Matt Geiger (Florida)

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Matt Geiger

Nonpartisan

Elections and appointments

Last election

August 23, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

La Roche University, 1996

Graduate

California University of Pennsylvania, 2007

Personal

Birthplace

Pennsylvania

Religion

Catholic

Profession

Educator and administrator

Contact

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Instagram

Campaign YouTube

Matt Geiger ran for election to the Pasco County Schools school board to represent District 3 in Florida. He lost in the primary on August 23, 2022.

Geiger completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Matt Geiger was born in Pennsylvania. He earned a bachelor's degree from La Roche University in 1996 and a graduate degree from Slippery Rock University in 2001. He earned a second graduate degree from the California University of Pennsylvania in 2007. Geiger’s career experience includes working as a teacher at a juvenile justice school and as an assistant director for English as a second language for a school district. He also worked as the director of a YMCA camp, a child/family investigator for social services, an administrator at a psychiatric hospital, and a supervisor for special needs and disabilities.

Elections

2022

See also: Pasco County Schools, Florida, elections (2022)

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Pasco County Schools school board District 3

Incumbent Cynthia Armstrong won election outright against Matt Geiger in the primary for Pasco County Schools school board District 3 on August 23, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cynthia Armstrong (Nonpartisan)	58.9	54,540
		Matt Geiger (Nonpartisan)	41.1	38,082

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 92,622
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Joseph P. Passanise (Nonpartisan)

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Matt Geiger completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Geiger's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

*25 Year Educator - Teacher, Guidance Counselor, Teacher Union Rep,

School Adminstrator, District Adminstrator.

• Sat on multiple Boards over the past 20 years, Boy Scouts of America, YMCA, Local Non Profits and neighborhood boards.
• Parent of 3 Children all school aged now
• Married to my wife for 21 years

Platform Listen and fight for the rights of students and parents Increase teachers salaries Independent Financial Audit to find wasteful spending & savings Create a information hub where parents & students can get educational/career planning outside the school day Hold Pasco County School District Adminstration accountable Make all schools safe and have a positive culture Increase transparency in our school district Increase performance in all low performing schools

Create a parent council

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Will be Fiscally Conservative - will not raise taxes or ask for an ad valorem referendum, will find ways to cut current budget
• Will hold principals and district adminstrators accountable for education equity, school performance, school culture, parental and student rights
• Will design and enact district policy to eliminate district administration over reach. Too often the superintendent and staff work around the board with procedures designed to usurp school board oversight. Will push to have an appointed superintendent.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Florida Statute 1012.22 needs to be abolished, it limits Florida in the ability to compete nationally for the best and brightest teachers available. This statute puts teachers on a yearly contract and gives them zero job security it also limits the amount you can pay teachers. It also eliminate the ability to give teachers with advance degrees more money. Many other states do not have these limitations and makes it more attractive for teachers to go to those states for employment.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

The Dead Poet Society is a film that is inspirational and how I would love to see teachers inspire to teach like. In this movie Robin Williams develops students love for learning, inspires them to stand up for what they believe, teaches them to be critical thinkers.

Lean on Me- Morgan Freeman plays the true life principal Joe Clark. This movie and his Joe Clarks real life story has proven to me that Title 1 low performance school can change and improve with the right leadership.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

The most important

- Doing what you say your going to do and following through
- Listening to your constituents and responding to them

- Demonstrate honesty, integrity and professionalism on a daily basis

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

A School Board member should:

Determines the policy, budget, leadership, and administration of a school district

Make decisions about curriculum, school buildings and maintenance, annual budgets and more by consulting with parents, teachers, and the superintendent and voting constituents.

What is the primary job of a school board member in your view?

Determines the policy, budget, leadership, and administration of a school district

Make decisions about curriculum, school buildings and maintenance, annual budgets and more by consulting with parents, teachers, and the superintendent and voting constituents.

Who are your constituents?

Parents, Voters, Citizens of Pasco County

How will you build relationships with members of the broader community? Which groups, organizations, stakeholders will you specifically target?

A school board member must take an active role in developing a positive relationship with school administration, without this fundamental foundation nothing can be accomplished, I have watched over the years many school boards have adversarial relationships and progress gets stymied. If a school board member can foster relationships with the state government and the Florida Department of Education, this can be invaluable for prioritizing funding for our region, developing partnerships and solving critical issues like qualified teacher shortages. As it pertains to relationships with parents, this needs a top priority for any school board member. There needs to be an open dialogue and a positive forum in which parents and board members can communicate. The top priority is answering parents in a timely manner, listening to their concerns and finding ways to meet their needs and address their concerns if reasonable and rational. The majority of tension that is created between parents and schools is when families feel they are not being heard and their concerns are minimized.

Do you believe it is important to intentionally recruit with the aim of diversifying the district’s faculty, staff, and administration? If so, what would be your policy to achieve this?

No, we should be hiriing the best candidate for each position open, regardless of their diversity.

What issues get in the way of quality education? How would you address these obstacles?

Social Media

Electronics
Negative school culture
Niche grant funded programs that come and go when fu

Teach to the test curriculum

What constitutes good teaching? How will you measure this? How will you support advanced teaching approaches?

Does the teacher inspire their students?

Does the teacher engage their students on a daily basis?
Do the students learn and retain what the teacher is teaching?
Is the teacher creative in designing their lesson plans?

Does the teacher make thier student critical thinkers?

In what areas would you like to expand curriculum? For example, do you see a need for advanced technical training or apprenticeships? What sort of innovative programming would you advance if given the opportunity?

Vocational programs need to expand in all middle schools and high schools. Woodshop, metal shop, cooking and home ec need to come back to middle schools these skills help develop additional skills later in high school. We need to develop additional vocational programs at the high school level that help regional business fill their employment needs.

What strategies or plans would you advance to ensure the schools are properly funded?

The school board needs to work with the county to ensure all developers are paying their fair share on on impact fees when new developments are approved. We need to lobby the state to gain additional funding for our region.

What are your views on how to address schooling during pandemic times?

No mandatory vaccine or mask mandates

What will you do to build a relationship with parents in the district? What plans do you have to be inclusive of parental involvement?

I would like to start a campaign and push for strong parent councils at every school, these groups would then plan community activities, events etc that would connect parents to parents and students to students developing tight niche communities. From these groups I would like to get one member from each school to represent that school on a parent district council. This council would stream line major events, promote and share there schools visions and best practices and seek advice for problems or concerns they have with there school.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2022 Elections

What's on the ballot? U.S. Congress U.S. Congress special elections State executives State legislatures State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards Election analysis hub

Government

Who represents me? U.S. Congress State executives State legislators State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards

Newsletters

The Heart of the Primaries The Daily Brew The Weekly Brew The Ballot Bulletin Checks and Balances Economy and Society Hall Pass Number of the Day Robe & Gavel Union Station

External links

Search Google News for this topic

Candidate

Pasco County Schools school board District 3

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube