OCCUPATION: Residential Remodeling Contractor

OCCUPATIONAL BACKGROUND: Own and operate own business in Portland -16 years. Director of Development and Program Consultant with Oregon Affiliate of American Heart Association - 8 years. Substitute teacher.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND: Oregon State University, '72; BS in Health Education, Teaching Certificate.

PRIOR GOVERNMENTAL EXPERIENCE: None.

This election is about three main issues; local vs. State control of educational standards, the standards themselves and wise use of our financial resources.

I believe local school boards and districts should be responsible for the standards for their own districts. The needs of each community differ and I think you can only have accountability in the schools if the decisions are made and controlled at the local level.

The new standards place assessment at the state level in the hands of the State Board of Education who decides how they are graded. Our teachers are already doing assessment of our students and the state's assessment represents a duplication of services and a waste of money. I have great faith in our teachers and in their ability to assess the progress of our students.

The second election issue is the standards themselves. I think the assumptions upon which the new standards are based are false. They will offer no significant improvement in the education of our students or student test scores in the long run. These standards represent a scatter-gun approach to a problem which needs pinpoint solutions.

"Higher standards" sounds like a good idea everyone is for them. But ten years from now the state will be abandoning these standards because they can't be implemented or because they just don't make any sense. The only reality of this course of action will be the millions of dollars wasted. We are already seeing that these standards cannot be implemented as currently understood.

We all want our children to be successful. The question is how can this happen. Raising the education standards will have little impact on the students who currently do well in school. And, it will leave behind those who currently struggle.

The last issue of the campaign will be the wise use of our educational resources. Our current State system places too many demands upon districts. It is difficult for districts to control their administration costs under this demand for bean counting. The State Department of Education needs to be reorganized so every staff position contributes to the education of our students. The functions of the State in the role of education must be directed toward assisting the classroom teacher.

It is important that the State Department of Education support our current teachers with access to accurate information on what methods work. Teacher training institutions must be supported

with that same information so all of our new teachers understand how to teach effectively.

I will work to redefine the states' role in education and to return the standards for instruction to the community school boards. For education to make progress in the next century we must ensure that each community decides what is best for their children. The needs of Klamath Falls, Coos Bay, Eugene, Fossil, Salem and Portland are all different.

Beyond what the school can do we must look at what the community can do. How can we get more of our students raised to higher levels? How can we get them interested in going to school, to finishing school? It has been said it takes a village to raise a child; well I say it takes the village and the community to educate a child.

Too many of our students are not ready to learn when they come to school. They have educational learning disabilities, are hungry or abused, they have no homes, parents who are addicted to chemical substances, gang violence, and drugs in their neighborhoods. The schools alone can do only so much to deal with these factors. This is where we need the community, the churches, parents, grandparents and the businesses of Oregon to step up to the plate and participate.

After our students learn the basics of reading, writing, and mathematical computations, then we must introduce our students to the technology of the world. We can keep our children educated and on pace to compete in the world. But we must have education that is flexible, able to change and innovate as necessary while still teaching the basics. The exceptional student must have the opportunity to be exceptional and to move at a rapid speed in their educational experience. And then we must begin to address the social problems which hinder a child's ability to learn and succeed in our society.

I think as a society we all want our children to succeed, to grow up safe, to have skills to become employed in the field of their choice, to become good citizens of the state and world, and to achieve greatness within the context of their ambition and skills.

Let's make education all it can be and help all of our students move into the next century. Its time to let go of our past ideas about what education should be and look at successful models of education and ask ourselves what we want public education to be. What is ideal and how do we get to that level are the questions to be answered.

Michael Humphreys for Superintendent of Public Instruction - Asking the right questions.

(This information furnished by Mike Humphreys.)

Mike Humphreys has agreed to limit campaign expenditures for this Primary Election under ORS 260.180 but is not bound by that agreement because an opponent for this election has not agreed to limit expenditures or has exceeded the applicable spending limit.

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