LA Kids Matter | Louisiana Kids Matter Candidate Questionnaire

Candidate Questionnaire

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Louisiana Schools

1.a. Overall, do you approve or disapprove of the job Louisiana public schools are doing educating students in grades K-12 and why? If you disapprove, what changes would you propose to improve public school education in Louisiana?

1.b. Do you believe the current school rating system accurately portrays the performance of Louisiana’s public schools? Why or why not? If not, how would you revise the current school rating system?

2. What is your position on increased rigor in educational standards, having high expectations for every student, and assessing students on how they are doing at reaching those standards?

3. Research has shown that access to high-dosage tutoring is one of the most significant interventions for students needing academic support.

Do you support the State of Louisiana allocating funding so that every student can access individualized tutoring services during the school day?

Yes

4. Do you support the placement of literacy coaches in every school in the state?

Yes

5. Do you support adding the science of reading to certain teacher certification requirements?

Yes

School Choice

6. Do you support school choice, where the parent, not the government, is given state funds to choose the best school, whether public, charter, or private, for their child?

Yes

7. The State of Louisiana allocates money for the education of each individual student through the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP). Generally speaking, the MFP dollars can only be used for a student to attend a public school. Would you support necessary revisions to the state constitution that would allow some or all the MFP funds allocated for a student to follow them to a traditional public school, charter school, private school, or virtual school?

Yes

Private School Choice

8. An Education Scholarship Account, also known as an ESA, allows parents to use the state funding that would have gone to their child's public school to instead purchase the education that best meets their child’s needs. They could spend this money on private school tuition, online education programs, tutoring, curriculum, therapies and other direct educational needs of that child. Do you support creating ESAs?

Yes

Public School Choice

9. Charter schools are tuition-free, public schools that are managed outside of the usual school district bureaucracy. They generally have more flexibility with hiring, curriculum and teaching methods, but are held strictly accountable for student achievement. In the 2022-23 school year, there were 144 charter schools in Louisiana serving around 90,000 students.

Do you support charter schools?

Yes

10. Corporate charter schools create a bridge that connects the business community and students. In order to be considered a corporate charter, a business must make a meaningful commitment of support to the school. You can read more here. Do you support expanding the number of corporate charter schools in the state?

Corporate charter schools create a bridge that connects the business community and students. In order to be considered a corporate charter, a business must make a meaningful commitment of support to the school. You can read more here. Do you support expanding the number of corporate charter schools?

Yes

11. Attendance zones for traditional Louisiana public schools are created by local school boards. Choose the statement that best reflects your views.

Student should be required to attend the public school assigned to them by the local school board.

Students should be able to attend a public school they are not zoned for if it better meets their needs.

Constitutional Convention

13. Our present state constitution is too detailed and prescriptive, an outlier compared to other nearby states. It restricts the ability of elected officials to properly maintain an effective budget and governing structure and has helped to create a culture that places far too much dependence on the hallways of the State Capitol for prosperity. Our current state constitution is two and a half times longer than in 1973 and ten times longer than the U.S. Constitution. It has been amended 189 times in 44 years versus the U.S. Constitution which has only been changed 27 times in 218 years. Based on the above information, would you support a limited constitutional convention?

Our present state constitution is too detailed and prescriptive, an outlier compared to other nearby states. It restricts the ability of elected officials to properly maintain an effective budget and governing structure and has helped to create a culture that places far too much dependence on the hallways of the State Capitol for prosperity. Our current state constitution is two and a half times longer than in 1973 and ten times longer than the U.S. Constitution. It has been amended 189 times in 44 years versus the U.S. Constitution which has only been changed 27 times in 218 years. Based on the above information, would you support a limited constitutional convention?

Yes

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I understand that the Louisiana Kids Matter Action Fund will use my answers to the questions above as one of several factors in consideration for endorsement of my candidacy. In general, the Louisiana Kids Matter Action Fund does not release the answers of the survey to the public; however, we reserve the right to do so.

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If you have any questions about this survey, please do not hesitate to contact Kelli Bottger at (225) 936-9800 or through email at kelli.bottger@lakidsmatter.org.