Candidate name:

Candidate name: Larry Duncan

DCS district: At-LargePlease complete questionnaire below.

You must send a completed electronic copy to Political@StonewallDemocratsOfDallas.org or mail a completed copy to P.O. Box 192305 Dallas, TX 75219 by Monday, March 2nd.1. Your background and the LGBT community Please share any experience that illustrates your understanding and interest of the needs of LGBT Dallas residents.

I am the proud to have been awarded the coveted Stonewall Democrats of Dallas (SDD) Pink Pump Award for 2015. I have been a long time active SDD member. I have worked for LGBT issues as an appointed official, an elected official, as a community leader and as an individual, including the following highlights:$I worked with Bill Dare in 1983 on the Health and Human Services to get the city to recognize AIDS and to provide services to those infected.

$As President I provided leadership to the Dallas Homeowners League PAC in the 1980s which endorsed Bill Nelson, the first openly gay Dallas City Councilmember (the first non-LGBT organization to do so).

$As President I provided leadership to the Dallas Homeowners League in the 1980s which recruited Bill Nelson and elected him to the Board.

$As DCS President I work with non-profits that support LGBT youth to provide transportation to help reach more young people and to enhance their programs.$I participated in the demonstrations against the Rainbow Lounge and other injustices.Stonewall Democrats of Dallas seek to inform members of the LGBT and Democratic Party community of candidate's political background. Our organizations by-laws require us only to consider candidates with Democratic Primary voter history or affirms their party affiliation via an oath of allegiance to the Democratic Party. Do you qualify or would you be prepared to sign an oath of allegiance form from the Dallas County Democratic Party? I have been a active Democrat for my entire adult life as confirmed by my voting history.2. Creating an inclusive community Cities and Counties compete for residents, tax payers, conventions and new businesses/economic development. As a member of the Dallas County Schools Board, how would you insure that Dallas County can compete effectively with other places in the area of LGBT inclusion?

As DCS Board President I do all that I can to ensure that DCS is an inclusive employer (see #3). As an elected leader I work with other governmental entities and non-profits to support LGBT inclusion (e.g., the City of Dallas comprehensive LGBT policy).Would you recruit and consider qualified LGBT constituents for your staff and appointments?

Yes, I have and will continue to do so. In 2009 I recruited a member of the LGBT community to run for the DCS Board of Trustees with me. In 2014, I and another DCS Board Member recruited Omar Narvaez to fill a vacancy and then led the DCS Board to elect him to be the first openly gay DCS Trustees. After campaigning together, both Omar and I were re-elected without opposition on Feb. 27, 2015.3. Dallas County Schools (DCS) as a LGBT inclusive employer The private sector has seen a large increase in policies and benefits for LGBT employees, how should the DCS remain competitive to attract and retain top LGBT talent?

I worked with DCS Trustee Omar Narvaez to get the DCS Board to enact comprehensive Policies to ensure equality, inclusion and fairness for the over 3000 DCS employees and the 440,000 students served by DCS. At my request through Omar, the Policy revisions were identified by Lambda Legal.In particular regard to bullying, DCS buses have 3 video cameras inside to monitor behavior in real time and to record and document behavior to ensure accountability.Do you support comprehensive LGBT and especially transgender-inclusive health benefits? As a DCS board member will you work on lobbying the state and Teachers Retirement System to implement such benefits?Yes. Additionally DCS is lobbying the TX Leg to allow DCS to use a private health insurance provider instead of the Texas Teachers Retirement System. Any such coverage would be fully LGBT inclusive.

It is great to have policies supportive of non-discrimination for LGBT personnel and students. Does DCS do any diversity training of personnel related to non-discrimination and anti-bullying?

Yes, all employees go through such training.4. Current EventsWhat do you see as the top challenges for the DCS board going into the next school year, and what are your personal priorities for your work on the board for DCS?

We are in the midst of a full blown crisis in public education. Two legislative sessions ago, the State cut pubic education by $5 billion and only partially restored it. The first draft of the budget in this session call for a further reduction of $3 billion.

DCS continues to provide improved services and savings to Dallas County public schools. CFB ISD determined that DCS saves them $1.2 million annually over running their own buses. Multiply that across the county. We cannot offset the States funding cuts but we can help.

DCS has developed an entrepreneurial approach by offering out products and services to schools outside of Dallas County. Each of these endeavors brings additional revenue into Dallas County to help take care of our employees and to improve our services and savings to Dallas County public schools.

I played a leading role in developing this entrepreneurial approach and I am committed to continuing to build it.

We must save public education.

LGBT youth make up approximately 40% of the homeless youth population, but only 10% of the youth population as a whole. They also face considerable discrimination and abuse in traditional homeless assistance programs. Given these facts, is there anything that DCS can do to help this at risk population stay in school, and any other assistance to help get them off the streets?

DCS provides transportation to homeless youth enabling them to safely get to and from school.

DCS also makes our police force available in schools to help keep children save from bullying and other hazards.Dallas County's Department of Elections has made it a priority to encourage new young voters to participate in elections more. In what ways would you attempt to increase participation in Dallas County's successful Student Election Worker program? Is there anything that DCS can do to help student voters participate in elections?

If Dallas County contracts with DCS to provide the transportation for a such a program and the Commissioners provide comprehensive support, I would support it.I have been recruiting for the Student Election Worker program.Given that tax revenue for the City of Dallas and Dallas County should rise this year without a tax rate increase, what are the top priorities to which these additional funds should be directed towards?DCS is limited by statute to a one penny tax rate. Any increase DCS gets due to property values increases would not begin to offset the $800,000 increased cost of collecting property taxes being imposed on DCS by the County. I, _Larry Duncan_______________________, am seeking an endorsement from the Stonewall Democrats of Dallas for the 2015 Dallas County Schools Board elections.

Signed___________________________________ Date___March 1, 2015__________