League of Women Voters of Ohio Education Fund
Hamilton, Warren County, OH November 2, 2010 Election
	Debe Terhar Answers Questions Candidate for Member; State Board of Education; District 4

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of Ohio and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. What are your Qualifications for Office? (50 word limit)

I am a licensed, certified Montessori Teacher and a Summa Cum Laude graduate of Xavier University. Have served on the Parent Advisory Board of the Kelly O'Leary Center of Cincinnati Children's Hospital, on the President's Advisory Council of Xavier University and as a Board Member of the Cincinnati Montessory Society.

2. What plans do you have to address your top three priorities? (100 word limit)

Ensure that the State supports a full range of educational opportunities for each child including charter schools, e-schools, home schooling and vouchers. Improve qualitative achievement scores by using available verified research data and supporting educational research efforts to ensure any state mandated program is based on hard data. Institite a zero-based budget method that requires the re-verification of efficiency and need for programs in every budget cycle. This would preclude the continued funding of inefficient or ineffective programs.

3. What can the State Board of Education do to ensure that all school districts comply with Operating Standards for Ohio's Schools? (150 word limit)

It is the function of the State Board of Education to set programs, priorities and standards for Ohio educational institutions (K-12). The most important resource at the State Board's disposal is its mandated power to recommend the educational budget to the Ohio legislature. School districts that overachieve standards set by the State Board of Education should receive preferential funding over those who don't. It is incumbent upon each member of the State Board of Education to know each individual school district in his area of responsibility. If there are extenuating circumstances in any individual district that is having difficulty meeting state standards, it is incumbent on the Board member to work with that district and to represent it at the State level to help in overcoming the district's deficiencies. If the individual board member feels that specific programs would assist a district in achieving state standards, specific funding for individual programs...

4. What can the State Board of Education do to ensure that all community schools and nonpublic schools that accept state financial support (including vouchers) are accountable to the public? (150 word limit)

Academic standards should be set for children's educational attainment not for measurement of an organizational structure's efficiency. Therefore, the most effective means of determining the quality of the education provided by any organizational structure is the performance of individual students against set state academic standards. If an nonpublic school provider of K-12 education has a student population that does not produce acceptable scores based on state standards, those results should be as public as results for public school districts. Parents must have reliable and well-publicized test results so that they can with their child make the best possible choice for that individual child's quality education. The use of State Achievement Tests as a measure of educational efficiency should be aggessively publicized and promoted by the State Board of Education.

5. What can the State Board of Education do to ensure a public school funding system that provides a realistic level of state funding, which meets the educational needs of students? (150 word limit)

Fiscal responsibility means that only educationally efficient programs are funded by the state of Ohio. This would require the "zero-based" budget that would prevent ineffecitve programs from continuation of funding. In addition, the ability to determine individual program effectiveness would allow for prioritization of program funding and also indicate areas where programs not currently available must be developed. The total size of the Ohio education budget should be determined by the cost of programs to meet state standards, not the availability or lack of annual state budget allocations. Pay for what works.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' statements are presented as submitted. Word limits apply for each question. Direct references to opponents are not permitted.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 22, 2010 16:33
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