By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
BERRIEN SPRINGS – With the November election less than a month away, there haven’t been many opportunities to see candidates face off this fall with several Republican candidates declining for one reason or another to take part in League of Women Voters candidate forums.
That wasn’t the case last week at the Berrien RESA offices as the Berrien and Cass Counties School Board Association hosted candidates in five area races at their annual legislative breakfast. Candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives, Michigan State Senate and Michigan House of Representatives were all on hand for the event.
Candidates on hand were U.S. Rep. Fred Upton and his Democratic challenger, Matt Longjohn; State Senate Republican candidate State Rep. Kim LaSata and her Democratic challenger, Ian Haight; 78th State House candidates Republican Brad Paquette and Democrat Dean Hill and 79th State House candidates Republican Pauline Wendzel and Democrat Joey Andrews.
59th District State Rep. Aaron Miller and his Democratic challenger Dennis Smith were also in attendance. The 59th state house district covers much of Cass County and all of St. Joseph County.
As was expected, education was the main topic of the morning forum with candidates giving their views on everything from federal and state funding to charter schools and school security. Candidates had the chance to make opening and closing statements as well as answer questions from area educators.
Upton touted his work in getting more federal funding for
programs like career technical education and Head Start. He said he belongs to the Problem Solvers Caucus which tries to find bipartisan solutions for an array of issues including school violence. “There are good ideas on both sides of the aisle and that’s how all policy should be,” he said.
Longjohn said education is a priority for him, especially when it comes to public schools, equity in education, lifelong learning and making sure teachers make a livable wage. “There will be no money for for profit schools if I am elected and I will protect collective bargaining rights,” he said.
LaSata pointed to her background as a teacher and said she believes in all education, public or private as well as K-12 through college. She has worked to lower student debt, improve school security and fund career tech and skilled trades programs. “There are all different kinds of learners and we want to provide them with what they need,” she said.
Haight has also been a teacher and now works in the educational technology field at RESA. He wants the legislature to stop “stealing” money from the K-12 fund for other programs. He said education shouldn’t be a partisan issue and pointed to a forum he had Oct. 1 with termlimited State Rep. Dave Pagel, a Republican.
Paquette is also a teacher, most recently the last six years at Niles New Tech in the Niles school district. He wants to do more to support teachers and local districts. “We have a data driven system that grinds people up, we need a people driven system,” he said. “I want to give educators encouragement and a platform.”
Hill retired last year from the Dowagiac schools where he taught for 44 years. He said he agreed with Paquette that the federal and state governments are requiring schools to be too data driven to the detriment of teachers and students. He wants to see teachers get more support, both in terms of money and encouragement.
Wendzel said education should be about the kids and seeing
to their needs whether they want to go to college or a skilled trades position. She would promote both career technical education and advanced placement programs. “Education is important in every part of life, I want to be a voice for my school districts,” she said.
Andrews said he attended both product and private schools. He wants to make sure public schools are funded properly and that teachers are paid appropriately. “We need to fund education from top to bottom and pay teachers and support staff fairly,” he said. “So much is expected and we need to do better.”
Questions to individual candidates covered a variety of topics, ranging from how to combat the teacher shortage and making sure schools get all the funding they need to starting school after Labor Day, funding mental health services, school safety, cutting down on paperwork and bureaucracy and charter schools.
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