The Anchorage Daily News asked candidates for the April 2 election to the Anchorage School Board to answer a series of questions on issues facing those bodies. We’re publishing select responses daily. The answers were fact-checked when facts were cited and edited for spelling, grammar and writing style. To see all the responses, click here. For Assembly candidate surveys, click here.
Q: The biggest challenge facing the school district is (fill in the blank and explain):
SEAT A
Margo Bellamy
Having conversations around equity, diversity and equality and how they manifest in governance and operations.
Kai Binkley Sims
Academic performance. The ASD budget has continued to grow, without an improvement in results. We can’t just throw money into a program that is not improving academic performance. We have some of the lowest reading and math scores in the nation, and are among the highest cost per student in spending. We have to be more creative with our teaching methods and efficient with our spending.
SEAT B
Starr Marsett
Budget. Funding has been flat over the last 5-6 years. To help our students to be successful we need a smaller teacher-to-student ratio and the resources to address student needs one-on-one.
David Nees
Proper allocation of limited financial resources to the classroom, increase it to 75% of budget, and increasing student achievement. ASD needs to get feedback from parents and listen to it on current math and language arts programs.This is the best way to ensure they are working for the majority of our children.
Ronald Stafford did not respond to the survey.