Candidate calls for increased K–12 state funding and rejects vouchers as unaccountable
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Summary
The candidate said the state's share of K–12 funding has fallen and should be increased to address special education and mental-health needs; he opposed voucher programs and said they would drain public-school resources.
Asked how to fix K–12 education, the attorney general and gubernatorial candidate said the state must reverse a recent decline in the percentage of the budget devoted to K–12 and increase funding for special education and student mental health supports. "The K through 12 budget that the state has...has actually gone down in recent years," he said, adding that funding priorities should shift "in the opposite direction."
He criticized voucher proposals backed by his opponent as taking public dollars into private, unaccountable schools. "A voucher program...would take public dollars and be invested into private schools that are unaccountable," he said, arguing such programs have drained resources from public districts in other states. The candidate said those policies would make challenges in the state's largest district worse and reiterated a preference for investing in public schools.
On governance, the interviewer noted proposals to change the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction's structure; the candidate emphasized budget priorities as a primary lever and said he would avoid "bad ideas" like vouchers while focusing resources on K–12 needs.