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Questions & Answers
We may not agree on everything; nor would I want that. What is important to me is 1) for you to know that my philosophy and worldview does not change depending on who I'm talking to, 2) for you to be able to see clearly how I think through issues and that I am open to updating my stance with sufficient evidence, and 3) for you to feel that even if we disagree on an issue, you will be heard and taken seriously by me.
To that end, I am going to keep this page updated with questions that I receive from concerned parents and district residents. Newer questions will be at the top of the page.
You can send me a question via email (info@joshkoestler.com), via Facebook (Josh Koestler for School Board), or by filling out the contact form on this site.
If you prefer an extended face-to-face conversation, we can schedule a porch visit (I'll come to your front door or meeting place of your choice). Just send me a message.
While I will always try to find a common vocabulary with you, I will not tell you what you want to hear in order to win your vote. And even if I don't win your vote, I hope to win your trust that I will always be honest and transparent. Our kids and our neighbors' kids deserve honesty and transparency.
"As a school board member, would you support hiding a child's supposed transgenderism at school from the child's parents?"
First, I unequivocally support our transgender and gender-expansive students. This is not an -ism issue. Our kids are born with the fundamental right to discover who they are.
Parents have a right to information about their minor child, and RPS policy does not say otherwise. RPS procedure is that if a parent asks the school for information about their minor child, staff will give it to them. RPS policy also does not stop any teacher from picking up the phone and calling a parent when they think that's the right thing to do.
What RPS policy does not do is require staff to proactively go looking for things about a student's gender identity to report to parents. I will not vote for mandatory parental notification of a child using their chosen name or pronouns.
I want every kid in this district to be able to talk to their parents. I will always advocate for moving us toward a world where children do not have to be afraid to share who they are with their parents.
I wish it were not the case, but some kids have good reason to be afraid of what happens at home. The school shouldn't be the mechanism that exposes them to that danger. We have mandated reporting for abuse and neglect because we already accept that sometimes a school's first duty is to the child in front of us.
I've spent nine years in these buildings, and I would not vote for a mandate that would take professional judgment away from the adults who are actually in the room with the child.
Pillar 1 of my campaign, Violence Prevention, states that a child who is afraid cannot learn. I will always vote to keep our LGBTQ+ kids safe.
"What would you actually cut in the budget?"
The honest answer is that I'd cut from the outside in, and I'd do it wher eyou can see it.
The district budgets about 413 full-time positions in central office and roughly 2,200 in the buildings. This year's $8.3 million in reductions came $5.2 million from central office and $3.05 million from schools, and $3.75 million of it was budgeting for positions that went unfilled anyway. This is the right direction.
What I won't do is name a program from a campaign website and pretend that's a plan. The plan is a standard: that every line in the budget must show its distance from a student, and the lines that can't do that are the ones we look at first.
"You're a union president. Can you be independent when the board negotiates with its own unions?"
Yes.
I'm president for AFSCME Local 319 which represents City of Rochester employees. AFSCME Local 319 has no bargaining relationship with the school district, and I'll follow the board's conflict-of-interest policy to the letter.
What the labor side taught me is what a sustainable contract looks like. One that teachers can live on and a district can afford in year three. Teacher compensation costs rose about 4.8% and 4.9% in this contract while the district cut $8 million. A board member has to hold both.
"Should RPS ban phones bell-to-bell?"
The 2024 procedures to have no phone access during the day in elementary and middle school and limited access in high school worked. Sixty-nine percent of staff said it made their jobs easier.
I'd go further in K-8 and review the high-school tier with data rather than anecdotes. The principle is the same one behind my AI guardrail pillar: attention is the resource a school exists to protect.
"How do you feel about Congressman Brad Finstad's letter? Is RPS politically neutral?"
The district does not use the program named in the letter, and the state confirms that curriculum is a local decision.
I am committed to every family being able to see what their child is taught, and the review process should be public.
We teach critical thinking from wherever a student starts, and a board member's job is to protect that from every direction. That involves remaining politically neutral.
My hope is that all of their elected officials do their homework before submitting such letters. My promise to you is that I will always do my homework first.
"Do you support the Permanent School Fund amendment?"
Yes.
It changes how a fund Minnesota has had since 1858 pays out. We currently have a cap of 2.5% of interest and dividends, and the amendment seeks to change that to 4.5% of a three-year average of the fund's market value.
It's not a huge amount of per-pupil funding, but for a district of our size, it'll be roughly half a million dollars per year. It won't fix our larger problems, but it certainly will help.
One thing to remember: if you leave the question blank, it counts as 'no.'
"What would you do about school safety that isn't already being done?"
The drills, the Standard Response Protocol, the resource officers, and August's active-threat training at Century is a floor that should stay.
However, the violence that actually shapes a school year is the fight in the hallway, the threat on a phone the relationship a fifteen-year-old is scared of. There are programs with real evidence behind them for addressing those types of violence. For example: Safe Dates, Coaching Boys Into Men, and Fourth R. (Mentioning these does not necessarily constitute an endorsement of the totality of these programs.)
The district just created an Office of Learning Environments to own this work, and I'd give it targets and would expect a public report every year.