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Leander ISD candidates square off

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in forum

by Charles Wood, Hill Country News

Taxes, growth and the International Baccalaureate program were hot topics for Leander ISD candidates in a forum on Tuesday, April 1. The event, sponsored by the Leadership Cedar Park Alumni Association, was hosted at the Austin Community College Cypress Creek campus in Cedar Park.

Candidates for Cedar Park City Council and the ACC Board of Trustees elections also took part in the forum.

LISD School Board candidates in the forum were Place 6 incumbent Jim Sneeringer and his challenger Nathan Deckinga; Place 7 incumbent Pam Waggoner and her challengers D.R. Dadey, Bryan Martin and Will Streit.

Outlining positions

The candidates were given a chance to outline their positions during the opening and closing remarks.

Deckinga said that while LISD is a good school district, “It's time to build beyond a good foundation.” He said the district needs to keep lines of communication open with the public.

Sneeringer said LISD has great, caring teachers, but that the district could still do a better job of teaching the importance of education, encouraging self-discovery. He said LISD needs to promote high standards and accountability.

Dadey expressed concern over rising taxes and said LISD should be run like a business. He said the district focuses too much on athletics, rather than academics. He thought there were too many recent bond elections and that it might be a good idea to split LISD into more than one district.

Martin said he wanted to keep taxes as low as possible and expressed concern about the growing amount of debt by local governments such as LISD. He wants the district's finances to be reviewed to ensure there is no misuse or fraud. “I want us to hire the best teachers at the best wages, give them a good environment,” he said. The taxpayers' money should also be spent wisely, he said.

Streit said he would focus most on academic and athletic excellence, growth, and financial prudence. He said LISD needs to put as much effort into retaining current teachers as it puts into attracting new teachers. Streit said he was committed to taking LISD from “a good and great” district “to a truly excellent district, in the state and in the nation.”

Waggoner said her two main issues were the budget, and growth. She said the state currently limits what the district can spend on students, which creates a budget dilemma. The district spends about 85 percent for staff and 15 percent for everything else. If rising costs make “everything else” cost 20 percent, the district will be 5 percent short, she said. Waggoner said LISD is building schools rapidly and is keeping up with the growth. She said keeping LISD's culture would be a top priority. Waggoner said stability on the school board is essential. “It affects bond ratings and the tax rate,” she said.

A qualified area workforce

The candidates were asked how the district could help ensure a qualified workforce in the area.

Deckinga said LISD needed to create an environment that would attract the best teachers. In addition to salaries, the district should focus on intangibles, “so the best teachers will want to stay,” he said.

Sneeringer agreed and said “teacher morale at LISD is sky high.” He said the district has to identify teachers who will be successful as well as encouraging unsuccessful teachers “to move on.”

Dadey said an intern program might help the district attract the best teachers.

Martin said many manufacturing jobs are being moved overseas, and therefore, “we need to train people how to think and be innovative.” He said the district should identify and prepare college-bound students and make programs available for those who are not college-bound.

Streit said adequate pay and input are important for attracting good teachers. He added, “don't forget existing teachers. We want them to stay.”

Waggoner said LISD hires about 400 teachers a year, and has a mentoring program for new hires during the first three years, which encourages teachers to stay in the district longer. She said LISD also has a stipend for hard-to-fill teacher positions.

IB Programme

The candidates were asked if they supported expansion of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Programme. The program is currently offered at Leander High School, but is available to other LISD students who transfer. An elementary level IB program was instituted this school year at Grandview Hills Elementary.

Waggoner said yes, but said not to forget the other Advanced Placement programs offered at LISD. She said high schools #5 and #6 were possible candidates for a second IB campus. “IB is expensive, but well worth it,” she said.

Streit also favored expansion of IB, but felt LISD had problems in the execution of the program. He felt the district should get more students into the program and should make sure students in IB fed into schools with the IB program.

Martin felt the program was worthwhile, but expressed concern that not enough students complete the program.

Dadey thought IB sounded like a good program, but wanted it to benefit students across the entire district. “It's not very efficient having it just at one school,” he said.

Sneeringer said, “Yes, it's a great program.” He said LISD's AP and honors programs are also good programs. Sneeringer said IB improves learning for other students besides those in the program. “We have talked about doing something on our own, because it's very expensive,” he said.

Deckinga said, “Absolutely, it's a great program.” He said the district needs to focus on feeder patterns. “We have it at one high school and one elementary that doesn't feed into an IB school,” he said.

Most immediate challenge

The candidates were asked what the district's most immediate challenge was and what they specifically would do to meet that challenge.

Deckinga said LISD's biggest challenge was making sure its students are 100 percent ready to move on after they graduate. He also wanted the district to give parents and teachers input into board decision making.

Sneeringer said the most important job was to educate our students so they can achieve to the best of their ability. “We need to support teachers who try to hold onto a higher standard,” he said. “They can catch a lot of flak from parents.”

Dadey said educating students was the district's most important challenge. “The question is how to pay for it,” he said. “Financially, if you don't have the money to educate students well, you really can't do a good job at it.” He said the district should do the best it can with limited resources.

Martin said the most immediate challenge is to balance the budget, which will require hard work from the current board. It will be important, he said, to cope with rapid growth in the district while not losing the quality education LISD is known for.

Streit said of LISD's high school graduates, only 17 percent earn bachelors degrees. “We need to make sure they don't just get into college - they need to have the tools to be successful,” he said. “Success in college is a key indication.”

Waggoner said the most immediate challenge was the budget. School officials are now going through LISD's courses to determine how much they cost and what results they produce. “We need to develop a whole child, a well-adjusted child,” she said. Doing that requires different solutions for each child, she said.

E-mail charles@hillcountrynews.com

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