Q & A With Jeff

Where are the usual campaign accessories like buttons and yard signs? How do I donate?

I'm running a very minimalist campaign, relying on press, endorsements, social networking, word-of-mouth, and personal reputation to carry the day; I don't want to create a distraction either in terms of finance or campaign productivity that would undermine subsequent important races in November.

Would you favor allowing non-certificated school employees to collectively bargain?

Organization is a fundamental right of all employees. Not only would it be wrong for the Board to seek to prevent it, it would probably be a violation of the National Labor Relations Act to do so, and if not it should be. Personally, as a fourth-generation Union Democrat and a one-time member of AFSCME, I feel the non-certificated employees (e.g. custodians, food service, administrative assistants) of the District have a lot to gain through collective bargaining, but obviously that's a choice they're going to have to make for themselves.

You make no secret about being a Democrat — isn't this a non-partisan race?

Well, it is a non-partisan race, and while I'm not officially running as a Democrat, I am a Democrat who is running. As it has been said many times, "You can't take the politics out of politics." Boise is a great Democratic city with a Democratic majority, a great Democratic mayor, and an overwhelmingly Democratic legislative contingent; I'm hoping to build on that tradition. For the record, one of my opponents and her husband have a fairly long track record of contributions to a number of Republicans, including the late (and highly controversial) U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth.

What is your position on teacher pay for performance?

I oppose such plans principally on fairness grounds; how, for example, would one define a workable performance metric that judges secondary art teachers, primary teachers, and teachers of the severely and profoundly disabled on a level playing field? Or conversely, how do you avoid penalizing teachers under such a system who choose the difficult but socially responsible tasks of taking on students from difficult circumstances, students who are insufficiently motivated, and/or students whose first language is not English?

What is your position on vouchers and/or tuition tax credits?

I oppose voucher schemes and their tax-credit cousins on a number of grounds, foremost among them that "average cost per student" is typically a misnomer: you spend the most per student around the edges, and significantly less on "average" students, yet there isn't an effective way to reflect that in a voucher system. Moreover, as a matter of principle, such schemes create the educational equivalent of "gated communities" subsidized by tax dollars.

Who on the Board do you most admire? Who do you see yourself aligning with?

Well, I wouldn't use "align" in a factional sense, since so many of the Board's decisions are consensus driven, but in terms of political philosophy, worldview, and mutual friends, I'd probably wind up closest to Bea Black and Dr. Phil Kelly. However, they all bring something special to the Board: Nancy Gregory has been a great champion for the District's Gifted and Talented programs, something very dear to my heart both as a product of them a quarter-century ago and as a parent of a gifted child today; Derick O'Neill is spearheading some of the most revolutionary real estate developments in the country here in the Valley, I admire his work a great deal, and I hope he can bring some of that innovation to the District; Rory Jones has demonstrated great political courage in past years when confronted with uncomfortable and unpleasant issues thrust at the Board; A.J. Balukoff's financial expertise has proven priceless to the District on a number of occasions; and of course I have to recognize Janet Orndorff's decades of service.

What is all this about Janet Orndorff?

It's certainly nothing personal; it comes down to three key issues for me: change, leadership style, and accurately representing the people of Boise.

First, in terms of change, she's running for her fourth-consecutive six-year term. If you're in your sixties and your kids are my age, how personally relevant is serving on the School Board relative to someone raising a second-grader? She's had a good run over eighteen years, but it's situations like this that have prompted Idahoans to overwhelmingly and repeatedly support term-limits. Seriously, how entrenched do you have to be to have the District's retired former Superintendent as your campaign treasurer?

Second, I have an issue with her leadership style; as an example, her campaign materials tout her extensive direct classroom contact as a Board member. Fundamentally, I think this is at cross-purposes to the efforts of the truly amazing professional administrators we retain as a District; it reeks of second-guessing and micromanagement, when I believe the Board should be above that. The Board should be about budget and policy, the big picture and the 10,000-foot view, broad strokes and not brush strokes. Looking at things too closely can be just as misleading as inattention: consider what objects look like in an electron microscope! As a worst possible case, imagine someone judging the entire AP Lit curriculum based on visiting a classroom on the day they happen to be discussing Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury.

And thirdly, it's about representing the people of Boise accurately. Nearly everyone I talk to believes Dr. Olson is doing a fantastic job, yet when it came time to extend his contract back in February, Janet was the only Trustee to vote against doing so. And, as I've mentioned before, the Orndorffs' public record of campaign contributions is largely out of touch with the Democratic majority of Boise's voters.