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31st District Senate debate: Part II By Dennis Box Editor

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Sports...

This is the second installment of an in-paper debate between Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, and Rep. Cathy Dahlquist, R-Enumclaw, the two candidates vying for the 31st District seat in the state Senate. The first installment was published last week and can be found on the website at blscourierherald. com. The final debate will be published next week with questions posed by the candidates to each other. The general election is Nov. 4. Ballots for the all-mail election will go out in mid-October and must be postmarked by Nov. 4.

Question No. 1

Do you believe teacher evaluation and student test scores should be linked? What, if any, evaluation system do you support?

Pam Roach

Pam Roach

I support the Teacher-Principal Evaluation Program that was recently set in place by the Legislature. Student growth is a part of that evaluation matrix. We all want to measure student growth. Local evaluation programs are

better than those that are state or federally mandated. Student growth, over time, is an important measure and yet it is Cathy Dahlquist not contained in the state system. There is a tendency for those outside of the education system to want to link teacher evaluation with student test scores. But, there are many factors in a student’s life that enable or disable learning. The teacher should not be expected to surmount all difficulties, nor unfairly benefit by being assigned only high achieving students.

Not every child is blessed with an educated, well-financed, harmonious, and innately intelligent family. Not every child has parents who give quality time to education at home. We often forget that it is the parent – not the teacher – who has the greatest influence on the student. And, from a teacher’s perspective, difficulties can reside in whole schools and whole communities. Rural, industrial, non-Englishspeaking and/or alternative schools often attract outstanding teachers, precisely because they can work miracles with kids. But, if there is a

SEE DEBATE, PAGE 4

31st District candidates discuss education reform

Sports Roundup Page 12

By Dennis Box and Ray Still

Weather

Editor and Staff Writer

The forecast for Wednesday calls for showers with a high to 58 and overnight lows to 48. A chance of showers continues Thursday with highs to 61 and lows to 49. Showers are predicted to continue Friday and Saturday with partly sunny skies and a high to 65.

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Loydyn Whipple, 1, spends her evening Thursday with Ryleigh Whipple, 9, picking pumpkins at Fresh Farm Produce in Buckley. Photo by Ray Still

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Education continues to be one of the top issues the 2014 Legislature will face when it convenes in January. The candidates running for 31st District House Position No. 2, incumbent Rep. Chris Hurst, D-Greenwater, and challenger Chris Hurst Phil Fortunato, R-Auburn, discussed education last week in phone interviews with The Courier-Herald. Framing the issue of education is the Sept. 11 Supreme Court ruling holding the state Legislature in contempt for not complying with the court’s Jan. 5 2012 McCleary v. Washington order to fully fund

K-12 public education. Fortunato believes the Supreme Court overstepped its authority when it found the Legislature in contempt for not fully funding eduction. “I’m trying to figure out how the court became a super legislature,” Fortunato said. “If we spend $2 billion you will be fully funding education? That’s a number picked out of the air. It doesn’t make any sense.” Hurst said in Phil Fortunato terms of funding education, “We’ve made significant progress in the last legislative session.” He cited more than $1 billion dollars allocated for public education. Hurst recommended reforming health care for teachers was a place to look for savings.

SEE EDUCATION, PAGE 7

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