Curt Bradshaw: Candidate Profile

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:BioKey IssuesQA Bio City: NapervilleWebsite: http://www.curtbradshaw.comOffice sought: Indian Prairie Unit D204Age: 38Family: Married (Dina), two children (Noah 8, Grace 6)Occupation: Business ExecutiveEducation: Waubonsie Valley High School; University of Illinois, undergraduate; University of Chicago, M.B.A.Civic involvement: Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce Legislative Committee; Active Member, Grace Pointe ChurchElected offices held: President, Board of Education, Indian Prairie School District (2009-present); Member, Board of Education, Indian Prairie School District (2005-2009)Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Fiscal Responsibility. My extensive business experience and M.B.A. in finance have equipped me to be a good steward of taxpayer money. As a result of this strong stewardship, Moody#146;s #8211; the premier financial rating agency #8211; now rates D204 as being in the top 10% of districts nationally. In addition, D204 continues to successfully increase student performance while operating at the lowest cost per student of any of our peers.As the only business person on the board, my experience and perspective will be critical to ensuring we continue to be good stewards of taxpayer money in these difficult financial times.Key Issue 2 Student Performance. I led the district to establish specific and measurable student performance goals for the first time in the district#146;s history; I believe strongly that #147;what gets measured gets done.#148; Holding the district accountable to these goals has led to more of our students meeting and exceeding state standards than ever before. In addition, it has led to new district records for our ACT score in 4 out of the last 5 years.Going forward, we need to continue our focus on the traditional academic areas, but also ensure that our students are equipped with what is often referred to as 21st Century skills (communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity and technology).Key Issue 3 Accessibility and Accountability. I have spent time in all of the district#146;s 33 schools and many community organizations listening to parents and taxpayers. I#146;m driven by the belief that you #8211; the voters #8211; are the true owners of the district.Questions Answers Do you support retaining teacher tenure rules that make it nearly impossible to fire teachers?The vast majority of D204 teachers are highly skilled and talented. However, the fact that less than 50 teachers a year are given unsatisfactory ratings in a state with 130,000 teachers is clear evidence that tenure laws need to change. (In fact, 83% of Illinois districts have never rated a teacher unsatisfactory).I strongly support any reforms that will better allow us to remove the poorest performing teachers from our classrooms.Do you support merit pay for teachers?As a business person, it is in my DNA to embrace the virtues of merit pay. However, while I believe all school districts will eventually transition to merit pay, leading this movement would be too costly both in terms of finances and focus. (Specifically, there are no existing best practices for merit pay in the market and those that are experimenting with it have done so at great financial expense).In the meantime, D204 should continue to work towards an industry-leading teacher evaluation system. If properly designed and implemented, such a system could reap many of the same benefits as a merit pay structure. And, having a solid evaluation system is a necessary prerequisite of a successful merit pay structure.The district is trying to reconnect with the community and regain its trust through open communication and more transparency. Is that mission being accomplished?I am pleased with our progress, but we have more to accomplish. In just the last couple of years, we have: hired a superintendent who is a gifted communicator, instituted an adopt-a-school program whereby board members spend time in each school, reinstated our annual report to the community, introduced the Connect-Ed phone message system, placed board materials on-line in advance of the meetings, held press conferences to coincide with significant events, and launched 204TV.org (an on-demand video channel where you can watch board meetings and presentations related to academics and finances).As a result of these and other efforts, the percent of community members grading us an #147;A#148; or #147;B#148; has increased from 76% to 87%.What budget issues will the district have to confront? What measures do you support to address them? If cuts are needed, be specific about programs and expenses that should be reduced or eliminated. Do you support any tax increases for local schools?Because we receive 26% less per student than our average peer, we will constantly confront the challenge of doing more with less. In addition, the State#146;s financial situation will continue to add to that challenge.Having cut 10% of our budget during the past 2 years, we have largely moved past the fat and into the muscle. As such, most of our focus needs to be in identifying efficiencies rather than cutting programs. The good news is that we have already proved ourselves capable of finding efficiencies. My favorite example is the $3 million in annual savings we captured as a result of using a more sophisticated method of selecting our health care provider. Other examples include our energy efficiency program ($500,000+ saved annually), improving the efficiency of our bus routes ($1 million saved annually), conversion to the national school lunch program ($1 million saved annually) and an audit of our healthcare rolls ($1 million saved annually).Ideas that are next on our list to consider are:Purchasing cooperative #8211; Increasing our purchasing power (think Walmart) by aggregating our purchases (i.e., paper, batteries, light bulbs, etc) with other government entities.On-line Reverse Auctions #8211; A model where bidders openly compete (think EBay) vs. the closed bidding system commonly used today. Illinois law recently changed to allow this and research indicates a 10%+ typical savings.In order to find these efficiencies, we must continue to leverage the area#146;s greatest business minds. The $3 million in healthcare efficiencies originated with a conversation I had with a local businessman. And, our Citizens#146; Financial Advisory Committee has brought us many other successful ideas.My business background has been, and will continue to be, valuable in identifying and supporting these opportunities.We have been able to deliver incredible results while operating more leanly than any of our peers. I believe we can continue our success into the foreseeable future without a tax increase.How satisfied are you that your district is 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?I am pleased with the progress we have made to better prepare our students for the next stage in their lives, but we still have much more left to accomplish in this area.As stated previously, more of our students are meeting and exceeding state standards than ever before. However, test scores are only half the equation. The other half is ensuring our students have the skills to succeed in the 21st century (i.e., (communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity and technology). District 204 is aggressively developing a curriculum to ensure our students are equipped with these skills. We are at the early stages of the process and need to ensure that these plans are properly designed and implemented.