Education

We must address the continued shortfalls for our public education systems. These include funding shortfalls, lack of enough qualified teachers, and far too many tests are just some of the issues we need to address. Sarah’s children are all pre-K and younger: this challenge is personal and urgent for her and her family.

Marijuana funding must be used to increase education funding, not simply take the place (“supplant”) other sources of funding as is currently the case. This funding was voted on to add to public education funding, and it should.

Sarah is supportive of public charter schools, but strongly opposed to public tax dollars funding private and religious schools, especially in any kind of voucher or education savings account form. While Sarah believes that choice in education is important, she believes that public tax dollars should be used to support schools that everyone can attend.

School safety is a major issue facing us, and Sarah is committed to making our schools safer. She believes that will be accomplished with more funding for teachers and counselors, smaller class sizes, and more focus on arts, physical education, and music (and less testing). She believes that schools should be safe, but not concrete bunkers.

This is an issue that is affected by many other policies. For instance, by supporting working families and making sure that parents don’t have to work two jobs to survive, we can ensure that parents have adequate time to spend with their families and support their children.

Sarah is in favor of arming teachers with supplies, not guns. She and her husband, Matt, a Marine veteran who served three combat tours in Iraq, do not believe that teachers with guns is the answer (even teachers trained to the level that Matt is). Gun control will also play a role in keeping schools safe.