Issue Position: Education and Jobs

Issue Position

Arizona families should have the ability to send their school aged children to any school of their choice regardless of their zip code. I support parents having the ability to choose from district, private, charter, online learning, Education Savings Accounts, tax credit programs, home schooling or open enrollment (in a different district school). Education is not a one size fits all system. I believe parents are best equipped in making the best choice for their child's education needs, not a bureaucrat. School choice has been my passion and I firmly believe it makes Arizona more competitive.

As a product of a K-12 public education, I have worked a majority of my adult life on behalf of our school children. I volunteered in the inner city knowing young children came from broken homes and might need a young mentor to guide them on a better path. I helped work in a GED classroom hoping both young and old high school drop outs would be able to pass the test giving them credentials to help obtain a better paying job, or a chance to receive a secondary education or attend a vocational training school.

It was my last semester senior year of undergraduate school that truly opened my heart and mind. I spent a semester in an inner city high school in New York City where I realized the best asset of any school is a strong leader (a.k.a. the principal). Principals and teachers should be able to work together with parents on the best curriculum for their students, not the federal government or a public union representative.

Our children are our most undervalued resource. I should know because I have two school aged children who attend two wonderful charter schools in the Phoenix area. We need to ensure our investments are directly made to their classrooms. As a founder and an actively engaged parent of my child's school's parent organization, I continue to help ensure each teacher of his school receives the necessary funds to ensure their students receive the best educational experience. All teachers should have access to the necessary funds for their classrooms in order to compete in our evolving global classrooms.

Teachers should be held accountable for their children's academic excellence. I am a firm believer in merit pay. If students are excelling in their subjects those teachers should receive additional compensation for their successes in their classroom. In a perfect world I would like to align master teachers in each classroom so each child could learn to love an academic subject from an expert in biology, chemistry, English, math or even art.

I am a strong advocate of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) curriculum and schools. The United States exports more high skilled jobs each year to other countries because our high school and college graduates don't have the skill-sets to fill these crucial jobs. This is just one reason why I continue to serve on the BASIS Scottsdale School Board. We need to grow our future pool of workers to ensure the U.S. maintains its global economic status in the marketplace right here in Arizona and encourage these students to stay here upon graduation from high school or college.

Not all children learn at the same speed or in the same style. I support incubators of success we have experienced in our Arizona charter schools and believe they need to be replicated across the state. I have also advocated on behalf of public school students and each family's ability to find the school that best fits their children's learning needs within their district or via open enrollment.

I have spent the last several years ensuring low-income, special needs and foster children receive the best education possible by finding a private school that understands their needs. These children now have better opportunities and a majority of these scholarship students go on to graduate high school and often onto college. As a Mom, I know the importance of a good education and I will be an ally of yours in this arena.

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