Steve Ullum
Non-Partisan | Kentucky
Candidate Profile*
Conservative (Conditional)
*Additional information appears below for educational purposes; however, only data received prior to the candidate deadline was considered during Panel Evaluation.
BIOGRAPHY
Name
Steve Ullum
Party
Non-Partisan
Election Year
2022
Election
General
Race
Jefferson County Public Schools Board of Education, District 3
Incumbent
No
Links
EDUCATION
Wilder Elementary School, Louisville, KY
Meyzeek Middle School, Louisville, KY
Ballard High School, Louisville, KY
University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
WORK & MILITARY
Candidate did not provide
AFFILIATIONS
Candidate did not provide
POLITICAL OFFICES HELD
Candidate did not provide
POLITICAL OFFICES SOUGHT
Candidate did not provide
Race
ENDORSEMENTS*
*These endorsements were received after the deadline and were not considered in the Panel Evaluations and are for additional educational purposes only.
CONSERVATIVE (1)
*Freedoms Heritage Forum
SELECTED FINANCIAL SOURCE DOCUMENTS
- Statement of Spending Intent - filed 5/31/2022
- Please note: The following information was received by iVoterGuide after panel evaluations occurred and is for additional educational purposes only.
OTHER INFORMATION
Voter Record from the Commonwealth of Kentucky State Board of Elections indicates candidate's Political Affiliation is Republican (as of 8/15/2022).
Election Voting History for John Stephen Ullum Jr during time of residence in district and/or at current address:
- Voted in 1 Primary election (2022)
- Voted in 4 General elections (2016 - 2020)
**Voter history is not considered during panel evaluations.**
QUESTIONNAIRE
RIGHT TO LIFE
Abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, should not be a resource for instruction or services in the school.
Choose not to answer
Human life begins at conception and deserves legal protection at every stage until natural death.
Choose not to answer
ECONOMY
Free enterprise and the right to private property are essential elements of a productive economic system.
Strongly Agree
This is one of the fundamental motivators for people to seek to better themselves, work hard, and aim for achieving personal and financial goals.
School districts should be able to use taxpayer money for lobbying the state legislature.
Strongly Disagree
Taxpayer money should be used to better the school system itself. We need a very in-depth audit of the current budget to cut wasteful spending in order to free up much-needed funds for school building maintenance and added security measures for our students and staff.
What is your position on government funding of public education from Pre-K through college?
Government funding is a key component of the way our education system thrives. Our students are our future, and an investment in our students is an investment in the future of this country. That being said, there needs to be complete transparency with the public in the way those funds are being used. The funding needs to be used on ways to improve the safety of our schools and the quality of education our students receive. According to a study by Louisville Business First in 2019, there were over 600 full-time JCPS employees making over $100,000 a year. We need to take a close look at how many of these highest-paid positions are contributing to the growth and success of our school district because the results we are seeing do not seem to justify the cost of these salaries. During a time with such high teacher shortages, it doesn't make sense to be this heavy on high-paid administration.
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
At school, students should be able to speak freely and civilly about matters of conscience and faith, including Christianity.
Strongly Agree
The ability to freedom of speech and freedom of religion are two of the fundamental rights of every citizen of this country. Being able to enter into civil discussions allows us to better know and understand each other's points of views. That being said, no religious views should ever be forced on anyone, and no student or staff member should ever feel pressured to participate in any religious practices. Everyone should always have a voice, though.
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.
Strongly Agree
No one should ever be discriminated against for any reason. Likewise, no one should ever be forced to agree with another's lifestyles either. Each person's beliefs are their own. Being inclusive does not mean you should be forced to accept the lifestyles of others. It means you should accept the PERSON and accept that everyone has the right to choose for themselves. We should teach our kids to see the PERSON, not the person's choices. Discrimination is never the answer.
Students should not be allowed to pray in school.
Strongly Disagree
If a person chooses to pray, that is their constitutional right of freedom of speech and freedom of religion. A student should never be FORCED to pray for the same reasons. We need to learn to respect each other's rights to their own beliefs, whether those be of a religions or lifestyle nature, without attempting to force those same beliefs on other people. Allowing a person to practice their own faith is a right we should all have as long as it does not interfere with the freedoms of others.
EDUCATION
What is the function of the local school board?
The school board is responsible for ensuring the safety of all students and staff. When they are on school property, the school district has a responsibility to ensure their safety, regardless of whether or not the source of any apparent danger is a direct result of the school district. The current school board is failing our students and staff as it pertains to safety. There is no consistent structure of discipline in our schools, and it has resulted in kids running the schools because they know there will not be any real consequences for their actions. The current solution JCPS has in place for armed security officers to patrol the area has already failed miserably. JCPS security was called to Ballard High School on 3/23/2022 due to a massive fight breaking out. LMPD responded within 9 minutes, but the JCPS security team did not arrive until an hour later. It's just one example of failed current leadership and safety solutions that are out of touch with the real needs of our students and staff. The school board is also responsible for ensuring that all students receive the highest quality education possible, while making all educational resources available to all students. That means finding ways to ensure all students have access. A 45% reading proficiency rate and a 36% math proficiency rate is inexcusable. We need a complete overhaul of district leadership because the leaders in charge now are failing us. The school board is responsible for making policies that treat all employees and students the same regardless of their race, gender, national origin, or anything else. No one should ever be prioritized ort excluded based on any reason other than their actions. The school board is responsible for managing the budget responsibly since it is not their money. High-paying administrative roles should be performance-based, and these positions should be cross-trained so they can manage the district with fewer administrative positions. The school board should unite the community with the school district. They should work together instead of constantly opposing each other. They should be open to hearing different points of view and criticism, but also be willing to respond on ways that show the public they care about these opposing views. The school board should provide students with the option of attending school near the student's home so that families and students can be more active in school life, so students can go to school with their friends and siblings and build close personal relationships, and so schools have more of a community feel to them. The school board should always remember that they are the voices of the voters. They are not there for political activism or for their own personal agendas. They are there to ensure students are prepared, educated, and competitive in their future careers of choice, and to make sure students have the ability to make their own decisions, not to try to influence decisions. Give students the tools they need like the ability to critically evaluate things, research topics on their own, speak and write effectively, work with others to achieve common goals, and enter into healthy debate on opposing views. It's not about telling kids what to think, it's about preparing them to think and act on their own in responsible ways. We've lost sight of that, and we need to get it back before we slip even further into this hole we are in now.
Who should have the authority to set curriculum and determine resources used in those curricula?
The local SBDM councils should first have an equal representation of parents as it does school employees. That is the only real way for parents to have a real voice. Beyond that, there needs to be collaboration between parents, teachers, the SBDM councils, the school board, and the administration with the ultimate authority being the local SBDM councils. The voices of everyone need to be heard before making these kinds of critical decisions that affect so many students.
When should parents be restricted from speaking in school board meetings?
As long as a parent is willing to be civil and address the board in a respectful manner, no parent should ever be restricted from speaking at board meetings. Obviously not every parent can speak at every board meeting. There are approximately 95,600 students in this district, so hearing from everyone at every board meeting is just an impossibility. The only fair way to allow this in an efficient manner is on a first come first served basis by written request. That way there is a system in place for ensuring those who are allowed to speak were not cherry-picked for any other reason. That being said, there should also be rules in place for how those speakers should behave during the board meetings. Comments may be critical as long as they are respectful and civil. Criticism is part of our right to freedom of speech, but that criticism should always be made with an effort to achieve a better outcome. It should never be made in an effort to incite violence. Parents should also be allowed to speak near the beginning of board meetings, regardless of whether or not the topic of their concern is on the board's agenda for that evening. By only allowing comments that apply to the evening's agenda, that allows the school board to limit topics of discussion and it hampers freedom of speech and the right of every parent to have a voice. For too long, there has been a climate of the parents vs. the school board. A lot of those sentiments are self-inflicted by the school board. I've witnessed it myself by attending board meetings. I've seen parents address the board while board members are laughing, playing on their cell phones, or talking to each other. Rather than addressing the concerns of the parents who spoke, the board merely moves on to the next speaker without even addressing the concerns of that parent. That doesn't show that there is any listening going on by the school board. Allowing voices to be heard is only effective if the members of the board are willing to enter into discussions about improving the situations addressed. School board members need to remember that they are representing the voters who elected them. The school board is not a place for seven people to plug their own personal and political agendas. It is a place for representing the voters, the students, the teachers, and the staff. We've gotten away from that. We need people on the board that are willing to set politics aside and focus on rebuilding the relationships between parents, teachers, school board members, students, staff, and administration. We need to all be working together instead of working against each other.
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
1) Language Arts / Mathematics; 2) Information Technology (used responsibly); 3) Science; 4) American History (from a factual perspective, including the good and the bad); 5) Personal Finances; 6) Personal Fitness; 7) Vocational Learning; 8) Foreign Language; 9) Arts & Music. Eliminate the following from schools: Political Activism; Gender Identity; Critical Race Theory; Sexuality; Social Emotional Learning.
American civics education should emphasize our nation's founding principles of liberty and equality.
Strongly Agree
These are the fundamental beliefs of our country and the founding principles by which we were established as a country. That doesn't mean we haven't made poor choices and decisions along the way. Those bad choices do not define us as a country, though. instead, they serve as reminders that decisions we make can have very long-lasting and devastating consequences. Racism, slavery, and hate are perfect examples.
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
100% agree. These are matters of personal choice, religious beliefs, personal lifestyle, and family values. Children are easily manipulated by what surrounds them. When curriculum, policies, and belief systems within the schools are overly-sexualized the way they have been the past several years, it encourages children to explore the ideas that they are constantly seeing. These are family matters that should remain family decisions.
The loss of local control in education is too high a price to pay in exchange for federal dollars.
Strongly Agree
We've seen time and time again that the choices of the federal government are not always the best choices for the people. That's because politics plays too large of a role in those decisions. Local control is crucial. It keeps parents, taxpayers, students, and teachers more actively involved in wanting to make our school system the best it can possibly be without giving up those rights to government manipulation.
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
Slavery and racism were mistakes made by this country. They are not its foundation. We've come a long way since those times, but we still have a long way to go because the outcomes of those mistakes have harmed generations of people. The harm in many of these alternate teachings is they focus on race as being the defining characteristic of a person and they teach that racism is inherent in all areas of society. We should be teaching to see each other as PEOPLE and to disregard things like race.
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
Every parent has a right to choose what is best for their own child. This is not for the state or for any school district to decide. Instead of a school district fearing and opposing alternate options like charter schools, the school district should view those competing options as motivators to fix the problems that are causing students and families to look elsewhere. Competition is healthy because it holds us accountable. At the end of the day, it is about the student, not the school district.
VALUES
Briefly describe your spiritual beliefs and values.
I am a Christian, although I do not identify with any particular denomination. I believe in God and in Jesus, and I believe Jesus is the Savior that was sent to die on the cross to take on the burdens and the sins of the world so that we might be forgiven if we choose to accept Christ as our Savior. I believe society and school district have lost sight of basic family values and morals. Much of that is on families, though. We've allowed our children to be influenced by other harmful ideologies because many parents are not as actively involved as they should be in their kids' lives. We've trusted the school system to do the job we should have been doing as parents. I believe that actions have consequences and discipline is something that needs to be enforced once again. That applies to schools and to parents. Our children need to know that their actions will be met with the appropriate consequences every time and violence, hate, and bad behavior are never acceptable. I believe we need to start seeing each other as people instead of seeing each other as a race, gender, national origin, or any other identifying characteristic. We should be looking at how to hire or retain people of a particular race or demographic. We should be looking at how to hire people without seeing those things. We should be looking at diversifying the way we look for talent and make sure we are recruiting talent from all communities. I believe that hate, racism, and prejudice of all kinds are wrong. Until we stop categorizing everyone into some kind of a group, we will never move forward as a country because we will always be focusing on the things that make us different from one another instead of focusing on what each person has to offer as a person. I believe we need to be kinder to each other as a community and stop seeing the evil in everything. We need to stop setting law enforcement against the public, Democrats against Republicans, LGTBQ people against heterosexual people, white people against black people, and teachers against parents. We need to all understand that until we start working together to make things better, our lives are only going to continue to get worse.
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
I believe you are either born as a male or as a female. If a person chooses to see themselves differently than their gender at birth, that's their own personal decision. Women fought for too long, though, to have equal rights as women. It is not fair to take those rights away from women over a personal choice one person made for themselves. That's forcing others to change for a choice one made for themselves. It creates unfair competition due to the physical differences between men and women.
Who is responsible for teaching sexual education to children, and what is the appropriate age when it should be taught?
Ideally, this would always be taught at home. This involves personal, family, and religious values that are different to each person. One curriculum taught to all students forces a single point of view onto students who may share different personal and religious values. I would like to see it removed from the schools and taught at home. The appropriate age should be left up to the parent to decide.
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
I don't think these subject matters belong in school. Parents need to take responsibility for educating their children.
Judeo-Christian values established a framework of morality that is necessary for our system of limited government.
Strongly Agree
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
This is an inherent right bestowed upon any parent the moment they become a parent. Schools are not medical establishments. They should not make medical decisions for any child.
No school official should be involved in the sexual transitioning of a student, including the use of alternative names and pronouns.
Strongly Agree
This is between the parent and the student. Any teacher or school employee that learns of this being an issue with a student should immediately notify that student's parent just the same as they would immediately notify the parent if the student was failing. The parent has the right to be the parent. That role should never be assumed by any member of school district.
ELECTIONS AND VOTING
People should be able to vote without photo identification.
Strongly Disagree
Photo identification is the way we have verified a person's identity for years with anything that carries responsibility with it. You have to show it to drive a car, to purchase tobacco or alcohol, to rent a car, to fly on a plane, to rent a hotel room, to get into a school, or to obtain a loan, just to name a few examples. Claiming discrimination just because you also need it to vote is like claiming it is discrimination to require it for all those other things. That's just not the case.
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.
Never.
A candidate's personal moral values should not be relevant when considering a candidacy for elective office.
Neutral
That depends on the extent to which those personal values impact that person's ability to perform the functions of the elective office. When you are elected to office, you are elected to represent the voters who elected you. It is not simply an opportunity to wage your own personal or political war.
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?
Choose not to answer
I am for common sense. Common sense is not political.
Please provide publicly available information, including interviews and media reports, validating your answer to the previous question (other than your website).
https://www.foxnews.com/media/kentucky-parents-stand-school-mask-mandates-need-normal; https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/31/us/covid-19-life-disruption-california-texas-kentucky/index.html; https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2021/02/23/-let-them-learn--demands-school-opening; https://www.whas11.com/article/news/education/kentucky-school-choice-jcps-parents/417-c77352fe-7a62-4375-b44d-050a93de362f; https://www.wave3.com/2021/09/29/jcps-scored-below-state-averages-during-pandemic-pollio-calls-testing-terrible-decision/; https://www.wave3.com/2021/02/22/parents-hope-jcps-walkthroughs-signal-return-in-person-learning/; https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2021/01/24/pandemic-learning-loss; https://www.wdrb.com/news/jcps-board-vice-chair-says-most-students-may-benefit-from-remaining-on-nti-for-rest/article_bf4c7102-72ee-11eb-804f-93cbdb1a14eb.html; https://www.foxbangor.com/national-news/kentucky-parents-stand-up-to-school-mask-mandates-we-just-need-normal/;
Is there anything else you would like voters to know about you?
I've been very active in the JCPS system for many years. I attended JCPS for elementary, middle and high school, graduating from Ballard High School in 1995. Since 2016, I have served in many roles in the school system in support of my daughter's education. I've been Class Parent multiple years, PTA Vice President of Membership, and I served on the School-Based Decision Making Council (SBDM). I've also been actively advocating for students, parents and teachers since 2020 as one of the leaders of a Facebook group called Jefferson County Kids Matter, where I've helped to educate parents and taxpayers about all things related to JCPS, I've worked with state legislators regarding pending laws, I've been the media spokeperson for the group, and I've been interviewed by CNN, Fox News, WLKY, WHAS, WDRB, Wave 3, and a variety of other media outlets. I decided to run for school board because it gave the me the opportunity to step to the plate to make changes I have been advocating for all this time. Those are: 1) Eliminating the mask mandates on our kids; 2) Making safety a priority in our schools; 3) Ensuring education is the focus of our school district, not politics; 4) Providing teachers with a way to voice opposing views without fearing retaliation; 5) Ensuring all parents, students, and taxpayers have a voice; 6) Making real school choice a reality for all parents and students; 7) Getting back to a neighborhood school environment so our school have more of a community atmosphere; 8) Ensuring all students of all kinds have all the resources they need to achieve their potential; 9) Enforcing discipline in our schools once again, while applying it fairly and evenly for all students; 10) Cutting wasteful spending and using tax dollars wisely to meet the growing financial needs of our schools
2ND AMENDMENT
Teachers who are licensed to carry should be allowed to carry guns at school.
Strongly Disagree
I do not think teachers should carry guns at school, but I do believe every school should have an armed SRO in the building. That's not because I think it will solve all the problems, but an armed officer in the school can react much quicker than waiting for law enforcement to arrive in the event of an active shooter. With the growing number of gun incidents in our schools, I think it armed SROs us a necessary step we need to take.
OTHER IMPORTANT ISSUES
Under what circumstances (if any) should schools be allowed to require vaccinations?
I believe in vaccinations under the condition that it has proven to stop the spread of a particular virus or illness, but the COVID-19 vaccine does nothing to prevent the spread. That and the fact that there have been too many conflicting reports on the efficacy of the vaccine are two reasons why I oppose a policy that would mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for students.
I support mask mandates.
Strongly Disagree
This is the choice of the parent and the student. End all mask mandates now!
