Education: I believe education is a major issue facing the kids of my district. Education is a right, not a privilege for all residents of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. That being said our schools are failing our young people, they are not producing the desired result. We have to end the dialogue and rhetoric campaigns and tackle this issue head on, we need a paradigm shift concerning education.

How can we make our schools work? I suggest we increase the states contributions to schools, insure that in Philadelphia 100% of property tax funds got to the Philadelphia School District. I am also advocating that we explore a curriculum change to compete in the global economy. Our test scores are not where they use to be, a curriculum change may be the answer. We also need to work hard to retain talented teachers, by instituting a loan forgiveness plan and subsidized tuition for their Masters degree. Education should be an asset not a liability.

Gun Violence/Crime Reduction: One only has to look at the newspaper to realize that gun violence is crippling our city. I pledge to be a unifier in Harrisburg and build a consensus to pass the one handgun a month. It’s a start to getting rid of straw purchasers. We should institute a special gun collectors license to gun collectors and create a new income source for the state.