Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

"I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, (A)nd if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power." Thomas Jefferson

Local control of education should be brought back to our local school districts and parents. Who knows our students best? Parents and school boards should decide on curriculum. We should not allow others on the other side of the continent to determine how best to educate our children. The federal government likes to hold the threat of rescinding federal dollars if states don't comply with Common Core; however, more and more states are standing up to the federal government and opting out of Common Core. Will it make fully funding education more difficult? Yes. But I will work with other like-minded legislators to find the best way to fund education - reducing and/or eliminating unfunded mandates of local school districts, identifying and eliminating waste in the Education budget. Parents should be able to decide whether public, charter or private schools can best educate their children. If they choose to home school, they should be able to. The U.S. Constitution does not grant the federal government power over Education.

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