School Board Candidate: Richard Sonner

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Up Now: Richard Sonner

Sonner is seeking his third term as a board member for . Committed to public education, he believes it is a vital part of our society and democratic process.

He also has a personal interest in SPUSD's success since all four of his children are students in the district.

Why he's running for school board:

Much has been accomplished in my eight years as a school board member, but there is much more that needs doing. The biggest issue in public education in California is inadequate state funding for education. Despite unprecedented state cuts to education funding, our district has been able to balance its budget and has a positive budget certification. 

With automatic budget cuts scheduled if state revenue fails to adequately increase by December, dealing with our budget remains a critical issue. I have become an unofficial budget expert on the school board and want to use my experience to help us get through these difficult times. I pushed for a strategic planning process to renew our mission statement and our educational goals. We now have a strategic plan with prioritized goals, and have included these goals in administrative evaluations. 

I want to continue to work on using our strategic goals to improve instruction and student achievement. I see this as a process that help our district for many years to come. We have completed a beautiful renovation of the Middle School and have improved the High School's athletic facilities. 

Because of an increased emphasis on college readiness for all our students, we will need more science labs at the High School. I want to work on making this a reality. With the State providing inadequate funding for public education, we need to look for local revenue sources. We are in the beginning stages of considering developing the District Office parking lot to generate long-term revenue for our district. I want to work on this. 

We have a good school board dynamic and a good working relationship between the school board and the superintendent. I want to continue to build on what we have, so that our good reputation will continue to yield success whenever we hire new administrators.