Caroline Bañuelos
Caroline Bañuelos was a candidate for an at-large seat on the Santa Rosa High School District school board in California. Bañuelos was defeated in the at-large general election on November 8, 2016.
Bañuelos participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 school board candidate survey. Click here to read her responses.
Elections
2016
Four of the seven seats on the Santa Rosa High School District Board of Education were up for at-large general election on November 8, 2016. In their bids for re-election, incumbents Laura Gonzalez and Jenni Klose ran against challengers Evelyn Anderson, Caroline Bañuelos, Laurie Fong, and Edward Sheffield.[1] Klose won re-election, and Fong, Sheffield, and Anderson won the other seats on the ballot.[2]
Results
| Santa Rosa High School District, At-large General Election, 4-year terms, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Laurie Fong |
23.40% | 49,998 |
| Jenni Klose Incumbent |
19.94% | 42,612 |
| Edward Sheffield |
15.64% | 33,412 |
| Evelyn Anderson |
15.45% | 33,020 |
| Laura Gonzalez Incumbent | 14.06% | 30,050 |
| Caroline Bañuelos | 11.50% | 24,561 |
| Total Votes | 213,653 | |
| Source: Sonoma County Registrar of Voters, "Final Results for Consolidated Election - November 8, 2016," accessed December 2, 2016 | ||
Funding
Bañuelos reported $3,100.00 in contributions and $1,200.00 in expenditures to the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters, which left her campaign with $1,900.00 on hand as of October 22, 2016.[3]
Endorsements
Bañuelos was endorsed by the Sonoma County Democratic Party and the Santa Rosa Teachers Association.[4][5]
Campaign themes
2016
Ballotpedia survey responses
Caroline Banuelos 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 October 28, 2016:
| “ | Candidate did not provide a response.[6][7] | ” |
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 California. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | Everything listed here are priorities but the reality is that without balancing and maintaining the budget it will be very difficult to meet all the other needs.[7] | ” |
| —Caroline Banuelos (October 28, 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.) |
|---|
| No. The district should focus on the schools already under it's jurisdiction which includes dependent charter schools. The goal should be to improve what we already have and to look at ways to expand wherever possible in areas that are not currently offered. |
| 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? |
| No. Standardized tests have been shown to have built in biases that are not in any way an accurate metric for student achievement. |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| The goals for Common Core are laudable. However, for our district, which is still going through a training process, it is really too early to measure whether or not it is successful. |
| 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. If a teacher is underperforming we should offer additional training and mentor the teacher to be the best he/she can be. There may be techniques that the teacher is not aware of or familar with that could be shared and utilized. Teaching has to be one of the most challenging professions and we need teachers now more than ever as our State goes through a teaching shortage. With this reality in mind, it really behooves us to give teachers every opportunity to improve; with additional training, mentoring, constructive feedback, etc. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. Public education, in my view is not a business and thus, should not be approached in a private sector manner. A better approach would be to look at teacher innovation, planning and dedication to teaching their students. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. Improving public education should be the goal and our focus. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Only as a last resort. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers Teachers are the key to success, in my view. Although parent involvement is also important; it doesn't always have the impact that a good teacher can on a daily basis. Teachers who are excited about teaching and can inspire their students leave lasting impressions on students that last a lifetime. |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Caroline Bañuelos Santa Rosa High School District. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Abbey Smith, "Phone communication with Sonoma County Registrar of Voters," August 25, 2016
- ↑ County of Sonoma, "Current Election Results," accessed November 9, 2016
- ↑ Sonoma County Registrar of Voters, "Welcome to the CampaignDocs Web Public Access," accessed November 4, 2016
- ↑ Sonoma County Democratic Party, "Official Endorsements for the November ballot," accessed October 17, 2016
- ↑ Santa Rosa Teachers Association, "SRTA Proudly Endorses Gonzalez, Banuelos, and Fong for Santa Rosa School Board," accessed October 28, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Caroline Banuelos's responses," October 28, 2016
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| 2016 Santa Rosa High School District Elections | |
| Sonoma County, California | |
| Election date: | November 8, 2016 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Laura Gonzalez • Incumbent, Jenni Klose • Evelyn Anderson • Caroline Bañuelos • Laurie Fong • Edward Sheffield |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
