League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Santa Clara County, CA November 7, 2006 Election
	Eric D. Madison Answers Questions Candidate for Board Member; Union 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?

I feel that proper use of funds are driven by three dynamics:

1) All the the children in our distict must get a well-rounded quality education that prepares them for entrance into the workforce.

2) Our teachers and staff must be properly trained and compensated.

3) Our school faciities provide a fun, safe, clean, and child focused atmosphere for learning.

If all three are in balance, then the funding is being used wisely, regardless of the source.

I would monitor and audit each of the dynamics, present my findings to the community in "State of the Distict Reports" and adjust the funding accordingly.

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

Union School District is a great district and does a good job at addressing the whole child but there is always room for improvement.

I feel there needs to be a formal review of curriculum and teaching practices for all ability levels.

From the top performing student to the special needs child, all children deserve a quality education.

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

In five years I would like to see a drastic increase in funding to the classroom. I would like to start the process by cutting overhead expenses and all funds would be diverted into the classroom for teacher discretionary spendng and enrichment programs.

Here are a few of the ideas I have for cutting overhead.

1) Solar Powered Schools: I would like to see our district to be the first completely Solar Powered School Distict in California. The current PG&E Solar Schools program is a great program for underserved communities but needs to be expanded to all California Schools.

2) Partnering with local business to reduce the cost of supplies. If each local business in the district donated just 2 office supply items each year, it would save the district thousands of dollars a year.

3) Being in the heart of Silicon Valley, I feel that our schools deserve and require affordable technology. Partnering with our technology giants to keep our classrooms up to date will better prepare our children to be the next generation of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. This valley needs to start investing our it's future!

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' responses are not edited or corrected by the League.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 17, 2006 16:40
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