strategy for addressing competition is to focus all organization and individual energies toward producing a superior product.
Priority for district money: First, curriculum. Second, staff development. Third, facilities.
Dealing with state: Work long and hard with all parties seeking a solution that works for the common good of all residents of the state of Ohio.
Teachers' pay: The outstanding ones don't receive enough. The satisfactory ones are compensated adequately. The unsatisfactory ones are paid too much; if they don't improve, they should be fired. We need a pay-for-performance plan for teachers.
Community involvement: It varies based on the many segments that make up the community. Parents and taxpayers, no. Business, yes.
Most important issue: Survival of the public schools as an institution.
ROY MCGRATH
Vouchers and charter schools: They are here. New schools appear to be both treatment (therapy) centers and part-time schools. They still are not as good as home-schooling, which has success rates greater than public and private schools.
Priority for district money: Spend money first on wages. Then ensure that buildings are safe, incorporating standards from fire, police and building codes.
Dealing with state: Continue sending a lobbyist to Columbus. Work on easing the school funding crisis by considering casino gambling as a source of resources for public schools.
Teachers' pay: Teachers are paid too much, because they work a nine-month year and get substantial benefits and their pay isn't output-based. There should be oversight of sick leave and personal time, which is subject to abuse.
Community involvement: Three minutes of public comment at a school board meeting isn't enough to hear how the community feels. As a result, few people ask to be heard. The board should respond to every person who shows up at meetings.
Most important issue: Me! Against two incumbents! Against an ex-governor. I bring a multi-discipline solution because I'm trained in accounting and psychology.
FLORENCE NEWELL
Vouchers and charter schools: My commitment is to students in CPS. I would consider supporting “community” schools within the district, based on their design. I don't support state-chartered schools.
Priority for district money: The district should raise the per-pupil budget for students in neighborhood schools at least to a level equal to the per-pupil spending in magnet schools.
Dealing with state: The district should develop alternative proposals to the state on school funding and ensure it is always represented by a lobbyist in Columbus.
Teachers' pay: Teachers' compensation should be higher. The salary scale needs to be revised to reflect new professional development guidelines.
Community involvement: The district should communicate more with citizens, establish more after-school and after-dinner programs in schools for adults and students, and foster school-family-community partnerships.
Most important issue: Improving students' academic achievement. The board must establish programs emphasizing learning, especially literacy shifting the focus from proficiency testing to student learning.
RICK WILLIAMS
• Vouchers and charter schools: Neither is a systemic solution to public education, but charters exist by law. The public ultimately wants the public school system to provide the education needs for their families. CPS must improve.
• Priority for district money: The board's priority should be to direct as much of the district's funds to each school so they can decide how to deliver the best services to their community.
• Dealing with state: To increase state funding so basic facility repairs can be made without heavy reliance on local voters.
• Teachers' pay: We must match compensation to results. If CPS was the most effective district in the country with the highest paid teachers, teacher compensation wouldn't be an issue.
• Community involvement: There isn't enough public engagement. I created an ad hoc committee of board and community members to recommend ways of improving board/community access.
• Most important issue: Improving student achievement and public confidence in the district's ability to educate all students.
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