Blaine School Board District 3 candidate Q&A: Cliff Freeman and Jeff Carrington

The Northern Light asked Blaine School Board District 3 candidates why they are running for the seat in the November 7 general election. The District 3 position is a two-year unexpired term that represents north Birch Bay and Birch Point. The candidates provided written responses to the questions. 

Cliff Freeman

Cliff Freeman is a retired civil engineer at Anvil Corporation and a Blaine High School class of ’71 graduate. He has volunteered at Blaine Athletic Booster Club, Blaine Food Bank, St. Anne Catholic Church’s Parish Council and other local organizations.  

Q: If elected, what are your top three priorities for your first year and how will you work to accomplish those?

Establish a working relationship with the superintendent and board of directors. One of the primary responsibilities of a director is to supervise and evaluate the superintendent. This is accomplished through close communication (on a daily/weekly basis as necessary) to understand how the superintendent operates and how effective he is in conducting the district’s business. And, it’s important for the board to operate as a unit. 

Enrollment is down so state funding is down, and that is unlikely to change anytime soon. I will work with the superintendent and staff to understand all the working pieces and support a plan to operate within a balanced budget. No new taxes.

Stop the woke agenda that is poisoning the minds of our kids. Be it diversity training, CRT, social and emotional learning, inappropriate sex education, reducing parent’s rights, this transgender contagion, the list goes on. I will take a hard look at the curriculum. I need to understand the state requirements that promote this craziness as well as any district policies, if any, that contribute to it. And make adjustments if needed. The curriculum needs to reflect the values of the community. 

Q: Blaine school district’s 2022-23 budget forecast a $14 million deficit by 2026 if expenditures continued to outpace revenues. How would you like to see the district balance the budget? 

We’ll need to revisit priorities. Reading/writing/arithmetic, career training, arts and sports are all essential to basic education. As well as good facilities and competent staff (teachers, administrators, etc.). I don’t have an answer until I understand where all the [dollars] are spent. However, I don’t want a tax increase to solve the problem.

Q: What do you believe are the top issues facing the school district, and how will you work as a school board member to address those?

School funding and the evils of woke, as previously noted.

Jeff Carrington 

Jeff Carrington is a realtor broker and  a commissioner at Blaine-Birch Bay Park and Recreation District 2. His family has lived in the area for four generations and he is a former Birch Bay Chamber of Commerce president. 

Q: If elected, what are your top three priorities for your first year and how will you work to accomplish those?

I will be familiarizing myself with the policies, procedures and personnel surrounding the operational end of the school district. I will also focus on reviewing the current curriculum, while reaching out to better understand the concerns of the educators, parents and students that the system is designed to support.   

Q: Blaine school district’s 2022-23 budget forecast a $14 million deficit by 2026 if expenditures continued to outpace revenues. How would you like to see the district balance the budget? 

Two ways in any business to balance a budget: Increase revenue and cut costs. I would like to start by helping to design a stronger outreach program to current and new residents of our school district boundaries. Blaine schools have seen a decrease in enrollment over the last few years due to a lot of issues. Our state funding for education is based on enrollment. Let's isolate those issues, work to improve them, highlight the attractive aspects of the public school system and design new ways of reaching current residents and families that are moving into the community. It is also my understanding that strong lobbying efforts to the state of Washington for increased funding is an avenue that needs to be addressed. That being said, the current budget and available funds need a constant review to assess if they are best practices with respect to operations. 

Q: What do you believe are the top issues facing the school district, and how will you work as a school board member to address those?

I will need time within the system to isolate the top issues of the district. I believe this to be part of the process of an initial review and introduction to the role of serving on the board. Currently the issues that have been relayed to me are the challenges surrounding staffing, the mental health and daily wellbeing of the students and the current financial position of the district.