Cheryl Anne Buford

Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

Strongly Agree

Choose not to answer

I disagree, with respect to lobbying as commonly understood. The only source of funds available for a school district to operate are derived from taxpayer money. Even describing their needs or responding to new proposed regulations could be viewed as lobbying by some, yet some engagement is appropriate and limited in scope.

In the near term, there is no other feasible alternative. Moreover, at present, 85-90% of K-12 students attend a public school. I'm running for school board because this is where the overwhelming majority of students attend school. In Jeremiah 29:7, the Lord told the Israelites to seek the welfare of the city to which He had called them. That is how I envision my role as a school board trustee. That said, I welcome tailored experimentation with alternatives including education savings accounts, etc. But, practically speaking it may take many years for alternatives to work, so public funding remains necessary (of course with the need for better results, efficiencies and effectiveness, too!)

Strongly Agree

Strongly Agree

The function of the school board is to hire the Superintendent and make policy decisions, overseeing the operations of the school district. The Board is accountable to parents and voters.

The Board of Trustees sets policies with respect to curriculum and oversees those making curriculum choices in its district. But it also has the authority to make specific curriculum and resource decisions as needed. For example, last fall Fort Bend ISD Board of Trustees appropriately voted to remove the book, Gender Queer, from a school library.

Rules of order and decorum are appropriate, along with limits on time and agenda. With these caveats, parents should not be restricted from speaking in school board meetings, and robust community feedback should be encouraged.

Language Arts, Mathematics, American History, Science, Art & Music, Physical Fitness, Vocational Learning, Personal Finances, Information Technology, Foreign Language.

A) Liberty and equality of opportunity

To the extent equity carries traditional notions of fairness, that should be supported. Unfortunately, in recent years, "Equity in education" has often been deceptively redefined to mean equalizing outcomes across races and ethnicities. This is dishonest and flawed. Struggling students need help advancing academically and all should be challenged to achieve their best. A false victimhood neither helps them nor others; abandoned because they were in some false category of "privileged,” “oppressed,” etc. School administrations should be held accountable for academic results for all students, and not be permitted to water-down expectations or artificially redefine success.

Strongly Agree

Choose not to answer

For better or worse, we already have federal dollars in many areas of education, including free and reduced lunch and Title I programs. It is better to focus on cutting the waste and improper strings attached to funding for meritorious programs. I do think we should work towards a new paradigm that returns increasing control to the states and local levels and out of the hands of unaccountable federal and corporate interests.

Strongly Agree

Strongly Agree

No

Choose not to answer

I agree public school curriculum needs to be transparent, especially to parents. The public should play a role in the selection of materials and often school boards set up community review committees. But my concern with answering I "Agree" is because the question is ambiguous. Using “all,” "public," "easily accessible" potentially opens up schools to being inundated with requests, if any one can come to the campus at anytime (including outside activists). Learning and safety may be compromis,

Above all, I trust in Jesus Christ as Lord of my life. Through His death on the cross He has saved me, and through his ongoing works of sanctification in my life helps me grow in Christ-likeness. I currently worship at a local church in Sugar Land, TX. Over the years, I have been heavily influenced by C.S. Lewis and others who helped me develop a robust Christian worldview anchored in biblical values. I respect those from other faiths and those without faith and believe it is important to seek to work with all persons of good-will. That way we can together build on the best of our common ground to improve pluralistic institutions like our public schools.

Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

Strongly Agree

Parents are the primary ones responsible for teaching sexual education to their children. However, the term "sexual education" in this question is too broad to give a specific age at which it should be taught. For example, young children are often curious and ask, "where do babies come from." The explanation would be different for them as compared to information parents discuss with an adolescent. Sensitive parents are going to answer questions from their children in developmentally appropriate ways and times.

As noted above, any sex education must be age appropriate. It should include contextual frameworks, like that in the Success Sequence framework (i.e., showing how students with the best life outcomes (especially in escaping poverty) include graduating from high school, getting a job, and gettting married before having a child.) Other topics at age-appropriate times could include physical and emotional health outcomes; consent; abstinence; human anatomy/the reproductive system; stages of pregnancy and fetal development; and informing students about the full consequences of major choices including the long-term impacts from abortion and irreversible medical interventions.

Strongly Agree

This is historically accurate. Many of our ancestors would likely say both that common framework and limited government have been significantly weakened in the U.S. today, and further see this as reinforcing their warning that limited government is not workable in nations without strong self-governance of its citizens informed by a common moral framework.

Strongly Disagree

As a citizen, I do think it is important that voters should present a photo ID for election integrity. This is obviously outside the scope of my responsibilities as a School Board Trustee.

No.

Strongly Agree

Conservative

These school board races are short campaigns in Texas, and I don't currently have any publicly available information, except for my websites and endorsements. Although I will be participating in interviews and the like during this campaign, and these should be publicly available.

I am running for this position because, first, I believe children are precious, and they are our future. That is why supporting a strong foundation for their hearts and minds is so important. Second, I have 30+ years of experience in education, education policy, and advocacy and think it is important to give back to my community. I began my career as a teacher and spent 10 years in the classroom. I hold an MPA from the University of Texas, Austin and have worked on education policy and advocacy at the federal, state, and local policy levels. As a result, my experience spans many of today’s most pressing issues – closing the minority achievement gap, promoting rigorous STEM and advanced academics, workforce development. I will bring this expertise to the position, providing common-sense, conservative solutions to the challenges facing Fort Bend ISD.

Choose not to answer

I believe a tailored policy could be workable, provided our representatives lift the federal government’s prohibition and permit states to develop reasonable solutions. But permission should be given only after special guidelines and training are adopted. License to carry classes are focused on personal security and use, with minimal training on securing and use of weapons in crowded work settings like schools. Strong safeguards should be in place on how to secure firearms in a school setting.

For years schools required minimal vaccinations (10 or so), and only those supported by long duration testing and demonstrably broad safety, such as for polio, etc. The thorough testing also permitted informed debate over reasonable exceptions. I am alarmed at how the number of required vaccinations has mushroomed without full transparency and debate on necessity is increasingly stifled. As with all bureaucratic creep and institutional capture, the best cure for mistakes and bloat in today's schedules would be for states and local governments to demand full transparency and better injury accountability before permitting any item to remain on their schedule. In the case of COVID19 vaccines, these have demonstrably failed with more serious adverse side effects reported in VAERS than all other vaccines combined. Thus, I do not support requiring any further COVID 19 vaccination until full testing and transparency is achieved. I also think that as a general matter any future experimental vaccine or therapy should be prohibited from mandated schedules.

Disagree

Strongly Agree

Strongly Agree