The Issues
Funding and Supporting Schools
As the President of the School Board, I know first-hand how desperately our schools need more funding. The recent increases in education funding from our legislature and Governor are much appreciated, but there is still a long way to go, after decades of falling behind. This work should begin with finding ways to reduce class sizes and increase teacher pay.
I want to find every way possible to make our teachers’ and students’ lives easier and more focused on learning. This means streamlining the amount of paperwork for teachers, and looking for every opportunity we can to have children spend more time learning, and less time testing.
I will also evaluate every school-focused policy from a different lens than most. Given my experience as school board president, I know how policies made at the state level play out at the school-based level, and can help guide well-intentioned decisions away from unintended negative consequences.
Cost of Living
We are all witnessing costs increase more, out-pacing increases in wages. This has an impact on all Nevadans, in one way or another. I will work with any and all state and local agencies to help lower the cost of gas, groceries, utilities, rent, etc. It’s really tough out there right now. We need an all-hands-on-deck approach to help working families make ends meet.
Freedom to Choose
I am committed to protecting a woman’s right to choose. In an ideal world, no woman would ever find herself in a position to have to make such a difficult choice. Unfortunately, we don’t live in that world. As such, I support a woman’s freedom to make a very personal decision between her family, her doctor and her faith.
Housing
Affordable housing is a critical need for our community and will be an important focus for me. By that, I mean we need a variety of levels of housing that is affordable – rentals, “starter” homes, senior housing, you name it. At the state level, we need to allow local governments to have more control and options to address housing and rental costs based on the needs of their communities. We need to incentivize and fund affordable housing (I’m really glad to see Governor Sisolak investing our federal recovery money here!), and we need to support policies that will incentivize more private development of affordable housing.
Supporting Local Small Businesses and Working Families
My focus will always be local and targeted on workers and small business owners here. I appreciate the value that bringing big companies and industries to the state has done for diversifying our economy and creating jobs. And now, I want us to focus on growing our local businesses and supporting our workers.
Healthcare
As a breast cancer survivor, I’m keenly aware of what having good healthcare means. I also know how much we face a mental healthcare crisis in our country and community. We need to help recruit more mental health practitioners and explore innovative methods of delivery such as telehealth. The same is true for doctors, specialists, and other healthcare professionals. We also need to find ways to lower the cost of prescription drugs and healthcare for our seniors. We have serious needs in this area, and I’m committed to finding ways to address those needs.
Environment
At the school district, we put a huge emphasis on sustainability with our new schools and school repairs, such as ground source heat pumps and hundreds of millions of dollars on improvements to save water and electricity. We need all our governments to lead the way in green energy and sustainable building, which will be a focus for me.
