Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

District 9 needs to bring our education system up to 21st century standards. Our students, starting from pre-kindergarten all the way to college graduates, need to be provided with an education that will make them competitive in high tech, high wage jobs that have been created in this global economy. It is our responsibility as adults and parents to ensure that all students have the capacity to succeed in a college environment. Our schools must better prepare our children for higher education, and as a district, we need to make sure that higher education is financially attainable to all who are accepted to college.

It is impossible to achieve the standard of education that we desire without first rewarding educators with the salaries they deserve. Teachers today are grossly underappreciated and underpaid considering the importance and the demands their job. One way to combat this issue is providing tax-breaks or tax credits for non-paid hours of curriculum time. The "No Child Left Behind" act has serious flaws that forces teachers to "teach for the test.' I believe that "No Child Left Behind' needs to be properly funded or replaced by a better system that allows funds to be better used for classrooms and teachers instead of educational bureaucracy.

I am also a firm believer in having a choice as to where to send our children for school. Home-schooling has become more popular recently with Mecklenburg County ranking second in the state for amount of home-schooled students. Home schools, charter schools, and private schools should all be viable options for our children. All children are unique and all have different needs.

Source