Dick Stevens

Today we are talking again with Dick Stevens, who is running for McKinney Independent School District Board of Trustees, place 4. Dick, thanks again. You have given us a lot of time and great answers that are important for our readers to understand some of what's going on wit Of course, you have been involved. You are the inc And so As we move forward, we've talked about everyt And you mentioned that all the school districts are facing difficult times in that regard. Would you That was created back during George Bush's administration. And I'm sure when they created it, they had all great intentions. But by 2014, every school in America, every school district in America, has to have a 100% success rate on state tests, or tax tests, or other people's tests. And now they're creating, on top of that, the Obama administration is spending $380 million to create a national test that would be used for all students to take. And the problem is that we in Texas, and specifically in McKinney, we choose to educate, and often told to educate, new students of t Many students might have only been here since Christmas, might not have been here since the first of the year. But they have to take the same test that every other student in the district and the state have to take. And it's not fair when they come down and say, well, Texas doesn't have do as well, and blah, blah, blah. When the kids up there, they just don't have the same challenges as we do. Yet, our funding by the federal government has, in fact, I will tell you, that's the new deal up there, is grants. And they're giving out grants based on the success of all these tests. And t We need to be able to control and educate our kids the way we need to in McKinney, with the state's participation and partners And that's been a good partners And so, there, but it's just, I mean, let's be honest, we've got an unbelievable record in tax scores. But on top of that, we have a situation where we've got kids who have only been in t 16 years. Right. And so, we need more, we need to be able to run our own schools. That's the bottom line. So, are you saying essentially that in some ways, we in Texas and in McKinney are being penalized because we have a different population, a different makeup. And so, we're not able to compete in some ways for those grants that the federal government may be handing out. And I t We don't have grant writers and whatnot that some of the bigger schools can afford to do. But yes, in essence, we're being penalized because, for example, if we, but right now, we don't have any schools that are on the bad list. But every school district in America has to have 100% compliance to the no-c That in itself isn't possible because no school can get 100% compliance. And so, all the school and all the meetings I've been to nationally, working on legislative action, committee, top stuff, is that's a huge problem. But it's more of a problem for us down here. We probably will have one school possible by t We'll probably have two schools after that. And by the way, they have the same problems as Plano and Allen and Frisco. I mean, t But obviously, the lower your social economic or the But every time one of those schools go on the non-compliance, it costs us money. Not only do we get less money, but we have to go out and pay for extra tutoring, extra teac We have to have more teachers at the school. So it penalizes districts You have to be the same as the school in Minnesota. Or if you aren't, you've got to pay extra to bring these schools up. So is that not a penalty or not? I mean, that's money we could be using for other t More science labs at McKinney So over the next few years, between now and 2014, you're going to see, you talked about it earlier, a challenge. That's going to be a challenge. All districts in Texas and Collin County are going to have to start spending more money to stay in compliance for the federal laws, mandates. So do you t Because if those c First of all, absolutely affects it. But I t It's the pressure the teachers are under to make sure these kids pass the test. And then they're putting pressure on the students to pass the test. And I think there are some students out there saying, hey, why, Why don't I just drop out? And when we should be educating those kids, But, you know, if we have to cut, And that's, so it's a catch-22. They want us to improve the grades and put pressure on it. So, yeah, some kids definitely will probably drop out as opposed to, And it's just not fair for a kid that's been here one or two, three years to be expected to pass the same test as a kid that's been here t Interesting. Okay. A little bit different, If you were to be re-elected, why would people want to vote for Dick Stevens? What is the strength that you would bring to the school board as a team? First of all, I think the n Okay. I t I've prepared myself to represent not only the district, but, And with my finance and budget background, that'somet And, Okay. And finally, what would you Well, we truly do have a great group of kids. Our test scores, we have great programs. But what I found, I've been traveling around visiting other school districts all around the state. The n And you sit there and you ask, why is t Why are you doing so well at t And it all goes back to leaders It's amazing. I've seen school districts with more money than us and higher socioeconomics, And it has to do with the leaders And I promise you, t Great. Thank you so much again, Dick, for allowing us to take up some of your very valuable time. Thanks for all you've done for our school district so far. And good luck with your campaign. Appreciate it. Thanks again for joining us on TAM Talk. If you have questions for the candidates, please post them in the comment box below our story. And don't forget elections, early elections begin May 2nd and run through May 10th. And election day is May 14th. Get out and vote. Make your voice heard.