I learned at a young age it is important to give back to my community. I choose to help by advocating for legislation that helps my local community. Now I want to take that advocacy a step further and help shape legislation that will ensure North Carolina remains a great place to live, where future generations are proud to call home. Vote for me in November to help create more living-wage jobs, improve our schools, and ensure access to affordable healthcare and clean drinking water.
LIST OF ISSUES
EDUCATION
All students in North Carolina deserve equal access to great public schools! In order to make this a reality, education needs to be adequately funded. Some priorities include restoring teaching assistant positions to pre-recession per-pupil levels, increasing teacher pay to the national average, restoring pay incentives for additional post-undergraduate degrees and longevity, ensuring school administrators receive compensation equitable to their education and work experience rather than simply based on student test scores. Students need access to the most up-to-date learning resources, including technology, text books, and other learning tools to help them become globally competitive citizens. Furthermore, we need to address physical and mental health issues in our schools by ensuring adequate support staff such as nurses, social workers, counselors, school psychologists, school resource officers, etc. Without these important non-instructional supports, we are not meeting the needs of the whole child. I support expanding pre-K programs and post-high school funding to ensure that every child goes into kindergarten prepared to learn and has an affordable post-secondary plan. I also support expanding high school-community college partnerships and work-study apprenticeship programs to ensure all students can become successful adults.
Jobs
I envision a state with ample jobs that pay living wages. Great public schools attract businesses and can lead to the growth of an area, but if people cannot earn a living at those jobs, communities will suffer.
HEALTHCARE
Too many North Carolinians do not know how they would pay expenses associated with an illness or hospital stay, and that just isn't right. We need to expand medicaid to ensure those who don't earn a lot can still have access to affordable healthcare when they need it. We also need to have affordable options for working-class families. The cost of healthcare has skyrocketed over the past decade and it is time to regain control of the costs to ensure no North Carolinian has to choose between needed medical care or necessities like food and housing.
ENVIRONMENT
Both of my parents are biologists, and my father spent his career working to ensure Wisconsin's waterways were clean, accessible, and protected for the enjoyment of future generations. I guess what he did really wore off on me because protecting our environment for future generations is one of my priorities if elected. We need to not only expand clean energy options, we need to stop detrimental energy sourcing from our state. A person living along the Cape Fear River, or any river for that matter, shouldn't have to worry about what implications the chemicals (like GenX) will have on their health. Those who pollute our waterways should be responsible for the costs associated with restoration of the watershed. There needs to be enough funding in place to ensure parks and waterways remain viable for generations to come. As an outdoor enthusiast, I moved to North Carolina for its beauty, and I don't want that to be lost--I want to protect North Carolina's natural resources for future generations to enjoy.
Equality
I believe all people, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religion, etc. deserve to be treated fairly. No laws should discriminate against a group because of who they are.