School Board District 7

[Lori Hershey]

The boundary lines for district 7 have changed. The new district includes Mandarin  & the southside area that is south of JTB. The schools in district 7 include some of the best in our county. Nonetheless there is still work to be done in order to strengthen our schools. 

 

As a mother of 4 I know first hand the frustrations of a school not having enough text books to go around and the impact of transportation cuts; as well as the budget cuts that impact programs such as band, chorus, media centers, & have threatened sports & ROTC.

Public education is a true American value that is worth standing up for. If you are or have been a teacher then you have experienced how national and state mandates have had an adverse effect in  our classrooms. Testing to measure progress is not wrong but tying school funding to it is. If you are a parent who has volunteered in our local schools then you may have witnessed first hand the impact of budget cuts in our local schools.

 

I am a candidate for our school board district 7 and my perspective stems from having children in our public schools for the past 17 years;  service on ptsa, sac & booster boards;as well as experience in the classroom from years when I worked as a substitute teacher & as a middle school teacher.

 

I would enjoy the opportunity to discuss with you the issues that are important to you & beginning a conversation that will lead to school improvement. Together we can make a difference!

 

[Lori Hershey]

Debbie, Thanks for your graph. The other side of that is that a lot of money from Tallahassee comes with strings attached. Thus they tell us how often to replace textbooks, how to spend transportation dollars and often times send us mandates to enforce without funding so this all adds to the "lack of funding" issue as well.  You are right... a lot can be done when tax dollars go directly to the classroom.

[Lori Hershey]

The concern is putting tax dollars in the classroom first by cutting bureaucratic waste.

[Debbie G]

One area of contention is that school boards and education associations, more often than not, convey the lack of funding is the problem with poor or substandard performance of schools/students.  However, a closer look at the actual student numbers juxtaposed by the education system funding challenges this perspective. 

[Lori Hershey]

Thank you for your comments. It really is time to stand up to special interests and stand up for our students.

[Patricia M. McBride]

Good for you Lori for stepping up to the plate, and it very much sounds like you have the right creditials for understanding what should and should not be in our school system.  I am saddened to hear children are short changed when everytime a funding increase is received, it goes to hire more administrators instead of school supplies, funding for children's activities and teachers (at least some of the good ones).