Craig Barton
What is your education and relevant experience for this office?
Professor of education owner of private and public charter schools
If you have children, do you/did you send them to public school? If so, did they graduate from a public school?
I had 3 kids in Paradise Valley School District
Do you feel you are an advocate for public education in Arizona? Use specific examples of what you will do or have done to demonstrate your level of support for public education in Arizona.
I'm an advocate for school choice and public school is one of those choices
Will you work to protect public education from any further budget cuts?
Yes. But things can change
The system for funding public education in Arizona is a maze of laws, rules, regulations, funding sources, etc. Please share specifics on how you would simplify how we fund our public schools here in Arizona to make that funding source more efficient, effective and reliable?
School choice
Should the education formula be based on seat time and average daily membership or on student academic progress and successful achievement of academic standards?
All of the above
Knowing that money does not cure all, how do you feel that Arizona ranks dead last in per pupil funding? Are you happy with the status quo or how will you work to change that? Can you share your plan on how Arizona can improve it's school funding to at least a competitive level? Be specific.
Utah is low in per puple funding but gets better results than many states
Do you think that class-size affects academic performance? How and at what size?
Yes and no. Teacher quality is important as well.
How do you feel about the unfunded mandate of the AIMS test (or a similar test) when teachers spend a large portion of their school year "teaching to the test"? Be specific.
Too much emphasis on test. Site-based management better
Do you believe that the voters approving Prop 301 intended the 2% inflation factor to be applied to the entire M&O budget or just legislatively selected portions of the operating budget?
Need to know more about the issue
How do you plan to support districts with textbook adoptions with the decrease/limits on soft capital funding? Do you understand that many districts such as CCUSD operate with textbooks that are ten years old?
Explore electronic books
The budget cuts have eliminated the funding for the Gifted Students Educational Program. With the passing of Prop 100 what legislative measures will you take to restore this funding to meet the many critical needs for our brightest minds and high acheivers in AZ?
School districts need to find creative ways to work within budgets. Public schools are not alone in this crisis
Where and what grade level classrooms have you observed in the last 12 months? What specifics can you share about class size and per pupil expenditure in those classrooms?
I've operated private and public charter schools
Due to our district's low poverty, or "free and reduced lunch" level, do you understand the disparity that places CCUSD at a disadvantage for federal and grant application-based funding, and would you be willing to support legislation that would allow districts such as CCUSD in low-poverty areas to secure supplemental funding to reach curriculum or achievement standards that may be desired by the governing board? If so, what might those funding sources be? (please cite examples such as local prop tax, program fees, etc.)
Absolutely! The tax credit for parents contributing to public schools should be expanded. District need more automomy to levy taxes with voter approval
Do you support performance pay programs like Career Ladders and Prop 301 for teachers?
Yes but not as a cure all.
In constructing new schools, do you believe that bonding or direct general fund support is the most efficient and cost effective?
Bonding. I've always been a supporter of bonding
Would you support a requirement that all new education policy initiatives proposed by the legislature contain a fiscal note and be required to include all necessary funding prior to adoption?
Yes!
Do you think the Constitutional requirement to fund a general and uniform public education system should take precedence over programs supporting private schools?
No! I believe in giving parents more choice for their childrens education.
Please describe your level of support for school vouchers and private school tax credits, how should they be used (if at all), to whom should they be given/used for, and how would you change the current system in place? Be specific.
I'm a big fan of school vouchers and tax credits but I desire a difinitive separation between church and state
Do you feel that the use of Vouchers and private school tax credits is appropriate considering the struggle that our public education system has recently faced and continues to face? Be specific.
It is more appropriate now than ever. We all need to get creative in order to serve the people. Our world will never be as we once knew it.