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Roland Balmer
Roland "Bud" Balmer was a candidate for the Trustee Area 5 seat on the Vista Unified School District school board in California. Balmer was defeated in the by-district general election on November 8, 2016.
Balmer participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 school board candidate survey. Click here to read his responses.
Elections
2016
Three of the five seats on the Vista Unified School District Board of Education were up for by-district general election on November 8, 2016. In her bid for re-election to Trustee Area 1, incumbent Elizabeth Jaka was defeated by challenger Rosemary Smithfield. Trustee Area 4 incumbent Angela Chunka ran against challengers Heather Emaus and Cipriano Vargas, and Vargas won the seat. The Trustee Area 5 race featured incumbent Richard Alderson and challenger Roland Balmer. Alderson won re-election to the board.[1][2]
Results
| Vista Unified School District, Trustee Area 5 General Election, 4-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Richard Alderson Incumbent |
53.97% | 6,184 |
| Roland Balmer | 46.03% | 5,275 |
| Total Votes | 11,459 | |
| Source: San Diego County Registrar of Voters, "Presidential General Election - Tuesday, November 8, 2016," accessed December 9, 2016 | ||
Funding
Balmer reported $1,280.00 in contributions and $972.88 in expenditures to the San Diego County Registrar of Voters, which left his campaign with $307.12 on hand as of October 22, 2016.[3]
Endorsements
Balmer was endorsed by the Republican Party of San Diego County.[4]
Campaign themes
2016
Ballotpedia survey responses
Bud Balmer 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 30, 2016:
| “ | Bringing about more parental involvement and choice in our children's education. I would love to see parents have more choices in where their children get to go to school. Unfortunately not all the schools have the ability to accommodate every child's needs and by allowing different Charter Schools to come into the district will allow more choices for parents. It does not take a village to raise a child it takes parental control to raise them as productive individuals.[5][6] | ” |
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 |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| “ | Keeping th district budget balanced it if the utmost importance. Keeping a cushion or rainy day fund is needed in today's uncertain economy and limiting spending to what is needed now and into the future. The practice of giving salary increases above what the economic growth is will always have a bad outcome so by keeping increases at or just below actual GDP percentage growth should be the standard. For example a 1.3% GDP growth should not equate to a 1.9% increase in pay but be more like 1% or possible even lower.[6] | ” |
| —Bud Balmer (October 30, 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. Charter Schools are the future of our education system. Charter Schools will give parents more opportunities to how they would like their children's education to be focused. Competition of ideas can only help improve our education system much like it is done at the college level. |
| 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. The effort to standardize our education system is a failed ideal. The diversity of the teachers, superintendent, board of trustees and the communities with which the schools reside can not be all lumped together in one basic standard. There needs to be levels of acceptability as well as accountability in the way students are measured in their level of achievement |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| Standards are needed to measure how a school district and their staff are educating our children. Ultimately a school board is responsible for the outcome and should have the leeway to adjust the standards within certain parameters. |
| 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. Put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve. I have never meet a teacher that was not wanting to give the best education to our children. Making sure teachers always have the ability to continually expand on their education will help improve how they educate our children. On a rare occasion a teacher or 2 turn out to be bad apples and try to play the system and those types need to be removed from the classroom immediately will proper action is being taken place. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| Yes. Most teachers are in the profession for the love of teaching the children. Some are better than others and the concept of giving merit pay may bring about lower performance teachers the incentive to take advantage of expanding their own education and improving their performance in the classroom. There is many pros and cons to merit pay but I feel it would be beneficial for our children's education |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| Yes. Parental control over their children's education should be given as a right and not as a concession. Some private schools are able to give equal or possibly a better educational experience to a child. Private schools can operate at a lower cost per student as well. Opposition to a voucher for education is of the opinion it is harmfully for the children's education when in reality they hate the idea of competition for money. Unions have a monopoly and wish to keep it that way in our children's education which is not beneficial to our children's future |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Expulsion should never be used as a discipline tool. Yes there are some extreme case where it maybe the last resort but before getting there effort needs to be put into the child's needs and improving on their behavior. I feel that expulsion is used as a quick and lazy way of dealing with difficult children. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Parent involvement With the hectic life style in today's society one of the most important responsibilities of a parent is ensuring that their child/children get the best education possible. Some Teachers are not always able to give their best effort everyday due to factors out of their control so parents need to be involved in and outside the classrooms. |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Roland Balmer Vista Unified School District. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ San Diego County Registrar of Voters, "Candidate List: 2016 General Election," accessed August 17, 2016
- ↑ COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO, "PRESIDENTIAL GENERAL ELECTION," accessed November 9, 2016
- ↑ San Diego County Registrar of Voters, "CampaignDocs eRetrieval: Search by Candidate's Last Name," accessed November 4, 2016
- ↑ The Republican Party of San Diego County, "2016 General Election: Local Endorsements," accessed October 13, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Bud Balmer's responses," October 30, 2016
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| 2016 Vista Unified School District Elections | |
| San Diego County, California | |
| Election date: | November 8, 2016 |
| Candidates: | Trustee Area 1: • Incumbent, Elizabeth Jaka • Rosemary Smithfield Trustee Area 4: • Incumbent, Angela Chunka • Heather Emaus • Cipriano Vargas Trustee Area 5: • Incumbent, Richard Alderson • Roland Balmer |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
