Jacob Arthur, candidate for Wake County Board of Education District 7
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Candidates for Wake County Board of Education District 7
Incumbent Chris Heagarty, Katie Thuy Long and Jacob Arthur are running for Wake County school board district 7.
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Name: Jacob Arthur
Political party: Republican
Age as of Nov. 8, 2022: 44
Campaign website: https://jacobarthurwakeschools.com/
Occupation: Attorney
Education: B.A., NC Wesleyan College; J.D., Elon University School of Law
Have you run for elected office before? No
Please list highlights of your civic involvement: Active voter since 1996; actively involved with my local church, participating in events that benefit our local community.
Why do you want to serve on the Wake County Board of Education?
I am concerned about the direction the Wake County school system has been heading for a number of years. The priorities of the Board of Education have shifted from academics to a focus on social agendas. When I was in Wake County Public Schools in the 1980s and 1990s, they were consistently ranked among the best in the nation. There is a direct correlation between the increased push to bring social issues into the classroom and the decline of our national rankings and academic performance.
What are the Wake County Public Schools doing well?
I believe our teachers are doing a phenomenal job given the lack of resources and restraints placed on them by the curriculum they must teach. I view our teachers as public servants and they are doing the best they can under the circumstances.
I also believe the system does a good job of ensuring our students in need have access to free or reduced lunch programs. This is a vital mission in our community.
What would be your three top priorities if elected? Choose one, and explain how you would address it.
My top three priorities are fiscal responsibility, supporting teachers and school safety.
I have several goals in regard to fiscal responsibility. We need a line-by-line audit of the school budget. By the board’s own admission we are heading for a fiscal cliff. All waste, redundancy and bloated spending needs to be cut. We need to ensure every penny spent is actually working towards improved academic success for our students.
What should the district do in response to calls to remove books from schools that some say are inappropriate for students?
I do not believe we need books with sexually explicit or age-inappropriate materials in our K-12 schools to make our students feel valuable. Our students are valuable because they are our children. Attempting to value students based on sexual preference, gender, ethnicity or any other attribute inherently devalues their worth as individuals.
How should schools discuss issues involving discrimination based on race, gender and other factors?
Schools should address instances of historical discrimination as just that, factual history. We need to acknowledge that the history of mankind is full of instances of injustice and discrimination. It is not just limited to our American history. However, we do further injustice if we teach our children that they are inherently oppressed, or are oppressors, simply because of their ethnicity or gender.
How would you go about making schools safer in the aftermath of school shootings such as in Uvalde, Texas?
Every school should have security personnel onsite. This doesn’t necessarily mean law enforcement, but we should ensure our schools have personnel that can respond to threats to the school. We also need to ensure communications, response measures and building access protocols are uniform across the district. We also need to ensure teachers and staff are fully aware of emergency protocols. A recent survey indicated 22% of teachers had not read their school’s emergency response plan.
What would you do to try to address student learning loss that was exacerbated by the pandemic?
First, learning loss was exacerbated by the decision to keep our schools closed. Many districts and states across the country are not dealing with learning loss. With that said, COVID relief funds must be directed toward assisting students. That is not happening currently. I would advocate for Education Savings Accounts, for identified students, which could be utilized by families for their students. This ESA could be used for personal tutoring, etc.
What’s the appropriate level of funding that should be provided to Wake County schools?
The question is not what is the appropriate level of funding, but rather, is the funding we have achieving the result of ensuring our students have the best opportunity to reach their academic potential. The current board set a goal of 90% graduation rates. They claim we have achieved that, so one could make the argument schools are appropriately funded now. Eventually, we are going to have to admit that increased funding is not always the answer.
