World-Class Local Schools
Knowledge and learning are essential to the preservation of a free government, per the Indiana Constitution. As a lifelong educator, I recognize the importance of a high quality education for students, parents, communities, and our state as well as the broader society. We must collectively invest in our kids, educators, and communities to ensure Hoosiers are set up for success.
We will protect the rights of students and parents by holding all schools that receive public tax dollars accountable for their spending by ensuring operational transparency.
We will recognize the continuum of education and invest in all levels of the educational journey. An emphasis will be placed on completing the expansion of statewide quality and affordable childcare as well as solidifying universal PreK.
We will protect instructional time by fighting to eliminate excessive state-mandated testing.
We will establish a culture of collaboration across state agencies that serve children and families for efficient and effective spending and programming.
We will establish an expansive plan for addressing Indiana‘s PreK-3 literacy rate by focusing on foundational milestone programs, including birth to age 3.
We will grow local partnerships to ensure our kids have state-wide opportunities that address academic and behavioral needs.
We will establish an ambitious school attendance program for PreK-12 students, empowering schools and community partners while holding families accountable.
We will appoint a Secretary of Education and members of the State Board of Education who champion public education, understand the impact of post-COVID complexities, grant our local schools autonomy, and embrace research.
We will serve as an outspoken advocate for the importance of a world-class education.
We will call for a school funding formula that provides adequate and equitable funding for our most vulnerable students.
We will call for a pause in the expansion of school privatization efforts while requiring fiscal and academic accountability and transparency for all of Indiana schools that receive public tax dollars.
We will celebrate, champion, protect, and better fund our higher education institutions and our direct workforce development training programs.
We will ensure our K-12 system plays an advanced role in career counseling by identifying and funding qualified personnel and the resources necessary to make our career counseling programs robust and effective across the state.
We will champion our PreK-12 teachers and post high school instructors by implementing policies to recruit and retain the best, brightest, and most diverse educators.
We will call for school funding to secure a minimum base salary of $60,000 for PreK-12 educators, and adjust veteran teacher salaries to reflect their non-educator peers.
We will protect university tenure, and work to uphold teacher rights by protecting the ability of teacher unions to bargain for wages and benefits.