The 5 Q's: 7th Congressional District candidates (Question 2)

Sep. 28—In this series, we asked the three 7th Congressional District candidates five questions about issues currently facing the U.S. and the 7th District and will publish their responses. Candidates are Republican Eric Burlison, Democrat Kristen Radaker Sheafer and Libertarian Kevin Craig. Question 3 will be published Thursday, with subsequent questions and answers running daily through Saturday.

What is your view of the K-12 public education system? What policies would you support to improve it?

Burlison: I am in favor of keeping politics out of the classroom and empowering parents to have a say in their child's education. I want all students to know that with hard work and determination, they can achieve anything. We should be teaching reading, writing and arithmetic instead of attempting to categorize and divide students into "oppressed" and "the oppressors."

Radaker Sheafer: Our public schools and the people that work in them are one of the greatest assets our country has. I am a proud product of the public school system.

—I would support higher pay for teachers and school staff so they could focus on the important job they do every day without worrying about finances or taking on a second job.

—I would support finding ways to fund our schools that do not tie their budgets to the property taxes of the communities they are in, because every child deserves a quality education, regardless of their ZIP code.

—I would ensure that public funds stay in public schools, rather than our tax dollars going to fund private and charter schools.

Craig: Public schools are a disaster.

American public schools were originally created (400 years ago) to make sure everyone in town could read the Bible. Christianity has been stripped from public schools. If America's Founding Fathers could travel through time, they would say graduates of the government-run atheistic K-12 system are victims of educational malpractice. The federal government prohibits public school teachers from teaching students that the Declaration of Independence is actually true; students can only be taught that a bunch of dead white racist males believed it to be true (or maybe they didn't).

Government-mandated atheistic schools would have been considered a sufficient justification for overthrowing the government in 1776, even if there had been no taxation and abundant representation. The Declaration of Independence says we have a duty to "abolish" any government that becomes a "tyranny." Not just a "right," but a "duty." If the Founding Fathers could visit today's public schools, they would be horrified, and would abolish the government that forces them upon us.

There is no more dangerous place for a child — physically, intellectually, spiritually — than a school run by the government.

Parents should be given the choice to send their children to any school they want. Teachers who can teach children better than public schools do should be free to start schools that can compete against government-run schools without tax funds and monopoly privileges, and that parents can freely choose without subjecting themselves or their children to threats of violence by the government.

The Libertarian Party believes in the "separation of school and state."