Name and office sought – Tom Beebe, Piper USD 203 Board of Education
Age – 51
Occupation – Director, Operations Administration at Empower Retirement, a division of Great West Financial.
Education – BS in Business Administration with majors in Accounting and Economics and a minor in Finance from Pittsburg State University
Organizations, clubs, groups to which you belong – Piper Optimist Club; Kaw Valley Youth Football; USA Football
Reasons for running – To help guide our district toward meeting the mission of providing each student with quality education and learning experience in a safe environment and allows them to reach their maximum personal potential.
What is your top campaign issue? Providing the proper facilities to house the growing population of students within our district, while balancing the on-going reduction of funding from the State level for educating the students of our district.
There may be budget constraints facing local governments and
schools. If you had to make cuts, what would be at the top of the list to cut? In the face of budget cuts or reduction in State funding, the first course would be to examine charging for current services being provided that our district is not compensated for through current educational funding. This would include transportation and full day kindergarten services which are not currently funded by the State.
If you are an incumbent, list your top accomplishments in office.
If you are not an incumbent, what would you change? As an incumbent of 8 years, I have been part of a Board that has pushed for increased academic rigor and we have experienced many results that have shown this success. With the increase in results across the board in testing of many different varieties, the achievements of our students have consistently ranked highly across the metro area as well as at the state level.
What is the difference, on the issues, between you and the other candidates running for this office? I have not learned of any of the ideas or thoughts of any of the new candidates running at this time as there have not been any opportunities to hear what motivated them to run. I have worked successfully and in harmony with the current incumbents who are seeking re-election and would gladly serve another 4 years with these competent individuals. I hope to learn more from the new candidates at the public Candidate Forum on March 30th at Piper High School
Have you run for elected office previously? When, results? Run and elected to the Piper U.S.D. 203 Board of Education in April 2007 and again in April 2011.