Juan Barnett (Incumbent)     WINNER

1. What is your experience with K-12 public schools, personally and/or with your children or family? I along with my entire family have attended and graduated from public schools. Also my wife left her former job as a court administrator of 12 years to become a public school teacher.

2. Do you agree that the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) should be fully funded every year? If yes, what actions will you take to ensure full funding? If no, explain why. I agree one hundred percent that MAEP should be fully funded every year. I will push for monies from our casinos and lottery to be used for public education

3. What will you do to ensure state revenue that is sufficient to provide all of the services Mississippi’s citizens need to lead productive lives? To stop the cut of services and push for additional tax dollars be placed with those agencies that aid in helping the families who need them.

4. Will you oppose vouchers that send taxpayer dollars to private schools, religious schools, home schools, or virtual schools? Why or why not? Yes. A couple of years ago when the Legislature wanted to send money out of state for children I had an amendment that passed that stopped those efforts therefore killing the legislation.

5. Do you agree that all K-12 schools that receive taxpayer dollars, including private voucher schools, should be accountable to taxpayers for the quality of education they provide, using the same accountability measures as public schools? Yes

6. Public schools serve the vast majority of Mississippi students with disabilities. Do you agree that special education services in public schools should be fully funded every year? (Special education has been underfunded by the state every year since 2008.) If yes, how will you accomplish full funding? If no, explain why. Yes. Because as legislators we need to understand that special education does not only include children who may suffer from down syndrome but also dyslexia, adhd, and other learning disorders. Therefore, since we know that the gaming industry is striving we should mandate that a portion of those monies be used to help in this area.

7. Do you agree that Mississippi should provide high quality early childhood education statewide? Yes

8. The nation’s top teachers say that the greatest barriers to school success for K-12 students are family stress, poverty, and learning and psychological problems. What steps do you believe legislators should take to alleviate these obstacles for Mississippi children? By having programs in every community that will help to educate parents and provide more economic and food opportunities for families. Also to add additional monies to the schools to provide exit meals for children at the end of the day.

9. Do you support raising teacher salaries at least to the level of our neighboring states and raising pay for teacher assistants? 100%

10. Do you agree that retired educators (and other retired state employees) should be able to draw their retirement while serving in the Legislature? Yes

11. Legislators have little or no staff to help them understand the many bills they must consider. Before introducing or supporting a bill that could affect public education, will you commit to seeking input from teachers, principals, superintendents, and parents of public school students in your district? Who will be advising you on education policies? I will. I will continue to reach out to superintendents, principals, and teachers for guidance.

12. Legislators receive tremendous pressure from the leaders of their chamber (House or Senate), state and party leaders, and corporate lobbyists, to vote in ways that may contradict the will of their constituents and harm their communities. How will you respond to this pressure? By remembering that public education was my foundation and a great one, and I will never forget that.

 Steven Wade

NO RESPONSE

 Deborah Delgado (defeated in primary)

1. What is your experience with K-12 public schools, personally and/or with your children or family? I am a product of K-12 public schools and so are each of my children.

2. Do you agree that the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) should be fully funded every year? If yes, what actions will you take to ensure full funding? If no, explain why. Yes. I would make full funding a priority and would align myself with legislators with the same mindset. Full funding should be treated as the crisis it is in Mississippi.

3. What will you do to ensure state revenue that is sufficient to provide all of the services Mississippi’s citizens need to lead productive lives? I would carefully monitor and work to reduce, if not completely eliminate, tax breaks for corporations that reduce revenue to fund needed programs. I would discourage wholesale awards of tax credits in exchange for development.

4. Will you oppose vouchers that send taxpayer dollars to private schools, religious schools, home schools, or virtual schools? Why or why not? Yes. The vouchers drain already limited resources needed for public schools.

5. Do you agree that all K-12 schools that receive taxpayer dollars, including private voucher schools, should be accountable to taxpayers for the quality of education they provide, using the same accountability measures as public schools? Yes.

6. Public schools serve the vast majority of Mississippi students with disabilities. Do you agree that public school special education services should be fully funded every year? (Special education has been underfunded by the state annually since 2008.) If yes, how will you accomplish full funding? If no, explain why. Yes. Full funding can be accomplished through fully funding MAEP. Special education, standing alone, should be fully funded by putting policy in place to penalize the Legislature for failure to provide funding for special needs children within the public school system.

7. Do you agree that Mississippi should provide high-quality early childhood education statewide? Yes

8. The nation’s top teachers say that the greatest barriers to school success for K-12 students are family stress, poverty, and learning and psychological problems. What steps do you believe legislators should take to alleviate these obstacles for Mississippi children? The Legislature should first acknowledge the impact of poverty on learning and invest in social programs statewide to alleviate the stress and psychological problems that negatively impact learning.

9. Do you support raising teacher salaries at least to the level of our neighboring states and raising pay for teacher assistants? Absolutely!

10. Do you agree that retired educators (and other retired state employees) should be able to draw their state retirement while serving in the Legislature? Yes.

11. Legislators have little or no staff to help them understand the many bills they must consider. Before introducing or supporting a bill that could affect public education, will you commit to seeking input from teachers, principals, superintendents, and parents of public school students in your district? Who will be advising you on education policies? Yes. I will draw upon the wealth of experience in the school districts located in my senate district, as well as upon interest groups that support public education.

12. Legislators receive tremendous pressure from the leaders of their chamber (House or Senate), state and party leaders, and corporate lobbyists, to vote in ways that may contradict the will of their constituents and harm their communities. How will you respond to this pressure? My responsibility is to my constituents and the communities located in my district. Any request that negatively impacts these will not be considered.