Get to know San Diego County Board of Education Trustee Rick Shea, challenger Cheryl James-Ward

Two candidates for the San Diego County Board of Education District 5 seat answered five questions from The San Diego Union-Tribune on a wide variety of education issues, from performance standards to funding formulas.

The district is made up of the county’s northwestern coast and some inland areas, including the communities of Encinitas, Carlsbad, Oceanside, Poway and Fallbrook. Cheryl James-Ward is challenging incumbent Rick Shea.

Here are the questions they answered:

• The San Diego County Office of Education went through an upheaval two years ago with the departure of Superintendent Randy Ward. Do you think the office is functioning well now? What can it do better? What does it do well?
• The “dashboard” standards the State Board of Education have adopted to judge the performance of students, schools and districts have been criticized by some reformers as too vague and criticized by some opinion writers as intended to make it difficult to assess performance. What is your view?
• The Local Control Funding Formula, adopted by the state in 2013, was supposed to provide more funds to help English-language learners, students from poor families and foster children. But an investigation last year by the CAL matters journalism website found no evidence these groups of students were benefiting from the LCFF. The state has approved the use of LCFF dollars for teacher raises. Do you think the law has worked as intended? Should it be amended in any way?
• The county Office of Education has been caught up in disputes over charter school authorizations, with some arguing that it has been hostile to applications at the behest of teachers unions which oppose charters. How do you think the county office has handled this issue? 　
• The Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team warns that many school districts are in a perilous place with their finances because of soaring pension costs as the CalSTRS bailout is phased in through the 2020-21 school year. Do you think the county office in its watchdog role is doing enough to get districts to prepare for this fiscal stress? 　

Here are their responses:

San Diego County Board of Education candidate Cheryl James-Ward on the issues

San Diego County Board of Education trustee Rick Shea on the issues