Margaret Burkholder
Age: 42
Party: Republican
Employer and position: La Paloma Academy middle school math teacher
Education: Bachelorβs degree in mathematics education from Western New Mexico University; Masterβs in education administration from Chapman University
Political experience: Vail School District governing board, 12 years; previously ran for Tucson City Council in 2015
Where she stands on...
The greatest challenge facing schools: Teacher retention and recruitment. All kids, regardless of where they live should have access to the best teacher. Improve retention by supporting teachers financially and ensuring they have the power to keep control over their classroom.
Common Core: Supports common standards, which have made free resources more easily accessible online. Appreciates that schools still have the power to design the curriculum utilized in classrooms to meet those common standards.
The Pima County Superintendentβs role in serving teachers: Offer meaningful professional development to support existing teachers in the classroom. She would also advocate for the state to give scholarships to top high school graduates to go into in-demand fields like teaching.
Convincing Governor Ducey that Prop. 123 was just a first step to improving education funding: Prop.123 was a Bandaid but more needs to be done. She would go to Phoenix and speak up when the state isnβt following the will of the voters.
Serving Pima County schools, not political parties: The most important asset we have is our children and we know that. The children become the pawns and kids canβt wait for adults to figure out how to solve problems. Kids need people that want whatβs best for them, not whatβs best for their political careers.
Dustin Williams
Age: 42
Party: Democrat
Employer and position: Mansfeld Middle School, sixth grade mathcounts teacher
Education: Bachelorβs degree in elementary education from the University of Arizona; Masterβs in educational leadership with a K-12 principal certificate from Northern Arizona University
Political experience: no elected offices
Where he stands on...
The greatest challenge facing schools: The stateβs failure to fund public education. While he has no authority to change salaries, he would advocate for stronger lobbying efforts at the state level to ensure the needs of Pima County schools are being met.
Common Core: Itβs a very good thing, but the politicization of the standards and calls to scrap them at the state level wastes time and money spent by schools that have worked to properly train teachers on how to implement them.
The Pima County Superintendentβs role in serving teachers: Join forces with organizations that offer incentives to teachers, like home-buying discounts. Conduct needs assessments with schools and develop action plans to meet needs.
Convincing Governor Ducey that Prop. 123 was just a first step to improving education funding: Hold legislators and the governor accountable for the oath they signed to uphold the beliefs of the constitution. He would work to ensure voters are educated and plead with the governorβs office to make sound decisions.
Serving Pima County schools, not political parties: This position should be non-partisan. Education is a non-partisan issue. The problem is politics have made it opposite of that. Itβs very important as the superintendent of schools to take your biases away. I plan on working with many people in the community.
