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| Donald B. Crawford |
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| Candidate: Superintendent of Public Instruction |
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| Donald B. Crawford |
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| Age: 50 |
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| Residence: Ferndale |
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| Occupation: |
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Education professor |
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| Education: |
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Ph.D. in educational leadership/special education, University of Oregon |
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| Endorsements: |
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Libertarian Party of Washington |
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| Campaign Web site: http://go.to/crawford2000 |
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| Campaign theme: |
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As much variety in our schools as we have in restaurants! |
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| 1. |
Do you support or oppose the proposal to establish charter schools in Washington state? Explain why. |
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I support the charter-school initiative. Libertarians like myself support school choice in all its forms for several reasons. We need to find better ways to increase achievement and handle discipline. We need schools with different focuses and different strengths. Let's provide some competition to our one-size-fits-all government-monopoly schools. |
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| 2. |
How would you use your office, which has no budget authority, to improve public schools? |
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I would focus on deregulating both public and private schools, working toward giving all our schools the freedom to innovate that charter schools have. The state department of education does not have all the answers. Increasing local control and school choice will improve our schools more than anything else. |
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| 3. |
Is reform needed in the financing of public schools? If so, what would you propose? |
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School financing should be reformed so that parents and individual schools are in charge. I support tax credits for private-school tuition. I also support tax credits for contributions to scholarship funds, such as Children First, that enable poor children to attend private schools. I support a simplified financing plan. |
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