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Matthew Baker (California)
Matthew Baker was a candidate for an at-large seat on the Simi Valley Unified School District school board in California. Baker was defeated in the at-large general election on November 8, 2016.
Baker participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 school board candidate survey. Click here to read his responses.
Elections
2016
Three of the five seats on the Simi Valley Unified School District Board of Education were up for at-large general election on November 8, 2016. In his bid for re-election, incumbent Dan White ran against challengers Matthew Baker, Bob Labelle, Eric Lundstrom, and Dawn Smollen.[1] White won re-election, and Lundstrom and Labelle won election to the other seats on the ballot.[2]
Results
| Simi Valley Unified School District, At-large General Election, 4-year terms, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Dan White Incumbent |
25.49% | 25,650 |
| Eric Lundstrom |
22.37% | 22,511 |
| Bob Labelle |
21.48% | 21,618 |
| Dawn Smollen | 18.45% | 18,568 |
| Matthew Baker | 11.92% | 11,999 |
| Write-in votes | 0.28% | 277 |
| Total Votes | 100,623 | |
| Source: Ventura County Registrar of Voters, "Official Final Results," accessed December 5, 2016 | ||
Funding
Baker reported no contributions or expenditures to the Ventura County Registrar of Voters as of November 2, 2016.[3]
Campaign themes
2016
Ballotpedia survey responses
Matthew Baker 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 July 29, 2016:
| “ | I hope to raise our post graduate percentage, and make the school system more accessible to parents, so that we can work together to raise better prepared children for our future.[4][5] | ” |
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 |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| “ | Teacher relations can best be improved by allowing parents more access to them. I can say as the parent of 2 kids who have made their way through SVUSD from k-12, If I ever had an issue that I wanted to discuss with a teacher, it was nearly impossible to gain access.[5] | ” |
| —Matthew Baker (July 29, 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. As the parent of two children who attended Santa Susana High School, I can attest to the quality of a charter school that focuses children in directions they are interested in. |
| 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 defer to school board decisions in most cases. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| Yes. For the most part, of coarse their are always exceptions.... kids with dyslexia for example. |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| As long as it is State mandated I will follow it's standards. Personally I feel common core is detrimental to our education. If we were raising clones or stormtroopers that all needed to be the exact same, then common core is what you need. I believe we are educating individuals who need the room to stretch from time to time and common core does not allow for individual growth. |
| 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? |
| Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. The "qualified mentor" should also have the authority to write a recommendation at the end of the supervised period as to whether or not the teacher should remain with the district, or more training would help the teacher, or the teacher is ready to resume their position. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| Yes. I can see an incentive program for higher graduation percentages, checked by random testing and other methods. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. In our current system, private schools should remain private and be funded as such, public schools should benefit from federal assistance. If in a general election the public decides to change our current system to allow the public to use such vouchers to attend the school of their choice, then we could further look into how this would best benefit everyone. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| as a last result. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Parent involvement Teachers should not be used for baby sitters, or substitutes for parenting. Parents who are involved with their children in the classroom have higher graduation rates, and lower trouble incidents. |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Matthew Baker Simi Valley Unified School District. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Simi Valley Unified School District, California
- Simi Valley Unified School District elections (2016)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Ventura County Registrar of Voters, "Qualified Candidate List," accessed August 23, 2016
- ↑ Ventura County, California, "General Election November 8, 2016," accessed November 9, 2016
- ↑ Ventura County Registrar of Voters, "County of Ventura Public Portal for Campaign Finance Disclosure," accessed November 2, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Matthew Baker's responses," July 29, 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| 2016 Simi Valley Unified School District Elections | |
| Ventura County, California | |
| Election date: | November 8, 2016 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Dan White • Matthew Baker • Bob Labelle • Eric Lundstrom • Dawn Smollen |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
