Fiscal accountability, mental health and parent involvement were three of the main talking points at last week’s William S. Hart Union High School District candidate forum hosted by The Signal.  The hour-and-a-half question-and-answer session was held Friday at Grace Baptist Church, and moderated by Signal Owner/Publisher Richard Budman.  Erin Wilson, running for reelection in Trustee Area No. 4, and all three candidates for Trustee Area No. 1 — incumbent Linda Storli and challengers Aakash Ahuja and Gloria Mercado-Fortine — gave their thoughts on what they say are the biggest issues facing education in the Santa Clarita Valley, the state and the across the nation.  Wilson is running against Eric Anderson, who was not in attendance.  A product of the Hart district who also had kids graduate from the district and will have grandchildren do so as well, Wilson, who was appointed to the board last year, said her priority is to make sure that all students in the district get the “best educational experience possible.”  Erin McKeon Wilson, a governing board member for the William S. Hart School Union District, participates in a candidate forum hosted by The Signal on Friday evening at Grace Baptist Church. Trisha Anas/ The Signal. Each candidate said something along those lines, but with some nuances.  “My three principles that I use pretty much anytime I’m making a decision … I think of a stool where it’s got three legs,” Wilson said, “and we’ve got our students — our students are No. 1 — we’ve got our parents, and we’ve got our staff, our teachers, our classified staff and our administration. When we’re all working together, that provides a sound foundation. So we need to engage, and when we do those things, then we will be able to elevate. We’ll be able to elevate over these problems that we have of budget issues and safety issues and other concerns that we have.”  Mercado-Fortine, a former educator and Hart district board member, said better fiscal accountability is needed to give teachers the resources they need to teach and to give them the peace of mind that their jobs are not in jeopardy.  “In the spring, about 62 teachers were given the pink notice, (reduction-in-force notice), and teachers got other jobs,” Mercado-Fortine said. “Quality, highly qualified teachers went off and got new jobs. Then it was retracted, because there was — the decision did not need to be made to RIF teachers and other staff, just not teachers, but there were other staff, and it came down to just a few positions, and that took care of it through attrition. But that is why morale is so low.”  Candidates for the William S. Hart Union High School District governing board participate in a debate forum hosted by The Signal on Friday evening at Grace Baptist Church. The event was streamed over Facebook live. Trisha Anas/ The Signal. Storli, a teacher at Canyon High for 30 years before moving to the governing board in 2015, offered a different perspective on the funding problem. She categorized it as a state issue, and one that can only be fixed at the state level.  “We just don’t have enough money,” Storli said. “The governor says we’ve got X number of dollars, and then by the time we get around to making our budget, we don’t have X number of dollars, and we already planned on using those dollars … The state needs to give us money instead of giving it to other things. Schooling is one of the most important things that you can do for a population.”  Ahuja, the parent of two kids currently attending Hart district schools, spent much of his time pointing to mental health as the biggest issue that students are facing. Ahuja, who has been a psychiatrist for 16 years after moving to the SCV from India, said if students had the tools to address their mental health, they would function better in class and therefore function better during the state testing period.  He also cited the recent trend of school shooting rumors — or other types of threats — being posted to social media, leading to students being unaware of whether their school is safe.  Linda Storli, governing board president for the William S. Hart Union High School District, particpates in a candidate debate hosted by The Signal on Friday evening at Grace Baptist Church. Trisha Anas/ The Signal. “Imagine as a kid, imagine as a parent, imagine as a teacher, what the kids are going through,” Ahuja said. “Now, I tie that up with the mental health crisis because, again, kids are spending too much time on social media … It’s difficult for them to understand the consequences and to understand the nuances of social media. They tend to become more isolated and tend to be more bullied in terms of both in-person and with the cyberbullying when the cell phones are involved.”  Cell phone use is an issue that was discussed by the Hart district governing board at its last meeting. Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed into law a bill that requires school districts across the state to develop a policy limiting smartphone use by July 1, 2026.  Both Storli and Wilson have been vocal proponents of limiting how much students can use their cell phones during school hours, while Ahuja has been raising the issue at meetings he has attended over the past couple of years.  Aakush Ahuja, a candidate for the governing board of the William S. Hart Union High School District, participates in a candidate forum hosted by The Signal on Friday evening at Grace Baptist Church. Trisha Anas/ The Signal. Mercado-Fortine did not address the issue. What she did address was the idea of creating and sustaining relationships. Citing her work with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Foundation and how that has led to more deputy presence at Hart district schools, Mercado-Fortine said it is partnerships like that that will keep education moving forward.  “We need to focus on students first, and so whatever we do, we must focus and put them in the center, and then work out our fiscal resources supporting those students,” Mercado-Fortine said. “But also important is in the decisions that we make, we need to do that collaboratively, because as board members, you don’t have all the answers, so you need to reach out to your stakeholders. Parent involvement is very important, making sure that teachers are involved, the staff is involved, and that your community is there to support you. And I believe greatly in partnerships. We don’t have a lot of money, so you need to bring in partners to help you.”  All four candidates present agreed that parents need to be more involved with how the district operates and are necessary in helping to hold district staff accountable.  Storli said she would like to start having town halls at each of the schools where parents could speak in an open forum to address some of the concerns that they have.  Gloria Mercado-Fortine, a past governing board member of the William S. Hart Union High School District, participates in a candidate debate hosted by The Signal on Friday evening at Grace Baptist Church. Trisha Anas/ The Signal. While not exactly agreeing with Storli, Mercado-Fortine said parent resource centers could be a benefit to the district, similar to how students have wellness centers to help them address their mental health needs.  “I think training for parents, a place for them to come and to learn, you know, techniques, whatever it is, to support their child, that’s very important,” Mercado-Fortine said. “You know, educators are there to educate; parents are supposed to raise their children. That’s their responsibility, but we know that because of life and work situations that parents do rely a lot on the schools, but we can only do so much.”  All four candidates present, along with Anderson, will be on the ballot Nov. 5 in the general election.  The post Hart school board candidates debate key issues  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.