Matt Lane-Candidate for PBC School Board District 1

Lane and two other candidates are battling it out for a seat being vacated by Barbara McQuinn.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey, Joel malcoln for WJ andO dot com, my election spotlight on
the pom Beach County school Board.There are three school board members. Have
let me start that over again.I'm not too bright either. Three let's
do yeah, Well, we're gonnasay we are going to have five.
Yeah, all right, here wego in three two to one. Hey
Joel Malcolt for WJ and O dotcom. My election spotlight on the Pombach

(00:22):
County school Board races. Three schoolboard members who chosen not to run for
reelection this year, including Barbara mcquinnanDistrict one, Alexandria Ayala in District two,
and former school board chair Frank BarbierianDistrict five. No race. In
District two, candidate Virginia Saveaedto ranunopposed. There are five candidates in the
District five race. We're reaching outto all of them, and for this

(00:42):
entry, we feature the race forDistrict one. Three candidates in this race,
including Matt Lane. Matthew J.Lane on your ballot. Let's say
hi to him. Thank you forjoining me, Matt, my pleasure.
All right, let's talk about you. I know you and I have spoken
before. As you were you're aformer member of the pub Each Gardens City

(01:06):
Council. That much I know catchour listeners up with the rest. Sure,
I'm running for school board and Icome from a family of teachers,
starting with my mother, who wasa teacher. My grandmother was a teacher,
her sister, my n Elsie,was a teacher, my wife was
a teacher. And when I wasmuch younger, I taught math and English

(01:26):
in the public school system to underprivilegedchildren. So education is and has always
been a core value for me.Now, our school district has an annual
budget of four point nine billion dollars, twenty three thousand employees, one hundred
and seventy thousand students in one hundredand eighty two schools. And before I
started my law firm, I wasVice president General Counsels for financial corporation for

(01:48):
over fifteen years. So I understandfinance, I understand management, and I
understand law. And it seems tome that someone on the school board needs
to have the financial acumen required tounderstand the finances of an entity a four
point nine annual budget, the fastarray of legal issues that confront the district
every day, have management experience,and have experienced governing as an lessay public

(02:09):
officials, so they don't have tolearn on the job, And that's why
I'm running. All right, let'slet's get started with some of your priorities
you mentioned. Obviously, the budgetis a big priority for you, providing
knowledgeable fiscal oversight over that four pointnine billion dollars annual budget. What do
you think money I don't know howmuch you've had a chance to really dig

(02:31):
in. I know it's public record, correct, but what do you what
do you think may is there mismanagement? What do you think money is going
to that it shouldn't. If that'sthe case, I think that everything starts
with a culture of fiscal oversight fromthe top, and someone there needs to

(02:53):
constantly question the expenses. So ittakes two opponents. First, you have
to have the financial acumen required tounderstand the budget, and second of all,
you have to have the intention todo so. I'll give you an
example. The EPA estimates the twentyfive percent of all energy used in schools

(03:14):
as wasted. That means one infour dollars. So what do we do
about that. We need to trackdaily usage, We need to install smart
meters, we need to turn offlights and electrical equipment at nights and on
weekends, a just temperatures when peoplearen't in the building. Improve insulation,
and utilize energy efficiency in lighting,heating, air conditioning, and electronics.

(03:34):
But more important than that, justin this time of crisis, our school
district has been downgraded from an Ato a B rated district. You need
to know that only fifty four percentof the students in grades three through ten
are performing at grade level in English, Only fifty six percent of the students
in grades three through eight are performingat grade level in math, and only

(03:54):
forty nine percent of the students ingrade eight are performing at grade level in
science. So what that means isis that almost half of the students in
our school system aren't performing at gradelevel in English, math or science.
And if you want to know somethingthat's even more frightening, in grade seven,
only thirty six percent of the studentsin grade seven are performing at grade

(04:15):
level in math. So we needsomebody to come in there and we need
to fix that. And that's thereason I'm coming to this position as well.
Now we've heard about, you know, the so called COVID slide,
and you know you're talking about kidsthat when you're looking at seventh grade and
some of the others that you mentioned, you're talking about kids that were in
potentially in the school district during COVIDthey got sent home. We had that

(04:41):
whole fiasco in Florida. It didn'tlast as long as far as the you
know, forced learning from home asother states. That being said, there
was still a COVID slide. Sohow much of that could be blamed on
that? And you know, Iknow we are, you know, four
years after the start of COVID,but you know, you did have some
lingering effects. Correct. Here's mythinking on COVID, and I agree with

(05:05):
you there is a COVID slide,but there's a difference. Miami Dade also
experienced COVID and they're an A rateddistrict. We went to being a B
rated district. And here's a consequenceof that. First, when people go
to list their homes, they're nolonger going to be able to say that
they live in an A rated district, so you have a lots of property

(05:27):
values. Second, when businesses aredeciding whether or not to move into a
community, one of the first questionsthey ask is, how are your schools,
and to the extent those businesses don'tmove into our community, it means
our children and our grandchildren are goingto have to move someplace else to find
jobs, and we're destroying the potentialof our children and the economic wellbeing of
our country. So I guess that'smy thought on that. I mean ask

(05:54):
you. I wanted to let mekind of go back to something when you
mentioned in your bio you taught englishand math and the public school system.
Was it here in Palm Beach County? If not, where was that?
No, it was in the Midwest, in the Midwest. Sorry, all
right, so this is years ago, you said. But when you were
doing that, did you what wouldbe a big difference that you may have

(06:14):
noticed in those schools versus or thatschool district that you were teaching in versus
Palm Beach County. That obviously youdon't know. You don't notice it as
much as far as from being ateacher standpoint, because you didn't teach here.
But you know what you have noticed, if anything, the difference is
here's what I've noticed. And I'vegot to tell you, I'm sixty nine.

(06:35):
This is pretty much my last politicalelected public service. And I believe
this is a place where I canreally leave a mark, where I can
look back and people will say morethan he was a good father, a
good husband, that he made adifference in a generation of children. And

(07:01):
here's what I think we need todo. First, I think we need
to go back to teaching the fundamentalsreading, writing, math, science,
and when the students are older,studying the classical works of literature, history,
philosophy, language and languages, andthe fine arts, with an emphasis
on developing cultural literacy, civic pride, civic literacy, and critical thinking skills.

(07:27):
That's number one, and that goesback to when I was much younger.
That's what we all learned. Secondof all, we need to prioritize
our spending so that we retain andrecruit the best possible teachers. Studies have
shown that the most important in schooldeterminant of a student's success is the quality
of the teacher, and two thirdsof our teachers are making sixty thousand dollars

(07:48):
or less. Third, we needto provide our teachers with extensive opportunities for
professional development where they have access tothe latest research and the best practices.
So the first three planks of myplatform are Number One, we need to
focus our curriculum. Second of all, we need to prioritize our spending so
that we retain and recruit the bestpossible teachers, and we need to train

(08:11):
them. The fourth thing that Ithink that's very important is for children who
aren't going to college, we needto maintain excellent career in technical education programming
so that when they graduate, theywill have the skills that enable them to
obtain high paying jobs. Fifth,we need to ensure that our schools are
safe for our students and for ourteachers. We need to protect our students
and teachers from external threats, andwe need to give them the disciplinary tools

(08:35):
that they need to protect themselves frominternal threats. Sixth, we need to
foster health and wellness through nutrition,physical education, and sports. Seventh,
we need to maintain strict budget oversightand accountability. How you spend money is
as important as how much you spend. We need to be responsible stewards of

(08:58):
our public finances. And finally,for all of their differences, the founders
of our country, John Adams,Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington, all
of you. Education is a keypart to forming a student's character, and
they emphasize that schools should teach whatthey called the virtues honesty, integrity,

(09:20):
respect, hard work, and selfdiscipline. And I agree with that as
well. I want to ask youabout something. You know, Florida the
home of the parental Rights and Educationlaw, and you talk about getting back
to fundamentals. There are some thatsay that you know, prior to the
Florida law, and who knows,maybe it's still going on and definitely does

(09:41):
in other states that you have teachersthat you know are maybe not so focused
on the ABC's, etc. Andmaybe more so on trying to be there
as kind of a guidance counselor inthe classroom for kids who may feel,
you know, maybe attracted to thesame sex. Things like that. California

(10:03):
just became the first state to prohibitschools from requiring educators to tell parents if
a student request to go by adifferent name or pronouns. I wanted to
get your thoughts on that. Ithink that if you look at what the
teachers' unions are saying the NEA,they're begging to get politics out of the

(10:26):
classroom. It's a very hard job. Teachers are poorly paid, their demands
are huge, and the teachers needto go back to teaching the fundamentals.
That's what they want to teach.They want to teach. They want politics
out of the classroom. So onthe left, saw on the left they

(10:48):
want politics out of the classroom.On the right, we want politics out
of the classroom. We need totake politics out of the classroom. And
we need to start focusing back onreading, writing, math, science,
and studying the classical works of literature, history, philosophy, languages, and
the fine arts. So as faras prohibiting schools from requiring teachers to tell

(11:13):
parents if a student says, youknow, I want to go by him
even though I'm a MA shee orher. Do you agree or disagree with
that state law California. I thinkthat I think the teachers need to be
in a position to teach. Ithink we need to stop. We're talking

(11:35):
about children here. It's not aThis should not be a political place.
This is a place where we're tryingto teach our children to succeed in life,
and I don't think politics should beentering into it. I think our
teachers should be teaching. So Iwouldn't want to put our teachers in any

(11:58):
type of situation where they're doing somethingother than what they're trained to do and
what they love to do in whichthey enjoy doing. So I think we
need to take the politics out ofit. I think that's that's my picking
on that you mentioned. Implement comprehensive, evidence based safety measures make schools safer,

(12:20):
essentially our schools. Do you feelthat? And I think you you
reference you either have or had kidsin the in the Palm Beach County School
District. Are you do you thinkit's not safe? Are there schools that
are not safe today to your knowledgein Palm Beach County? Yes, I
did have My son went to elementary, middle and high school in the Palm

(12:46):
Beach County School District and he receivedan incredible education from very dedicated teachers and
principles. So we were delighted withthe education my son received, which is
why I'm running because when I wassending my son to the district, we
were an A rated district and nowwe're a B rated district. Someone's got

(13:09):
to come in there and straighten itup now. I was on council in
the City upon Beach Gardens and withthe assistants of the other council members and
our exceptional city manager, Ron Ferris. We were able to build a beautiful
city, and we're also standing onthe shoulders of giants such as Joe Russo,

(13:31):
David Levy, Bert from Russo,Marcy Tinsley, some really dedicated people,
and we built a great city.And I think that I need to
carry that forward into the school system. Where As I said, fifty four
percent of the children are reading agrade level, fifty six percent of performing
math at grade level, and fortynine percent of performing science at grade level.

(13:54):
So that's what we need to bringin as far as school safety is
concerned, I am proud to beable to tell you that I'm endorsed by
our police and sheriffs as the personthat they trust to protect their children in
our public schools. I'm also endorsedby by the business community as well by

(14:15):
biz PACK and also by the EconomicCouncil. I'm endorsed by the teachers in
the Classroom Teachers Association, so Ihave I have quite a few endorsements.
I'm endorsed by Conservative Watch you Isay, as I said, the business
community, the Economic Council, inBISPACK, the associated builders and contractors,

(14:37):
our police and sheriffs. Uh formerPoint Beach Gardens married Joe Russo, former
North Palm Beach Mary Dave Norris,former Pobbach County Commissioner, Hal Valichet,
State Representative Rick Roth, SIDS andSIDS picks. So I've been able to
a lot of people believe in meand believe that I've been to put my

(15:01):
whole heart and soul into really makingour schools better for our children and for
our grandchildren. I want to getone more thing out of you regarding what
the school district's doing there. Ibelieve if they're still on pace for the
start of this next school year,they're going to have all of the high
schools outfitted with the walk through metaldetectors. Do you feel that's a good

(15:24):
move. I think that what wefound is that the metal detectors are working
great, and we were so happywith the way that they performed that we're
going to be doing that in everyschool, and I think that's fantastic.
We need to protect our teachers andstudents and principles and staff. So yeah,

(15:46):
I think it's a fantastic idea,and we need to have additional officers
in the schools. All right,we have three candidates in this race.
As I mentioned, we want topoint out nonpartisans. So if you live
in district on this race is goingto be on your ballot, regardless of
what political party or even if you'renot in one, if you're an NPA,

(16:10):
you know Whatnot why should folks votefor Matt Lane over the other three?
The other two? Well, it'sa combination of factors. First of
all, the teacher side. Icome from a family of teachers, starting
with my mother who is a teacher, my grandmother who is a teacher,
her sister, my great aunt,Elsie, was a teacher, My wife

(16:33):
was a teacher, and when Iwas much younger, I taught underprivileged children
math and English in the public schoolsystem. So I come from a teacher's
background. Additionally, we have afour point nine billion dollar annual budget,
twenty three thousand employees, one hundredand seventy thousand students, one hundred and
eighty two schools. And before Istarted my law firm, I was vice
president General counselor of financial corporation forover fifteen years. I understand finance,

(16:56):
I understand management, and I understandlaw. And it seems to me that
someone on the school board needs tohave a financial acumen required to understand the
finances of an entity with a fourpoint nine billion dollar annual budget, to
handle the vast array of legal issuesthat confront the district every day, to
have experience and management, and tohave experience governing as an elected public official

(17:21):
so they don't have to learn onthe job. All right, well,
I appreciate you taking the time tospeak with our listeners and the voters in
District one. The Palm Beach Countyschool Board candidate for District one on the
school board Matt Lane. On yourballot, it will say, Matthew J.
Lane, thank you for joining me. It's my pleasure.