An Important Choice - Keith Hardy

Campaign Issues
I have been listening to many people while on the campaign trail. With a combination of their concerns and my experience serving on the Citizens Budget and Finance Advisory Committee for five years, I have developed the following primary issues for my campaign:

• Increase the number of students who live in St. Paul District #625 attending our public schools. We lost almost 1,000 students from St. Paul public schools between the 2005-06 and 2006-07 school years. We have a projected loss of more than 400 more in 2007-08. I want to ensure our teachers get to offer the best academic curriculum in the nation to students of all learning abilities and that our school buildings and environments as attractive, safe, welcoming and top-quality as possible.

• Decrease the number of non-enrolled students. In the 2006-07 school year we had more than 800 non-enrolled students in our school district. A high number of these students were from our communities of color and from lower socioeconomic environments. I want to partner with community organizations and the District to help the students feel comfortable that they can return to school.

• Empower teachers and staff to prepare our youth for a successful future. I have a passion to help our teachers and other staff to not be handicapped from putting their primary focus on preparing our youth for the future by legislation such as No Child Left Behind. I want to help teachers get the professional development that will improve their teaching skills along with getting assistance such as education assistants or smaller class sizes.

• Eradicate the achievement gap. With standardized test scores ranging from 20 to 50 percent differential between students of color and Caucasian students, I want to work families, community members, school board members and school district staff to eradicate this achievement gap.

• Empower students to achieve. I want to share the message with students to take control of their educational success. I will work with school district staff to encourage students to take more challenging classes and to identify students as positive leaders and learners.

• Partner with labor and business for opportunities. I want to increase the involvement of labor and business organizations in providing apprentice, intern and other job-skill building opportunities to our students. This better prepares our students for a successful good-paying career after graduation.

Let me hear about issues that concern you about St. Paul public education. Please send me your issues, concerns and questions that I can address as a candidate. Send me your thoughts, please write me now.

Thank you,