Mark A Bandre
Non-Partisan | Kansas
Candidate Profile
Moderate
BIOGRAPHY
Name
Mark A Bandre
Party
Non-Partisan
Election Year
2023
Election
General Municipal and School Board
Race
Salina Public Schools USD 305 Board of Education, At Large
Incumbent
Yes
Links
EDUCATION
George Fox University, Newberg, OR, Doctor of Education, 2012
Friends University, Wichita, KS, Master of Science in Management, 1999
Baker University, Baldwin City, KS, Bachelor of Science, 1989
WORK & MILITARY
Candidate did not provide
AFFILIATIONS
Salina Education Foundation, Board and executive committee, Smoky Hill Education Service Center
Board member, president, Salina Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, member
Salina USD305 School Board, Member
POLITICAL OFFICES HELD
Salina USD305 School Board, 2020-2024
POLITICAL OFFICES SOUGHT
Candidate did not provide
Race
OTHER INFORMATION
Candidate Interview
Participated in the Salina USD 305 School Board Candidates Forum (9/30/2023)
*Please note: this information was received by iVoterGuide after panel evaluations occurred and is for additional educational purposes only.
QUESTIONNAIRE
RIGHT TO LIFE
Abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, should be a resource for instruction or services in the school.
Neutral
Public schools must establish a safe and welcoming environment where students can comfortably learn and grow. In partnership with parents, school officials should help students identify the outside resources they need to be successful.
Human life begins at conception and deserves legal protection at every stage until natural death.
Agree
Discussion surrounding this statement brings up a host of public policy issues, including the effects of poverty, that influence the ability students have to be successful in school.
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.
Agree
Faculty, staff and administrators employed by our schools possess copious knowledge from which legislators should benefit as they make decisions. Some portion of the budget for each school district must recognize the need for enabling proliferation of this knowledge.
What is your position on government funding of public education from Pre-K through college?
An educated populace is an essential component of any successful society. The use of state and national funds to provide public education is absolutely necessary as we strive to enable all citizens to be confident, competent and respectful contributors to society.
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
At school, students should be able to speak freely and civilly about matters of conscience and faith, including Christianity.
Agree
One result of education is personal awareness of the right time and place to engage in dialogue about any given topic.
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
School districts should not discriminate for any reason in the course of striving to provide a safe and welcoming environment.
EDUCATION
What is the function of the local school board?
To conduct district business in keeping with the constitutional duty to maintain, develop and operate local public schools. Doing so involves establishing and reviewing a strategic plan that ensures students and all employees are able to function effectively in their respective educational efforts.
Who should have the authority to set curriculum and determine resources used in those curricula?
Local districts have this authority within the confines of assessment realities enacted by state and national legislators.
When should parents be restricted from speaking in school board meetings?
In order for business to be effectively conducted at any meeting, the presented agenda and related procedures, including public forum time, must be followed.
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
Did not answer
Which more closely matches your view of America's founding principles? A) Liberty and equality. B) Slavery and racism.
The United States of America, in my view, was founded upon the vision of providing liberty and justice for all. It is fair, at minimum, to say this vision has not always been met along the way which is why we must include the unbiased study of history in our schools. Studying history is in part how an educated citizenry learns from its mistakes and strives to make sure such things are not recreated in the future.
What does "equity in education" mean to you?
Ensuring that each student in our community has unfettered access to a quality education enabling that person to become an effective contributor to society.
Written parental consent (opt-in) must be obtained before students are taught courses such as Comprehensive Sex Ed (CSE) or Social Emotional Learning (SEL).
Agree
Parents should always be informed and have access to means of asking questions.
The loss of local control in education is too high a price to pay in exchange for federal dollars.
Neutral
Local control is very important, but it is also impossible to run public schools without federal and state dollars. This question is fraught with possible angles of influence and observation but the cornerstone of the matter is making sure we elect legislators who understand and represent the necessary balance.
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.
Neutral
Parents are certainly the ultimate authority in their child’s education and should make whatever decision they feel is best between public, private or home school environments. The financing of private or home school educational environments is also a personal matter with federal and state funds staying out of those entities.
School boards are accountable to parents and taxpayers.
Strongly Agree
Do you believe students should have access to materials that graphically depict and describe sexual acts?
Choose not to answer
I am opposed to book bans in every sense trusting librarians and administrators to make good decisions in choices of available materials while also having systems in place to provide parental control.
All print and digital material available or presented to students should be easily accessible for public review.
Disagree
While parents certainly must have means to evaluate items from which their students learn, the general public does not need to have such access.
Do you believe print and digital material available or presented to students should be easily accessible for public review, including those without children enrolled in school.
No
Districts have nothing to hide, but it is very much necessary to ensure an environment where educators are able to serve students instead of constantly answering questions.
VALUES
Briefly describe your spiritual beliefs and values.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
I support allowing public high school students to participate in athletic competition based on the gender with which they identify instead of biological sex.
Disagree
No school official should be involved in the sexual transitioning of a student, including the use of alternative names and pronouns.
Neutral
I agree with the first part of this question, but am ambivalent about names and pronouns as part of establishing a safe and welcoming environment includes addressing students by nicknames the individual may prefer.
No healthcare diagnosis or treatment, whether mental, reproductive, or otherwise, should be given to a child without first receiving written consent from the parent.
Agree
Who is responsible for teaching sexual education to children, and what is the appropriate age when it should be taught?
This topic involves a partnership between parents, schools and other entities the family may choose to involve.
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
My response to question five also applies here in question six.
Judeo-Christian values established a framework of morality that is necessary for our system of limited government.
Neutral
Many things helped establish the system of government enjoyed in the USA just as many forms of religion, worship and respect for others buttress a framework of morality.
I support allowing public middle and high school students to participate in athletic competition based on the gender with which they identify instead of biological sex.
Disagree
Biological males should be allowed in female locker rooms and bathrooms.
Disagree
No school official should be involved in the social or medical transitioning of a student, including the use of alternative names and pronouns.
Neutral
See my response to question three, above.
ELECTIONS AND VOTING
People should be able to vote without photo identification.
Disagree
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, I have never been convicted or charged with any sort of felony or anything else beyond a traffic ticket.
A candidate's personal moral values are relevant when considering a candidacy for elective office.
Agree
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
Please provide publicly available information, including interviews and media reports, validating your answer to the previous question (other than your website).
Did not answer
Is there anything else you would like voters to know about you?
I am running for re-election to the USD305 school board due to a sincere interest in doing all possible to make sure our local schools are the best possible place for students to learn and employees to work and make a difference.
I voted in these primaries and general elections:
2014 Republican Primary 2014 General Election 2016 Republican Primary 2016 General Election 2018 Republican Primary 2018 General Election 2020 Republican Primary 2020 General Election 2022 Republican Primary 2022 General Election
I have been a registered Republican voter since turning 18 in 1985 and, to the best of my memory, have not missed any elections in those intervening years.
2ND AMENDMENT
Teachers who are licensed to carry should be allowed to carry guns at school.
Disagree
OTHER IMPORTANT ISSUES
Under what circumstances (if any) should schools be allowed to require vaccinations?
When such is regulated by law.
I support mask mandates.
Agree
Such decisions must only be made in conjunction with requirements from local health departments.
All official open meetings should be live streamed, recorded, and have transcripts available online for public access.
Disagree
I agree with meetings being live streamed and recorded, and also having standard minutes taken, but see no need for transcripts.
All votes should be roll call votes and recorded in meeting minutes.
Disagree
Roll call is unnecessary when all votes are recorded and noted in minutes.
