Michael Rivera
Non-Partisan | Virginia
Candidate Profile
Conservative
BIOGRAPHY
Name
Michael Rivera
Party
Non-Partisan
Election Year
2022
Election
General
Race
Loudoun County Public Schools School Board Special Election, Leesburg District
Incumbent
No
Links
EDUCATION
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, BS Engineering, 1988
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, ME Engineering, 1999
WORK & MILITARY
Candidate did not provide
AFFILIATIONS
Theta Xi Fraternity, member
POLITICAL OFFICES HELD
Candidate did not provide
POLITICAL OFFICES SOUGHT
Candidate did not provide
Race
Previous Races
ENDORSEMENTS
CONSERVATIVE (1)
Loudoun County Republican Committee
REPORTED BY CANDIDATE (1)
Loudoun County Republican Committee
SELECTED FINANCIAL SOURCE DOCUMENTS
- Statement of Organization - 2/25/2022
- Reporting Period of 1/14/2022 - 3/31/2022
- $62.12 expenditure to Anedot
- $62.12 expenditure to Anedot
- Reporting Period of 4/1/2022 - 6/9/2022
- $54.30 expenditure to Anedot
- $54.30 expenditure to Anedot
- Reporting Period of 6/10/2022 - 6/30/2022
- $6.90 expenditure to Anedot
- Please note: The following information was received by iVoterGuide after panel evaluations occurred and is for additional educational purposes only.
- Reporting Period of 7/1/2022 - 8/31/2022
- $500.00 contribution from Loudoun Conservatives Care
- $135.80 expenditure to Anedot
- Reporting Period of 7/1/2022 - 8/31/2022
OTHER INFORMATION
QUESTIONNAIRE
RIGHT TO LIFE
Abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, should not be a resource for instruction or services in the school.
Agree
Human life begins at conception and deserves legal protection at every stage until natural death.
Neutral
ECONOMY
Free enterprise and the right to private property are essential elements of a productive economic system.
Strongly Agree
School districts should be able to use taxpayer money for lobbying the state legislature.
Strongly Disagree
What is your position on government funding of public education from Pre-K through college?
I believe public education funding should exist for pre-k thru 12 and higher education should be funded through loans, competitive scholarships, and grants. Colleges also need to make tuition affordable. Private institutions possessing large endowments should only be granted state and federal money on a needs basis with smaller schools that have little to no endowments getting priority.
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
At school, students should be able to speak freely and civilly about matters of conscience and faith, including Christianity.
Agree
Freely and civilly is the key. Religious beliefs should not be thrust upon anyone directly or indirectly. The caveat is that the United States was founded on Christian principles and said principles are inextricably tied to the US Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights.
School districts should not discriminate against individuals, organizations or small businesses because of their belief that marriage is only a union of one man and one woman.
Agree
Students should not be allowed to pray in school.
Disagree
If a student wishes to pray silently in class or in a private area, they should be allowed to do so as a matter of freedom of religion. This does not mean others have to participate nor should that religion be thrust upon others.
EDUCATION
What is the function of the local school board?
The school board should function as a managing body much like a Board of Directors. It should have oversight on the superintendent and his senior staff and ensure that the core mission of education is adhered to at all times. It should require complete fiscal accountability and transparency to the voters. The school board should always have a core mission of academics, education, fiscal responsibility, and allegiance to the voters they represent.
Who should have the authority to set curriculum and determine resources used in those curricula?
Curricula should be determined by educational scholars based on factual information. This may include information about dark periods in history as long as they are factual and not theoretical. At no time should political or social ideologies be taught in school nor should students be encouraged to disparage or hate the United States. Parents should have the right to question materials to which their children are being exposed and present reason why they object to said materials. Matters relating to morality, family life, social constructs, political opinions, sexual education, and the like should be left to families to teach their children outside of the public school system. Schools need to be focused on academic education not politics or ideologies.
When should parents be restricted from speaking in school board meetings?
No. School boards are elected bodies that serve at the will of the voters and are managing public institutions funded by tax dollars. Parents have an absolute right to speak at meetings frankly and as often as they like.
Please list in order the following priorities in relation to the role of a K-12 public school (omitting any that do not apply): Mathematics, Information Technology, Science, Political Activism, Personal Finances, Gender Identity, Physical Fitness, American History, Critical Race Theory, Language Arts, Art & Music, Vocational Learning, Sexuality, Foreign Language, Social Emotional Learning
Mathematics, Information Technology, Science, Personal Finances, Physical Fitness, American History, Language Arts, Art & Music, Vocational Learning, Foreign Language
American civics education should emphasize our nation's founding principles of liberty and equality.
Strongly Agree
We need to teach about and emphasize the greatness of the United States and explain to children why people come from all over the world to live the American Dream
Before students are taught courses such as Comprehensive Sex Ed (CSE) or Social Emotional Learning (SEL), they must opt-in with written parental permission.
Strongly Agree
Families should teach their children sex ed and social emotion skills
The loss of local control in education is too high a price to pay in exchange for federal dollars.
Strongly Agree
I support the teaching of curricula (such as the 1619 Project, No Place for Hate, Second Step, etc.) that emphasizes slavery and racism as the foundation of American history.
Strongly Disagree
The 1619 project is revisionist history written with an agenda to divide the great United States of America
Parents are the ultimate authority in their child’s education and should be able to freely pursue whatever educational options they deem best for their child.
Strongly Agree
As long as those pursuits are not in conflict with the educational milestones and testing that must be achieved in order to progress through grades k-12 and are in accordance with the law.
VALUES
Briefly describe your spiritual beliefs and values.
I personally am a Christian. I do not try to make others believe what I believe and will respect other religions and beliefs as long as that respect is reciprocal.
I support allowing public high school students to participate in athletic competition based on the gender with which they identify instead of biological sex.
Strongly Disagree
There are biological differences between males and females that are not overcome artificially with drugs and surgery. Men cannot become women and vice versa.
Who is responsible for teaching sexual education to children, and what is the appropriate age when it should be taught?
Parents are responsible for teaching sex ed to young children. Schools should be teaching the biological functions of the human body. Sex ed should be introduced in high school and should be "opt in" for parents as opposed to "opt out"
If you support the teaching of Sex Ed, please answer the following question: Sexual education should include these topics (list all that apply and add your own, if needed) -- Physical and emotional health outcomes; contraceptive methods; consent; abstinence; sexual orientation and gender identity; human anatomy/the reproductive system; abortion methods and side effects; stages of pregnancy and fetal development; sex acts and pleasures of sex
Physical and emotional health outcomes; contraceptive methods; consent; abstinence; human anatomy/the reproductive system; stages of pregnancy and fetal development
Judeo-Christian values established a framework of morality that is necessary for our system of limited government.
Neutral
The founding of the US is based on christian values that are present in the founding documents. Those principles guided the founding fathers to their conclusions in setting up the US. Everyone does not need to be christian but the country's christian roots cannot be denied or ignored.
No healthcare diagnosis or treatment, whether mental, reproductive, or otherwise, should be given to a child without first receiving written consent from the parent.
Strongly Agree
No school official should be involved in the sexual transitioning of a student, including the use of alternative names and pronouns.
Strongly Agree
ELECTIONS AND VOTING
People should be able to vote without photo identification.
Strongly Disagree
Voting as a US citizen is the one of the greatest honors for American Citizens and there are absolutely NO reasons why a legal resident, voting age, American citizen cannot get a valid government issued photo ID.
ABOUT YOU
Have you ever been convicted of a felony or been penalized in either civil or criminal court for sexual misconduct? If so, please explain.
no
A candidate's personal moral values should not be relevant when considering a candidacy for elective office.
Disagree
Personal moral values are part of your entire persona and form you as a person.
When you consider your views on a wide range of issues from economic and social matters to foreign policy and religious liberty, which of the following best describes you overall?
Moderate
I believe political issues and fiscal policies need to be practical and efficacious. For example, there is a need for social welfare programs for those that are unable to provide for themselves BUT we cannot expect to have the entire population living for free.
Please provide publicly available information, including interviews and media reports, validating your answer to the previous question (other than your website).
I have been on Fox News in the morning, I was interviewed by Larry O'Connor on WMAL, I've written Op Eds for local Loudoun County papers, I have a facebook page and twitter handle with posts about my views.
Is there anything else you would like voters to know about you?
As cliche as it sounds, I am not a politician. I am father of two, husband, and civil servant that is involved in this race as a civic duty to my country because I am not happy with the current system. Local politics affect people much more than they ever realized but citizens are waking up and we are taking back our local governments to restore faith and trust in those institutions.
2ND AMENDMENT
Teachers who are licensed to carry should be allowed to carry guns at school.
Disagree
I think if you have a concealed carry permit and want to carry within and around a school you need comprehensive training to operate in that environment and must prove your proficiency and ability to operate in high stress, high population shooting events.
OTHER IMPORTANT ISSUES
Under what circumstances (if any) should schools be allowed to require vaccinations?
Vaccinations should only be required as a matter of proven, debated, and documented public health risk including credible data to support conclusions that being unvaccinated poses a clear and present danger to public health. Vaccines should NEVER be required at the whim of political parties, appointed bureaucrats, or hidden agendas. Politicians should never have the power to dictate medical decisions on free Americans.
I support mask mandates.
Strongly Disagree
