Mike Mazzei on Education

I support school choice because parents know what's best

MUNSON: We are last because we do not make the proper investments to take care of our teachers. We've got to increase pay for our teachers and our support staff. We've got to get out of last in the nation for public education. And that starts by making critical investments for our public schools.

MAZZEI: I married a teacher, and she helped us figure out how to handle the education of our five kids. Some of that included public schools, homeschooling, and private schools. And that's why I support school choice, because parents know what's best for their kids. As you just heard, she wants to pour more and more money into an already dysfunctional system. She doesn't support school choice, and she voted against the legislative bans for boys to play in girls sports, and against the requirements that boys should not be in girls bathrooms.

Ensure parents know what their children are being taught

Education exists to serve students, not systems.
• Restore parental transparency and involvement in education decisions
• Ensure parents know what their children are being taught
• Change all school board elections to the November statewide election date and require partisan designations for candidates
• When parents are engaged, students perform better. The system should welcome that, not resist it.

Prioritize statewide literacy initiative

• Wants a major statewide literacy initiative to improve reading scores.
• Focuses on ensuring students can read at grade level.
• Has promoted literacy as one of the state’s biggest long-term priorities.