Priorities

Introduction

Our schools do so much for our students and community that it's hard to boil it down to just a couple things. From academics to fine arts to athletics to community engagement and events, there's always something great happening in our schools. But here's a couple things that I think are important enough to identify.

Keep Beavercreek Schools Strong

Beavercreek City Schools consistently achieves top academic results while keeping per-student costs low, thanks to strong leadership, clear goals, ongoing improvement, and a culture of trust. Not all districts operate this way—when school boards become divided by politics, dysfunction spreads, leading to higher costs as staff leave and must be replaced.

Protect Student Data from Cybercriminals

Ransomware is when criminals steal or lock sensitive school data and demand payment to restore access. Our schools protect private medical and personal information for thousands of students, making cyberattacks a serious risk. Schools are often vulnerable because cybersecurity is not always a priority.

As a board member, I strongly support investing in cybersecurity so we never have to choose between exposing student records or paying ransoms. We work with the Department of Defense and experts to strengthen our defenses. I am confident Beavercreek City Schools is prepared, and if re-elected, I will continue to push for these vital protections.

Openness and Transparency

I ran on a platform of improving school board openness and communication. I've learned that's easier said than done. When I joined, I found a team of administrators who wanted to share with our community all the great things we're doing . . . If only we could figure out how to get their attention!

Last year, I identified the need and advocated for implementation of a new system called eScribe for tracking School Board agendas and minutes. We took this system live a few months ago, and for the first time ever, Beavercreek citizens can digitally search our public records and quickly find and view where a topic was discussed in our meeting livestreams. Transitioning to a modern meeting solution also reduced the labor and paper copies necessary to prepare for each meeting.

Stand up for Your Taxes by Fighting Vouchers

There are three reasons I oppose vouchers:

1. When I joined the Board of Education, I swore an oath to uphold the Ohio Constitution. At each meeting, we recite the pledge of allegiance, which promises "liberty and justice for all." Vouchers violate both these principles by establishing a separate and unequal system of schools and sending school funds to religious or other sect or sects.

Article VI, Section 2 | Schools funds

The General Assembly shall make such provisions, by taxation, or otherwise, as, with the income arising from the school trust fund, will secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the state; but no religious or other sect, or sects, shall ever have any exclusive right to, or control of, any part of the school funds of this state.

2. Property taxes are high because the state fails to fund public education. Illegally funding private school vouchers strips money out of the state budget and allows legislators to claim they are "funding education" when in fact, they chose to reimburse wealthy donors for private school tuition instead of funding public education.  Over 90% of students receiving the EdChoice expansion voucher were already attending private schools.  

3.  Private schools are unauditable, unaccountable, and opaque. They can literally spend their voucher checks we give them to lobby for more voucher checks and the public has no way to audit their books. The state wildly over-regulates public schools while turning a blind eye to private schools. It is not a fair playing field and public schools still outperform private schools academically.