Candidate Colohan is focused on school district budget

BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer

Palo Alto school board candidate Chris Colohan is a self-described nerd, and he says that will serve him well in managing and discussing the district’s budget.

“I’m one of the few people who have actually tried to read our entire district budget,” Colohan said in an interview. “It took me two weeks to get through the whole thing and actually talk to enough people to understand what all the lines in that budget meant, and what all the numbers were. And I think that’s a problem.”

Colohan, 50, said the budget should be more focused on people, because that’s where 87% of the money goes. He wants to see a breakdown of how many aides and how many custodians the district has, for example, and to look at the trends over time.

“The decisions that are made and encoded in the budget actually are the hard decisions that are most important. And it’s really important that everyone understands them so they’re involved in the decision-making, (and) so they trust the organization,” said Colohan, one of five candidates running for three open spots on the board.

Colohan left his job as an engineer at Google to become a stay-at-home dad eight years ago. He joined the Duveneck Elementary School PTA board as treasurer and made the budget presentation the most fun part of the meeting, he said.

Colohan dressed up as the school mascot, Duvey the Dragon, and danced around for the kids, he said.

Two and a half years ago, Superintendent Don Austin sent out a call for parents to sign up to be substitute teachers.

Colohan has since worked at all 17 schools, from kindergarten to twelfth grade, mostly focused on math and music.

Colohan said he was concerned to teach eighth-grade algebra when students were supposed to be learning how to factor. But one of the students didn’t know six times seven and had to Google the answer he should’ve learned in elementary school.

“This is a pattern I’ve seen. There are a number of kids who are not as strong as they need to be when they’re in middle school,” he said.

Colohan said he would model elementary school math instruction after the district’s “Every Student Reads Initiative,” which aims to have all students reading at grade level at the end of third grade. 

Colohan wants to address the 19% of students who are not meeting grade level for math at the end of fifth grade. 

He said the board should start by asking teachers what they think the most effective techniques are, and then provide additional aides for struggling students if needed.