Jayson Tran: Candidate Profile

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Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioQA Bio City: Vernon HillsWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Hawthorn District 73 School Board Age: 50Family: Candidate did not respond.Occupation: EngineerEducation: Bachelors of Science Degree in Computer Science Mathematics (UW-Madison) Masters of Science in Computer Science (Illinois Institute of Technology)Civic involvement: Candidate did not respond.Elected offices held: Candidate did not respond.Questions Answers How satisfied are you that your school district is adequately preparing students for the next stage in their lives, whether it be from elementary into high school or high school into college or full-time employment? What changes, if any, do you think need to be made?One of the best indications to see if students are adequately prepared for the next stage is to see how they actually perform at the next stage in their lives. Coming from our district, we know that 97.8% of freshmen (our "graduates") are on track to graduate high school. And with a long term record of around 95% graduation rate and about 90% going on to 2 or 4 year college, we can confidently say that our students are well prepared to go from elementary to high school and are successful in high school. In addition to these academic measurements, there are other non-measured areas one can look at to gauge success of the whole child. This includes areas such as music, arts, theater, athletics and overall citizenship which are all very strong in our high schools. Given this track record, I am reasonably satisfied that our district is adequately preparing our students for high school and post-secondary education. For the few students that are not prepared, we need to continue to find ways to address their needs such as creating a district wide "Guaranteed Viable Curriculum". We cannot rest on our successes but must continue to work towards our mission to "Inspire all students to embrace learning in an ever-changing world".What budgetary issues will your district have to confront during the next four years and what measures do you support to address them? If you believe cuts are necessary, be specific about programs and expenses that should be considered for reduction or elimination. On the income side, do you support any tax increases for local schools? Again, be specific.As almost 75% of the district's expense is personnel related (salary and benefits), this is an area that must be constantly monitored since it has the most impact on our budget. We must look for ways to align the growth of personnel expense to our income and not have personnel expenses grow substantially more than our income. Our future contracts with school employee groups must keep this in mind in order for us to maintain our strong financial health. We have been able to successfully structure our recent budgets so as not to have to reduce or cut any programs. On the contrary, we have been able to increase our spending on areas that directly impact student learning such as technology, curriculum and most importantly, adding full-day (no-fee) Kindergarten for all starting in 2015-2016. I expect we will be able to continue budgeting without any cuts or reductions to programs in the next four years. In terms of income, given the current state of the district's financial health, I do not support any tax increases for our school district. We must be constantly mindful that income from the state and expenses required by the state (e.g. increase pension payments) are big unknown variables for our future and we must be prepared for any legislative changes that would impact our budget.Are you currently employed by or retired from a school district, if so, which one? Is any member of your direct family - spouse, child or child-in-law - employed by the school district where you are seeking a school board seat?No. No.As contract talks come up with various school employee groups -- teachers, support staff, etc. -- what posture should the school board take? Do you believe the district should ask for concessions from its employees, expect employee costs to stay about the same as they are now or provide increases in pay or benefits?The posture of the board needs to be that we're all in this together and that the board and various employee groups need to work together in a collaborative manner. Instead of the district "asking" for concessions, the employee groups needs to be presented with all the financial data so that they can fully understand the district's financial situation and we can then work together to arrive at a mutually agreeable plan. The employee group will see that having personnel costs rise at 5-10% while district income is flat or at best rising only at the 0.8% CPI (inflation) rate is not sustainable. Any contract or plan must be fair and aligned with our income. It must be affordable and sustainable in order for the district to maintain its financial health for the long run.If your district had a superintendent or other administrator nearing retirement, would you support a substantial increase in his or her pay to help boost pension benefits? Why or why not?This is now much less of an issue as the state of Illinois has "capped" end of career pay increases to 6%. Any increase over 6% will result in a large pension fine to the district. The old practice of a substantial increase (10%, 15%, 20%, etc.) in order to boost pension benefits at no cost to the district is no longer an option. I will not support any substantial increase to an administrator's salary nearing retirement that would result in a fine to our district. These large, end of career, increases distort the administrator's true compensation and the tax payers should not have to pay for this disparity. I will only support reasonable increase to an administrator's salary that is based on the district's budget, the district's needs and the performance of the administrator.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?Student achievement is always an important issue for me as a board member and parent. I intend to work closely and collaboratively with the district administration on this important issue to reach our Strategic Plan's Long Range Student Achievement goal of "In five years, all students will meet or exceed their individual growth targets". In order to meet this and other Strategic Plan goals, the board will have to set policies and provide directions that are aligned with the High-Level Change Strategies identified in our Strategic Plan. These High-Level Change Strategies are the critical new actions that will most likely improve performance and lead to long-term goals attainment.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Candidate did not respond.What's the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?Candidate did not respond.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?Candidate did not respond.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?Candidate did not respond.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?Candidate did not respond.