Three Republicans are competing for votes in the District 7 primary for the State Board of Education. District 7 covers an area from the northwest corner of Alabama diagonally into Jefferson County. The district includes Lauderdale, Colbert, Franklin, Lawrence, Morgan, Marion, Winston, Walker, Fayette, Lamar and parts of Tuscaloosa and Jefferson counties.

The primary is March 5. Doug Bachuss, Allen Long and Oscar Mann are running to replace incumbent Belinda McRae. McRae chose not to run for re-election.

Because there are no Democratic challengers, the winner of the primary will be seated in January to start a four-year term.

AL.com reached out to the three candidates to get their views on a range of education-related issues.

Meet the candidates

Douglas R. Bachuss, Jr. is a member of the Nowlin, Bachuss and Gray Law Firm in Decatur. He practices in multiple areas of commercial and family law. He currently serves as vice president on the Decatur City Board of Education and has served in multiple leadership roles in civic organizations in Decatur and Morgan County. He lives in Decatur with his wife and three children. He served as president of the Decatur Middle School PTO from 2017 to 2019 and served as a Homeroom Dad for his son’s fourth grade class.

Dr. Allen Long practices medicine, specializing as an ear, nose and throat doctor in the Shoals area for more than 30 years. Long served as a trustee for the University of North Alabama from 1994 to 2006 and for Shoals Christian School from 2001 to 2016. He has traveled to Peru, Nicaragua, Honduras and South Korea to volunteer for medical assistance and surgery missions. He is a member of Alabama Physicians for Life. He lives in Florence with his wife, Patricia, and their four children. He is a cattle farmer and grows row crops of cotton, wheat, soybeans and corn.

Oscar Mann has more than 30 years of experience in education, serving as a teacher, bus driver, coach and administrator. He is currently the vice president of the Jefferson County Board of Education where he was first elected in 2012. He is a Bible study teacher at Gardendale First Baptist Church and is a member of his church’s bass fishing club. Mann lives with his wife of 42 years in North Jefferson. They have three children and five grandchildren.

Candidate responses below have been edited for clarity, grammar and length.

Why are you running for school board?

Bachuss

“Being a parent with school-aged children, I want to make sure they and their friends and all students have opportunities to be successful,” Bachuss said. “Being vice president of the local school board in Decatur City schools allows me to see that there are policymaking opportunities both on the local level and the state level that we need to work on.”

He said parents, community members and businesses should get more involved and work together to improve schools.

“Having more successful schools, more successful students then feeds back into our communities.”

Long

“I have six grandchildren. I have enjoyed a blessed and fruitful career and life. My parents, grandparents, great grandparents sacrificed a lot of work, a lot of their life – limbs and eyes and lives altogether – for the freedoms that I have enjoyed.”

“I see, at least in this upcoming generation, I’m not sure that they will have the same opportunities and freedoms that I’ve enjoyed. And I feel like someone needs to step forward to continue to make certain that the next generation has the same opportunities and freedoms to enjoy their life and their families, as I have enjoyed in my lifetime.”

Mann

“I am running for the state school board because I feel that I still have an opportunity to positively impact the lives of students, parents and school staff. I have 30 years of relevant career experience in education. I’m in my twelfth year as a county school board member for the second largest school district in our state. I’ve been an assistant principal, teacher, coach, bus driver, tutor and PTA member. My experience has prepared me for this position.”

What are your recommendations for improving Alabama students’ proficiency in math and reading?

Bachuss

“I’m going to recommend that we support the efforts of the Numeracy and Literacy acts. We’re fortunate to have those initiatives to bring attention to improving math scores and reading scores and giving attention to those particularly in elementary school as our students are developing in their reading skills and math skills.

“Schools [should work] with parents and others in the community to make sure that our students are having enough to read not just in school, but at home and in other settings.” He said that while Alabama ranks high in financial literacy, he’d like to see schools partner with financial institutions and others to improve those skills by showing students how it applies to a practical setting.

Long

“Number one, we can’t keep doing what we’re doing with social promotions, where you say [the child] is a year older, you just automatically go to the next grade.” He said teachers have the responsibility to determine if students have reached proficiency. When he was in school, he said, “It was almost a foregone conclusion: If you didn’t pass the work, you didn’t move to the next grade.”

“Somewhere you have to say, ‘we’re not getting that done. If we’re not, let’s face the facts. Let’s make a plan.”

Referring to the Literacy Act, he said he knows students will need extra help. “We can’t just stop everybody at the third or fourth grade when they can’t read at that level unless we have teachers to take care of that overflow at those levels.”

Long said a recent report from the governor’s teaching and learning task force proposed good ideas, with one being to bring back retired teachers to help struggling students. Alabama law restricts how much money a retired teacher can be paid before they risk losing retirement benefits. “There’s a disincentive for some of the experienced teachers that are out in the world to not come back because they’re going to lose benefits or at least forgo benefits if they take a job.”

“They earned their retirement. I see no reason we should take their retirement from them just because they’re willing to help us get over a bump in the road to help these kids learn to read and do math.”

Mann

Mann listed eight things he believes can positively impact student achievement:.

• More school choice will spur competition.
• Schools should get “back to the basics in order to build strong foundations; teaching math, science, reading, and factual history.”
• Listen to teachers when it comes to curriculum. “Woke curriculum companies have no business recommending what we teach our children.”
• Teachers “must stop having to teach to the test,” he said.
• Teacher student ratios should be lowered, and more teachers, especially special education teachers, are needed.
• Communicate more with parents.
• Tutoring during and after school for all who need help.
• Encourage summer learning and make it free of charge.

“According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), over the past 25 years, Alabama’s performance has shown little to no improvement. Our 8th graders’ scores in math are the same as they were over 20 years ago and their reading scores have lowered to what they were 20 years ago. Clearly, what we’ve been doing for the past 25 years is not working!”

How would you handle complaints about inappropriate content in school libraries?

Bachuss

If he gets complaints directly from parents, Bachuss said he would take it to State Superintendent Eric Mackey for handling, but he will make sure that parent gets an answer. “I want to make sure I find answers for them.”

“We’re going to want to make sure we have policies in place that are clearly directing the types of books, the specific books that will be supportive of topics that are being covered in class – that we’re not stepping away from those specific topics.” Also, he said the state board’s directions need to be specific and give teachers clear direction for what is and is not allowed.

“I’ve heard stories of teachers thinking a book might be on an allowed list, but it was allowed for high school and not for an elementary school or middle school.”

Instructions also should be made clear to school and district staff that “what is being officially brought into the school stays brought into schools and there are not any other resources that are brought in through other groups that may be looking to support schools but be bringing something that does cross the line with state policies.” Open communication between state and local board members is necessary, too. “That can diagnose ways that we can address issues to keep improper books out of the school classroom and out of school libraries.”

Long

“If there’s something in the curriculum or something in the library that a parent disagrees with, morally, or otherwise, the parents certainly should have the opportunity to address that first, at the school level.” That would include talking with the teacher, the principal and the local school board, Long said.

“If they’re not acceptably addressed and resolved locally, then I think the state school board needs to have an opportunity. I’m not sure exactly how that would work, but I think the state school board should take ultimate responsibility if it can’t be resolved locally.

“It needs to be accessible to parents. They shouldn’t have to struggle to know what’s in the library, they shouldn’t have to pay an extra fee to get access to what’s in their child’s Chromebook library. I think they should certainly start local and right there in the classroom.”

Mann

“I believe the state school board should be more involved by providing guidelines and creating a list of all proven inappropriate grade level reading materials to all schools.” Mann said the process for how to challenge a book should be in the student handbook and on the school website. Complaints should be handled at the school first, and if the parent isn’t satisfied with the decision, the parent should contact their local school board member. “The questionable material must be taken off the shelves until final action is taken.”

Does the state’s guidance for local districts about book challenges need to be changed?

Bachuss

“Before I’d say that it needs to be changed, I’d want to look into the successes that it’s brought or the places that it’s fallen short, and then look and see if there needs to be any improvement.” Bachuss said he’d want to know if local boards need more direction, “or if bringing the state into it would be more successful.”

Long

“It goes back to what I said on the last question: It would be wonderful if it was able to be resolved at the local level.”

“It needs to be from the bottom up as far as opportunities to resolve those conflicts. But I think the state school board needs to ultimately have the responsibility to take care of that if it can’t be resolved to the parent’s satisfaction at a local level, and I think that’s what needs to be satisfied: The parent.”

Mann

“Yes, I believe the state’s guidance for book challenges should be changed! As we’ve all heard the liberal left say, ‘We’re coming for your children’! Many of our librarians are frantically reading every book before putting it on our school library shelves. It’s going to take us all doing due diligence, including the state board of education, because school librarians can’t do it alone. We must provide consistency and in order to do this, the state must lead the way by providing lists of vetted and approved reading materials, periodicals and textbooks.”