Jayson Tran: Candidate Profile

Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioKey IssuesQA Bio City: Vernon HillsWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Hawthorn Elementary D73Age: 46Family: Married, four children.Occupation: Software EngineerEducation: Masters of Science in Computer Science, Illinois Institute of Technology, 1990Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Mathematics, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1986Civic involvement: Candidate did not respond.Elected offices held: Hawthorn D73 School Board 2003-2005Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Ensure that Hawthorn School District 73 provides a world class, whole-child education and equitable opportunities for all students that enhances student achievement while maintaining financial stability and a balanced budget.Key Issue 2 Candidate did not respond.Key Issue 3 Candidate did not respond.Questions Answers How satisfied are you that your district is preparing students for the next stage in their lives, whether it be from elementary into high school or high school into college or full-time employment? What changes, if any, do you think need to be made?With 91% of 8th graders meeting or exceeding standards in reading and 93% meeting or exceeding standards in math, an overwhelming number of the district#146;s students are well prepared for high school. In addition to these academic measurements, there are other non-measured areas one can look at to gauge success of the whole child. This includes areas such as music, arts, theater, athletics and overall citizenship which are all very strong in our high schools. Given any measurement or gauge, along with the fact that over 93% of the high school graduates then go on to college, I am very satisfied that our district is preparing our students for high school and post-secondary education. For the relatively few students that are not well prepared, we need to continue to find innovative ways to address their needs. We cannot rest on our successes but must continue to work towards our mission of #148;Learning for All, Whatever It Takes#148;.What budget issues will the district have to confront? What measures do you support to address them? If cuts are needed, be specific about programs and expenses that should be reduced or eliminated. Do you support any tax increases for local schools?If things do not change, the District's budget is projected to have a deficit of about $1.2M starting with the 2012 fiscal year. As part of the district's Financial Advisory Task Force (comprised of all stake holders: parents, tax payers, board members, teachers, union representatives and administrators), we are looking at all options to address this projected deficit. The recommendation of this Task Force will be presented to the board on February 28th. We need to have substantial and sustainable savings and income ideas. We must first look at savings that has minimal impact on student learning as cuts in programs should be a last resort. For example, being more energy efficient can potentially save the district about $50,000/year while reducing paper cost can save about $25,000/year. As 72% of the district's expense is personnel related (salary and benefits), this is an area that must be explored since it provides opportunity for the most significant savings. We must look for ways to align the growth of personnel expense to our income and not have personnel expense grow substantially more than our income. In terms of income, at this time, I do not support any tax increases for our school district. However, there are other areas of income that we should consider. For example, the district has not raised student registration or activity fees since 2005-2006. Because of this, Hawthorn 73 has one of the lowest student fees compared to others in our surrounding area. A modest raise in student fees would bring the district in line with surrounding areas as well as provide a sustainable increase to our annual income of roughly $200,000-$300,000. There are many other ideas but no one idea will be enough to bridge the $1.2M gap. We must carefully consider and prioritize all the savings/income ideas and implement the ones that are best for our students, our district and our tax payers.Is experience as a teacher or support from a union valuable because it suggests educational insights or detrimental because it creates pro-teacher bias? Please clarify whether you have such experience or would accept union support.As stated, the question presents a false dichotomy. Pro-teacher bias is not necessarily detrimental. Board members need to be mindful of and work with all stake holders. In this sense, we need to be pro-teachers, pro-tax payers, pro-students, pro-parents, pro-community, etc. ""Pro"" one group is not ""anti"" another group. One must balance the needs of everyone. We succeed not by pitting one against the other but by working all together. Educational insights can also be obtained by non-teachers. Any experience that applies towards the benefit of the district is valuable, including but not limited to teacher experience. We need to see past these false choices, suggestions, impressions and innuendos. I have no such teacher experience but would welcome support that is based on my record and ability from anyone.As contract talks come up with various employee groups, what posture should the board take? Do you believe the district should ask for concessions, expect employee costs to stay about the same as they are now or provide increases in pay or benefits?The posture of the board needs to be that we're all in this together and that the board and various employee groups need to work together in a collaborative manner. Instead of the district ""asking"" for concession, the employee groups needs to be presented with all the financial data so that they can fully understand the situation and we can then work together to arrive at a mutually agreeable plan to address the issues. The work from the Financial Advisory Task Force will demonstrate that the district is serious about exploring ALL options and that any employee concession is only one of many options. The employee group will see that having personnel cost rise at 5-10% while district income is flat or at best rising only at the 2.1% CPI (inflation) rate is not sustainable. Some concessions may be needed for the district to remain financially sound and it is my hope that the employee groups will realize this and come to the table ready to work together on the solution.If your district had a superintendent or other administrator nearing retirement, would you support a substantial increase in his or her pay to help boost pension benefits? Why or why not?This is now much less of an issue as the state of Illinois has ""capped"" end of career pay increases to 6%. Any increase over 6% will result in a large pension fine to the district. The old practice of a substantial increase (10%, 15%, 20%, etc.) in order to boost pension benefits at no cost to the district is no longer an option. I will not support any substantial increase to an administrator's salary nearing retirement that would result in a fine to our district. These large end of career increases distort the administrator's true compensation and the tax payers should not have to pay for this disparity. I will only support reasonable increases to an administrator's salary that is based on the district#146;s budget, the district#146;s needs and the performance of the administrator.