Cutting Clarkston’s school budget while maintaining classroom quality is crucial for all five school board candidates.
Clallengers Susan Boatman, Jeff Broughton, Brian L. Kitchin, and Joseph Wauldron, and incumbent Joan Patterson, all of Independence Township, are running for two open seats in Tuesday’s election, May 6.
“We need to look at every funding possibility that is made available to the board, such as the lottery, and federal grants,” said Wauldron.
“My priority is to keep the budget balanced. Look at programs and purchases and ask, are they really necessary? To ask what needs to be cut out of the budget to make it balance is to look at what the cut will do to the entire program. Will it help balance the budget, will it hurt the education of our children, and will it hurt the community as a whole?”
On the school board, Patterson also considers impact cuts have on education, she said.
“I also believe we must make sure our elementary students can read, write, and solve math problems,” Patterson said. “Without these skills, our students? chances’for success are greatly limited.”
“The Clarkston School Board and the administration are currently working to create a balanced budget,” Boatman said. “I support their goal of keeping cuts as far away as possible from the students? learning environment.”
Teacher salaries should not be immune to cuts, Boatman, Broughton, and Kitchin said.
“Staff reductions should be a last resort, but salary and benefits make up 85 percent of the budget,” Boatman said. “The additional cost of holding school elections in May rather than November should be reviewed.”
“We must look at ways to reduce this cost without affecting the educators and support staff who so ably teach our children today,” Broughton said.
“Contracts have to be negotiated from the view that teachers work for Clarkston Schools, not the MEA,” Kitchin said.
“We will offer them a fair contract based on performance and everything has to be on the table, including insurance and pensions ? teachers should be well compensated but we have to be able to remove ones not meeting our standards.”
That applies to only a few teachers in Clarkston, he said.
“I feel we can offer a package any teacher would be happy with but some won’t like it,” he said.
Wauldron disagrees.
“Do we cut teachers? salaries ? I say no,” Wauldron said. “As with any other profession, these people have spent a lot of money to become a professional in their field and need to be paid what the job calls for.”
Kitchin’s two main priotities are classrooms and bus transportation.
“In a district like ours, buses are necessary,” Kitchin said. “We have 36 square miles that we need to cover to get our kids to school. Period.”
Students face cultural as well as budget challenges, the candidates said.
“The challenges of the students today are many,” Wauldron said. “Drugs, gangs and other types of distractions. As a school board member, I will monitor these types of activities and bring it to the board for discussion and make recommendations to eliminate these distractions.”
“A key challenge for students is to learn and grow in a safe environment,” Broughton said. “I will support this by continuing our partnerships with local law enforcement and community groups to provide the violence-free, drug-free environment so important to that growth.”
“There are many opportunities for good students to be ‘knocked off the tracks’ by the distractions and negative influences that show themselves everyday,” Patterson said. “These include loss of family income from a layoff or business failure, negative social pressures, and the overwhelming influence of the speed society operates at today.”
Michigan’s economy presents a long-term challenge, Patterson said.
“Long-term, the biggest challenge facing our students today is the change in the Michigan and U.S. economy and the jobs that will be available, and the education those jobs require,” Patterson said. “The manufacturing economy of our area, state, and country is being assaulted by global influences we have little opportunity to control here in Clarkston. I believe this will continue regardless of any change at the state and federal governmental levels. We must prepare for that eventuality.”
More rigorous state graduation requirements, set to take effect in 2011, is also a challenge for students, Boatman said.
“This legislation was largely driven by a desire to make our graduates more competitive in college and the job market,” she said. “As a school board member, I can’t change the competitive environment our children face. I can only push our schools to offer as many opportunities for students as is economically feasible throughout their scholastic career. These should include strong academic programs, clubs, and intramural sports as well as educational and behavioral support programs.”
Students still have individual responsibility to face their challenges constructively, Kitchin said.
“Our responsibility is to try to reach as many as possible but not to risk the many to cater to the few who don’t want to be there,” Kitchin said. “I feel every student is offered a great chance at an education. If they choose not to take advantage of it then all we can do is wish them luck and send them on their way. I don’t feel it’s the taxpayer’s responsibility to pay for alternative education for some who don’t want to participate under the established rules.”
Schools don’t have the budget to fix broken homes, he said.
“I believe adults truly know what’s best for children and contrary to what most kids think, they don’t know everything and many of us have had a lot of experience in life in general and we do actually know a thing or two” he said. “Is that a popular opinion in today’s, if it feels good do it, culture? Probably not, but that is a fact of life.”