Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

Education is one of the most important issues facing families today. As a parent of two young children and a former teacher I understand. Just as important, we live in an area where education is important as evidenced by the number of communities which have chosen to create city school systems and levy additional taxes to fund them. Education is important to me too. I graduated from college with a degree in business finance but decided to go back and get a master's degree in math education. I taught high school math for ten years right here in the district, I also coached girls and boys basketball among other sports. As if that wasn't enough, I have a family full of teachers including my wife, brother and sister to name a few.

You will not find a candidate more experienced on the education of the children in our community than me. While there are many areas we can improve education I want to focus on one which is of great importance to me and that is vocational education. VO-Tech as it is often called is an education based on occupation or employment which prepares people for specific trades, crafts and careers at various professional levels. This can be at the secondary or post-secondary level and is related to the age-old apprenticeship system of learning.

The difference between college and vo-tech is often in the office versus manufacturing type of job but that too has changed. Right here in Alabama some of our auto manufacturers brag that their production employees are paid an average salary of $55,000 and with benefits that totals $73,000. Coal miners in Alabama make an average of $85,000. Alabama radiology technicians make an average of $45,000. Well trained auto mechanics make an average of $38,000. Not every child needs to go to college and with technical trades offering such competitive incomes one needs to ask if we should be pushing every child to pursue college. At the end of every education there is a goal that these young adults will enter the workforce. Our goal in Alabama should be to make sure we are providing for every workforce and in talking with business owners it is clear that we need to do more to educate and train a vocational workforce ready to make some really good money right here in Alabama

While we work to create better workforce training we must also work together to sort out the controversy over common core. This is a fierce debate but it really is a simple position for me. Alabama needs to decide what's best for Alabama. I do not want anyone from California, New York or Chicago telling me how to educate my children. I am a former teacher. I taught high school math for nine years. My wife, brother and sister are teachers so I know what I am talking about here. Always being on the lower end of national rankings, Alabama has a long way to go in education, but are we going to get there with some out of state professional setting abstract goals based on what they have experienced in their community? That just doesn't make sense to me.

Alabama has made great strides. Look at the Alabama Reading Initiative which has won numerous national awards. An Alabama creation, which has raised reading scores throughout this state. AMSTI, the Alabama math and science initiative is another great example. I want our children to excel and be the best, but I don't want any national program that recommends sex education in 4th grade or which requires that our teachers file hundreds of reports, duplicating tests and wasting valuable classroom time. I don't opposed higher standards and I don't oppose using national guidelines to establish our standards, but I oppose us adopting someone else's curriculum standard in any wholesale method.

As a former local teacher, I trust our teachers, principals and state education officials to lead us and recent history shows that when we focus on long term education solutions, Alabama can do a great job on Alabama's education. Let Alabama decide what's best for Alabama.

Source