Thomas Morgan (California)
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Thomas Morgan was a candidate for at-large representative on the San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District school board in California. Morgan was defeated in the at-large general election on November 7, 2017.
Morgan participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 school board candidate survey. Click here to read his responses.
Elections
2017
Three of the five seats on the San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District board of trustees in California were up for nonpartisan general election on November 7, 2017. No incumbents filed to run in this race, which guaranteed three new members were elected to the board. Noelia Corzo, Alexander Haislip, Rebecca Hitchcock, Shiraz Zack Kanga, Thomas Morgan, Jacob Thiel, and Shara Watkins ran for the open seats. Corzo, Hitchcock, and Watkins won the election.[1][2][3]
Results
| San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District, At-large General Election, 4-year terms, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Shara Watkins |
25.35% | 7,201 |
| Noelia Corzo |
21.46% | 6,095 |
| Rebecca Hitchcock |
15.83% | 4,497 |
| Shiraz Zack Kanga | 12.12% | 3,441 |
| Thomas Morgan | 11.36% | 3,225 |
| Alexander Haislip | 6.96% | 1,977 |
| Jacob Thiel | 6.92% | 1,965 |
| Total Votes | 28,401 | |
| Source: San Mateo County Elections, "My Results: SAN MATEO-FOSTER CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT MEMBERS, GOVERNING BOARD," accessed November 8, 2017 These election results are unofficial and will be updated after official vote totals are made available. | ||
Funding
Morgan reported $8,086.07 in contributions and $8,019.38 in expenditures to the San Mateo County Elections, which left his campaign with $66.69 on hand in the election.[4]
Endorsements
Morgan was endorsed by the Foster City Islander, San Mateo County Board of Supervisors member David Canepa, and San Mateo City Council member Joe Goethals.[5]
Morgan was also endorsed by members of the community. Click here for a list of his supporters.
Campaign themes
2017
Ballotpedia survey responses
Thomas Morgan participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates.[6] In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on October 13, 2017:
| “ | Being a CPA we need to get our budget improved and eliminate cost that are not productive or redundant. I would like to seek changes to prop 98 and funding which favor our district. We pay more taxes but do not benefit from what we pay. Most of our state income tax is redistributed to other district resulting in them being able to have more money and take our teachers. This will allow us to maintain our programs and pay teachers fairly.[7][8] | ” |
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues based on how they should be prioritized by the school board, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. Each ranking could only be used once.
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in . |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| “ | All items are important but the top three would improve all.[8] | ” |
| —Thomas Morgan (October 13, 2017) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer eight questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are highlighted in blue and followed by the candidate's responses. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions. The candidate was also provided space to elaborate on their answers to the multiple choice questions.
| Should new charter schools be approved in your district? (Not all school boards are empowered to approve charter schools. In those cases, the candidate was directed to answer the question as if the school board were able to do so.) |
|---|
| Yes. If an entity is able to acquire land and provide educational opportunities we should be open D Tech is an example of an innovative Charter School. We should not criminalize students and their families for wanting to be the best. |
| Which statement best describes the ideal relationship between the state government and the school board? The state should always defer to school board decisions, defer to school board decisions in most cases, be involved in the district routinely or only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| The state should defer to school board decisions in most cases. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. There are a lot of moving parts here some students are not in our district for less than a year, and do not go through all of the curriculum, while others leave our district and we do not get credit for their success. |
| How should the district handle underperforming teachers? Terminate their contract before any damage is done to students, offer additional training options, put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve or set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district? |
| Terminate their contract before any damage is done to students. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. I would like to see teachers get fairly compensated. But I would also like to see teachers who take on the harder job get extra compensation. Whether it is teaching English learners. Also the funding does not favor 4th through 8th grade teachers. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| Yes. There may be situations where schools do not meet the needs of all students in these situations other schools may be able to provide needs. Our ultimate customer is the student and we and they should be able to choose what is best for themselves. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Only under extreme incidents where it is a matter of public safety. Otherwise we are putting students who are already behind farther behind. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers. Teachers have to teach the curriculum, good teachers keep students engaged and interested in learning. |
Candidate website
Morgan highlighted the following issues on his campaign website:
| “ | Students - We must put our students first by preparing our them for the current and future jobs here in Silicon Valley. Too often people of my generation are leaving the area due to the high cost of living. If it is this bad now then we must ask ourselves how bad will it be for the students in our school system now?
Teacher Retention - We can provide the prettiest buildings and the best books, but without teachers none of this will matter. We must do something, but I think we need to include the entire community to find the right solution whether it is higher pay, work force housing, or something else. Our Children spend more time during the week at school than they do at home, and I think it would be important to have them with the best teachers. Equity - In meeting with various people I have been getting different opinions of what equity is. For some it is related to not getting a proportional share of funding, for others it is not having the same educational opportunities, and for others it is simply fairness. People regardless of income, racial, or gender identity must be given equal opportunities in public (tax payer funded) facilities and institutions. Funding - We need to be smarter with our funds, find waste and eliminate them. Being a CPA, having a finance background, and being very familiar with government budgeting I feel I would bring the most experience to the board. I would not be in favor of touching Prop-13 to make up our funding needs. Many feel Prop 13 is to blame for current funding challenge, while that may have been true in the first few years after being past. Prop 13 was almost 30 years ago, we need to stop living in the past and move forward and make the choices that allow our schools to be better. Parent and Community involvement - PTA's and Foundations do an excellent job keeping our school communities strong. While many of us have very busy schedules and demands from work and family lives we should strive to give a little more time and/or money to our schools. Transparency and Accountability - Being a former auditor a great deal of my time was spent collecting evidence and organizing the information in a way, so anyone after me could pick up my working paper and understand what I did and why. I look forward to bringing this skill to the board and making complex information understandable and accessible to the public. Accessibility - I look forward to listening and addressing the concerns of all groups in the community. Clearly the issues will change overtime and it is important to make decisions that offer the district flexibility and the opportunity to pivot as these needs change.[8] |
” |
| —Thomas Morgan (2017)[9] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Thomas Morgan San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District school board. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District, California
- San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District elections (2017)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ San Mateo County Elections, "Candidates Roster," accessed August 17, 2017
- ↑ San Mateo County Elections, "November 7, 2017 Consolidated Municipal, School and Special District Election," accessed August 12, 2017
- ↑ San Mateo County Elections, "My Results: SAN MATEO-FOSTER CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT MEMBERS, GOVERNING BOARD," accessed November 8, 2017
- ↑ San Mateo County Elections, "Public Portal for Campaign Finance Disclosure," accessed February 12, 2018
- ↑ Thomas Morgan for San Mateo Foster City School District Board 2017, "Endorsements," accessed October 26, 2017
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2017, "Thomas Morgan's responses," October 13, 2017
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Thomas Morgan for San Mateo Foster City School District Board 2017, "Issues," accessed October 25, 2017
| San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District elections in 2017 | |
| San Mateo County, California | |
| Election date: | November 7, 2017 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Noelia Corzo • Alexander Haislip • Rebecca Hitchcock • Shiraz Zack Kanga • Thomas Morgan • Jacob Thiel • Shara Watkins |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
