Delaware Governor Debates Show Interesting Perspectives On Education

Last week, Delaware Public Media released videos with the four candidates for Delaware Governor.  With issues ranging from education to the budget to jobs to healthcare to violence, this was an excellent way to hear what Colin Bonini, John Carney, Sean Goward, and Lacey Lafferty truly believe.  I think John Carney may have some severe competition, and not from the corner you think.  Goward delivered excellent responses to the questions.  Bonini was very vague with a lot of his answers.  Both Carney and Bonini played up their past job titles.  I did not agree with some of the education aspects Bonini and Lafferty support.  The only candidate who even touched on special education was Goward.  Failure to address special education while talking about behavior in the classroom makes me very worried if Bonini or Lafferty won.  I heard a lot of talk from Carney about getting kids ready for college.  All but Bonini said they want to reorganized the Department of Education.  All seem to think education funding is a big concern.

I don’t like how Carney just wants everyone to mend fences and get along.  That isn’t a solution, that’s the Delaware Way.  Education is very divisive because the most important sides to education have been ignored for years in favor of corporate education reform.  I do respect how Carney wants to recalibrate the DOE into a liason between the feds and the local school districts.  But he seems a little bit too embedded in the Delaware Way.  By ignoring the issues, he is setting himself up to be ineffective.

In my eyes, and I listened to all the issues, Goward won this hands down.  He has some very interesting ideas.  He isn’t bought by the system and he has unique perspectives on a lot of issues that actually make sense.  Thank you to Tom Byrne at Delaware Public Media for putting these videos up.  I still want to hear more from all the candidates on their ideas for education, but any candidate who mentions the OECD is already way ahead of the game!

Colin Bonini: Republican

John Carney: Democrat

Sean Goward: Libertarian

Lacey Lafferty: Republican

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