League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Santa Clara County, CA November 4, 2014 Election
	Kevin T. Kramer Answers Questions Candidate for Board Member; Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District

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

Questions & Answers

1. How would you determine that the schools are using federal, state and local funds wisely and fairly and how would you report your findings to the community?

The Board should undertake a benchmarking exercise to compare its spend to those of other schools nationwide. Using and comparing data from other similarly situated school districts will help shed light on whether our district is spending its funds wisely and fairly.

In addition, we need to report the results of that exercise in a transparency report that will be made available online to the public.

2. Are the schools offering instruction appropriate to the diverse educational abilities of all the students?

Yes, but there is room for improvement in this area. The schools offer an array of AP and Honors classes for the top students and many programs for disadvantaged students. However, based on the experiences of my son and from other parents that we have spoken with, it appears that there is a gap between honors and AP classes on the one hand and ordinary classes on the other. Honors and AP classes are overwhelming and often dominate homework hours, but normal classes seem not to be challenging enough for many students. We need to find ways to provide challenging, advanced level classes for our students without overwhelming them with too many AP classes. We could possibly achieve this through better integration of technology and a broader set of courses for each subject so that we can target different learning abilities more effectively.

3. Where do you want the District to be five years from now? What steps should the District take to get there?

I want the District to be more focused on individual students rather than being concerned about aggregate test scores and rankings. We are responsible for educating each student, but focusing on aggregate scores obscures individual achievement and progress.

In order to do this, we need to change the philosophy of the Board and change the fundamental processes by which it does business. The Board needs to be more transparent in its decision-making, more accessible to the public at large, and better at communicating its decisions affecting students.

In addition, the Board needs to be more engaged on the issues and openly discuss and wrestle with them.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' statements are presented as submitted. The answer to each question should be limited to 400 words. 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 10, 2014 13:40
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