• Are you for sports programs in St. Paul Schools? Did you support the last St. Paul Referendum that helps pay for these sports?

• Aside from deliberations over the St. Paul Schools’ budget, what is the next most important job of a school board member?

• What do you see as the future of “choice” in schools, of choice, especially in regard to the future of magnet schools versus neighborhood schools?

• This audience does not mirror the makeup/population of our St. Paul Schools. What can the school board do to increase the interest/participation (in school matters) of “minority parents?” What can the school board do to increase participation of minority families?

• How will you work with the City of Saint Paul to help stabilize our families – housing, jobs, safe streets, health care) so that students can reach their full potential?

• How do you feel about the five year limit placed on ELL classes for K-12 non-native English speakers?

• How strongly do you feel about the mission of community education and what do you think is its relationship to K-12 public education in Saint Paul? On a scale of 1-10, how important is community education?

• What about school violence? I am a student and see violence all around, it is at an alarming level. We need something done now! Especially in middle school. Being an 8th grader, violence is life at school – black, white, Latino or Asian. What are your suggestions for reducing violence in our schools?

• Do you feel that state funding is adequate to cover the costs of education today?

• What is the first budget item you would deal with to keep money in the classroom? Would you favor another referendum?

• What are the benefits of ECFE? What is your commitment to ECFE programs in Saint Paul? With a 20% cut in next year’s budget from the State, what efforts would you as a School Board Member support to address this gap?

• Do you support expansion of the JROTC program in Saint Paul high schools? Or should it be cut back?

• How do you think the separation of church and state should be interpreted by the Saint Paul Public Schools?

• I am a student. My education is very important to me – achievement and service in school and community. My experience in Fresh Force’s service learning and leadership has helped improve my learning retention because I was able to practice what I learned and benefit the community. I’ve received scholarship monies because of my achievements and my education works. How would you as a board member continue support service learning and leadership in our schools?

• There are several classes at Ramsey Junior High that have over 35 students per class. This must change. State your goal for maximum class sizes for:

K-6
7-8
9-12

• Why hasn’t the Board enforced the “No Social Promotion” policy?

• As a publicly elected official, what would you do, as an agent of change, to shift the costly onus of healthy care premiums from our district and its employees to the state level in the form of universal health coverage statewide?

• What is your position on funding for:

1. Adult continuing education
2. Hubbs Center

• Many of our students face numerous challenges that impede their ability to succeed in school. What strategies would you support to help these students learn?

• Would you vote to opt the school district out of the new state law mandating weekly recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance? Why/why not?

• Do you support the school district’s position on PIPA – the labor contract supporting school bus transportation organizing efforts?

• Please comment on Governor Pawlenty’s “Super Teacher” proposal. How do you envision it playing out in Saint Paul?
I want a fire alarm system and sprinkler system in every school. Explain your vision of how school facilities will improve in the next four years?

• What can the board do to ensure healthy, nourishing foods are being served as breakfast and lunch?

• After school programs – particularly enrichment programs – have an enormous amount of research that documents that students who participate in these programs do better in school in areas of academics, attendance, behavior, etc. What will you do to support consistent after school programs for all children?

• What sort of help do you offer to 3rd and 5th grade students who fail both areas of the MCA tests? Both inside the day’s curriculum and after school?

• Borders, language, culture, English language only, no illegals in our schools, American Bill of Rights, Constitution not diversity. What can be done to implement these and save dollars and rightly give our children basic math, reading and writing skills – not political correctness?

• To minimize distraction from learning, how can we get profit-making out of our schools?

• Right now, we have patriotism on steroids and reality on tranquilizers, especially regarding the content of history classes.

• What would you do to promote accurate teaching of U.S. history (including U.S. terrorism)?

• Do you feel the state funding is adequate to cover the costs of education today since the state assumed responsibility for per pupil spending?

• What is the first budget item you would deal with to keep money in the classrooms without another referendum and/or legislative tax increase?

• How do we get away from an automatic ELL track for kids of certain ethnic groups, for instance, they may be born in America, but go into ELL?

• What is the need to teach ethics and moral character in public schools after Enron and Worldcom?

• Do you think we still need 9M for ESL or the schools just use immigrants to fatten its budget?

• Please comment on your knowledge of and commitment to St. Paul’s fine ECFE program. How will you advocate for our Birth to 5 children in Saint Paul?

• Do your priorities for the SPPS include maintaining and/or increasing funding for early childhood education (ECPE)?

• Everyone talks about needing to remedy achievement gaps. What will you do to keep Saint Paul’s middle class in the public schools?

• Early Childhood Family Education and School Readiness are well known programs that have proven to be beneficial to families with young children in Minnesota. How would you propose supporting these programs?

• How will you work to support and restore funding to Early Childhood Family Education?

• Where do you stand on ECFE? How much do you know about the benefits of the program and don’t you believe that investment of children at this age is most critical – as most studies show?

• What is your position on Community Education and Early Childhood Programs?

• On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate the importance of:

1. community service learning for all students?
2. Early childhood education?
3. Adult education?
4. Community education?

• What do you consider essential services and what could be cut?

• Considering the recent budget deficits at various levels of government, would you continue further excess levy referendums to meet the budgets you desire to pass?

• How would you describe the achievement gap between white and minority students? And what do you think the district should do about it?

• Do you fully support the separation of church and state in the Saint Paul Public Schools, and what does that mean to you?

• What do you see as the future of “choice” in Schools of Choose?

• How do you feel about requiring community service learning experiences for all SPPS students each year?

• How do you feel about the state’s support for public education and, more specifically, do you believe we should rely on local levies to fund core programs?

• What can parents do to support Public Education in Saint Paul?

• The State of Minnesota shifted to statewide funding of public education to equalize education for all Minnesota students. Some communities back East are responding to similar shifts by forming nonprofit foundations to solicit donations and provide grant support to their local districts. Is this something we should do in Saint Paul?

• How do you feel about the cuts to ELL services?

• Which SPPS Special Education programs are you familiar with? Which have you visited? Please comment on your observations.

• What would be your top priorities as a school board member, if elected?

• How do you see Saint Paul implementing the accountability provisions of No Child Left Behind directed toward parents?

• What will you do to address rising school costs such as energy?

• What is the state of district spending for administrative purposes?

• Can somebody justify the cost to bus students all around town to attend these emerging “specialized” schools (i.e. magnet, charter, etc.) versus money that could be spent to improve the traditional neighborhood based learning center?

• What will you do to raise environmental awareness in the Schools?

• How do you feel the schools can challenge gifted/talented students while helping those who fall behind?

• You have criticized the administration as not being absolutely necessary in our educational system. How do you propose that we cut administration and run the schools effectively?

• Before you decide to cut an existing program, do you visit the program at a site, and talk with the instructors, and parents whose children attend, or do you only look at monetary figures?

• How often do you visit schools, programs? Do you talk with teachers and principals?

• With budget cuts affecting busing and start times, how do you view changes in start times as proposed two years ago?

• What do you feel about delaying start times for Junior/Senior High School without starting so early for elementary?