League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino Counties, CA November 2, 2004 Election
	Dan Fernandes Answers Questions Candidate for State Senator; District 29

Read the answers from all candidates.

Questions & Answers

1. What does California need to do to address the current budget crisis?

Reduce state spending across the board, in every department. Spending guidelines should be set equal to the budget five years ago.

2. What should the state's priorities be for K-12 education? For the Community College System?

The community college system provides a good model of how K-12 should be operated. Each K-12 student should be required to pay some amount of tuition, and allowed to attend the school of his/her choice. Tuition should go directly to the school, not the state or the district. This would provide the market discipline to improve education quality and efficiency.

3. What measures would you support to address California's water needs?

We need a free market in water, less political decision making, and less central planning.

4. What should the Legislature be doing to address the needs of Californians without health insurance?

Remove state mandates and regulations that drive up the cost of healthcare. Reduce the scope of Medicaid to the minimum required by federal law. The market will deliver quality healthcare if government gets out of the way.