Andrew Ramjit
Andrew Ramjit was a candidate for the District 2 seat on the Broward County Public Schools Board of Education in Florida. Ramjit was defeated in the by-district primary election on August 30, 2016.
Elections
2016
Two of the nine seats on the Broward County Public Schools Board of Education were up for by district primary election and one seat was up for at-large primary election on August 30, 2016. District 2 incumbent Patricia Good defeated challengers Andrew Ramjit and Rose Walker-Williams. District 5 incumbent Rosalind Osgood won re-election against newcomer Nathalie Lynch-Walsh. In the race for At-Large Seat 9, incumbent Robin Bartleman defeated challenger Sharnell Jackson.[1] The District 3 seat was originally set to be on the ballot, but incumbent Heather Pomper Brinkworth was unopposed in her bid for re-election and was automatically re-elected when the candidate filing deadline passed.
Results
| Broward County Public Schools, District 2 Primary Election, 4-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Patricia Good Incumbent |
61.27% | 14,329 |
| Rose Walker-Williams | 27.81% | 6,503 |
| Andrew Ramjit | 10.92% | 2,554 |
| Total Votes | 23,386 | |
| Source: Broward County Supervisor of Elections, "August 30th 2016 Primary," accessed December 1, 2016 | ||
Funding
Ramjit reported $3,419.75 in contributions and $2,956.39 in expenditures to the Broward County Supervisor of Elections, which left him with $6,376.14 on hand as of August 8, 2016.[2]
Campaign themes
Ballotpedia survey responses
Andrew Ramjit participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 survey of school board candidates. In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on June 14, 2016:
| “ | As a former Broward County student, teacher, and administrator, I feel I have the vision to help lead our school district in the right direction. Our current school board is not advocating for our students and teachers, and that is my main focus. As the sixth largest school district in the United States, we have a moral responsibility to provide our students with the best education possible. If elected to the Broward County School Board I will work together with all community stakeholders to achieve this goal.[3][4] | ” |
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues based on how they should be prioritized by the school board, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. Each ranking could only be used once.
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in Florida. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | The main goals in my campaign are: 1) Higher pay for our teachers and paraprofessionals. 2) Reduction in standardized testing for our students. 3) Financial transparency and accountability from our school board. 4) Mandatory diversity training for all school board employees 5) Increased budget for arts programs. 6) Increased awareness in cyberbullying.[4] | ” |
| —Andrew Ramjit (June 14, 2016) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer nine questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are highlighted in blue and followed by the candidate's responses. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions. The candidate was also provided space to elaborate on their answers to the multiple choice questions.
| Should new charter schools be approved in your district? (Not all school boards are empowered to approve charter schools. In those cases, the candidate was directed to answer the question as if the school board were able to do so.) |
|---|
| Yes. I am very much in favor of school choice. However, the School Board must do it's homework on the governing boards of each proposed charter school. There have been too many instances of charter schools being opened in our district without proper vetting. In these circumstances, our students are the ones who suffer the consequences and it is just not fair to them. |
| Which statement best describes the ideal relationship between the state government and the school board? The state should always defer to school board decisions, defer to school board decisions in most cases, be involved in the district routinely or only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| The state should only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| Yes. Student achievement has been for many years and will continue to be measured through assessment (tests). Assessment allows for teachers to measure a student's academic strengths and weaknesses. Assessment allows for communities to judge the quality of their educational system and make changes where necessary. However, when the financial and emotional stakes associated with these tests become too high, the overall goal of assessment becomes misconstrued. Our educators should never teach students to take standardized examinations at the expense of individual learning activities in their subject areas. I personally feel and have always felt that it should be up to individual teacher's to create examinations that test students within their subject area. With the exception of Reading and Mathematics (the absolute necessities for a successful post-secondary education), I do not feel the State of Florida should interfere at all with assessment. |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| I am in favor of the Common Core State Standards. However, I feel more work should be done to equalize the playing field for our students in Broward County so they can benefit from these standards. The Common Core State Standards calls for all testing to be done via computer, however not all of our schools have the technology to carry this out without major issues. |
| How should the district handle underperforming teachers? Terminate their contract before any damage is done to students, offer additional training options, put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve or set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district? |
| Offer additional training options. Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. All of the teachers in our county should receive annual salary increases, not merit pay. Our current evaluation system (iObservation) provides a bias on the part of the school administrator conducting the evaluation. This can be seen by the lack of teachers in our district evaluated as "Highly Effective." We as a school district need to aim in providing effective professional developments and a high quality mentoring system for our teachers who are not performing up to standard. They should not be given the consequence of not receiving merit pay. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| Yes. I am very much in favor of the John M. McKay Scholarships for Students with Disabilities Program and feel the program has been successful in Broward County. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Expulsion should only be used in critical circmstances as set fourth in the Broward County Public Schools Discipline Matrix. We need to keep our students in the classroom as much as possible. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers The most important factor in determining the success of our students in the classroom is the education they are receiving from their teachers. While student-teacher ratio, curriculum, parent involvement, and school administration all play an important role in shaping student success, it is the job of the educators to pass on their knowledge to the students. We as a school district need to place a greater emphasis on our teachers and provide them with all the tools necessary to help make our students successful. |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Andrew Ramjit Broward County Public Schools. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Broward County Supervisor of Elections, "2016 Announced Candidates," accessed June 30, 2016
- ↑ Broward County Supervisor of Elections, "2016 Announced Candidates," accessed August 8, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Andrew Ramjit's responses," June 14, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| 2016 Broward County Public Schools Elections | |
| Election date: | Primary: August 30, 2016 |
| Candidates: | District 2: Incumbent, Patricia Good • Andrew Ramjit • Rose Walker-Williams District 3: Incumbent, Heather Pomper Brinkworth |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
