Every Child. Every School. Every Opportunity.

Campaign Platform

By Beau Taylor - Troy School Board Candidate

I moved to Troy for one reason: my son. And in doing that, I chose a community that reflects something I believe in — that how we treat each other matters as much as what we achieve. Troy's schools are academically excellent and genuinely warm. That combination is rare. My platform exists to protect it, build on it, and position this district to lead what comes next.

Every Child. Every School. Every Opportunity. That's not a slogan. It's a standard — and it applies without exception.

Eery Chil

Build the System Around the Student

Troy students arrive with extraordinary range — advanced learners ready to be pushed, students with IEPs who need adaptive support, kids with ADD or dyslexia whose intelligence expresses itself differently, and students who haven't yet found the environment that unlocks them. A great school district doesn't sort these children into winners and afterthoughts. It builds systems capable of meeting all of them.

That means advanced curriculum, honors pathways, and rigorous coursework stay intact and fully supported — not as a privilege, but as a baseline expectation of what an excellent public school offers. It also means students who learn differently get the investment and individualized attention they deserve. These are not competing priorities. A district that is genuinely excellent lifts the entire spectrum.

"The goal isn't to identify who fits the system — it's to build a system that fits every student."

Troy families come from every background and every corner of the world, and many chose this community specifically because of what its schools represent. They invest in their children's futures in ways that reflect deep personal values. That is not something a school board should second-guess. Our job is to provide the best possible environment for every child to achieve the highest level they are capable of — and then get out of the way. For families who have sometimes felt like their ambitions for their children were viewed as a problem rather than an asset: I see you, and I have your back. For families whose children need more support and more advocacy: I am here for them too. That is the whole point.

Adaptive Learning — On Every Family's Terms

Technology is one of the most powerful tools available for personalizing education. Adaptive learning platforms can identify how individual students learn best, adjust pacing and content in real time, and give teachers the data they need to reach every student in the room. Used well, this is transformative.

Used poorly, it is a problem — and I will not pretend otherwise. Some students have a genuinely complicated relationship with screens. For them, technology is not a learning tool; it is a distraction or an addiction that competes with their ability to focus and develop. Some families have made a deliberate, considered decision to limit their children's screen exposure, and that is a legitimate parenting choice that our schools should respect, not override.

My position is that technology should be an option, not a mandate. Traditional, low-technology instruction should remain a fully supported pathway — for the teachers who teach best that way, and for the students and families who need it. The goal of adaptive learning is to fit the student, and for some students, that means less technology, not more. A district that is serious about individualized education builds room for that reality.

Teachers Drive This — All of It

None of this works without teachers who are treated as the professionals they are. I believe teachers should be genuine partners in how our schools are designed and run — not recipients of mandates handed down from above, but contributors to the decisions that shape their classrooms and their students' lives. Their expertise is the most valuable asset this district has.

That starts with class size. The target should be 15 to 18 students. At that level, teachers can actually teach individuals — not manage crowds. That matters for the advanced student who needs to be challenged, for the struggling student who needs more time, and for every student in between. Smaller classes are not a luxury. They are the structural precondition for everything else on this platform to work.

Troy Can Lead — Not Just Survive

Here is what I know after 23 years managing public systems through financial pressure: institutions that respond to declining revenue by cutting a little more each year don't stabilize — they slowly hollow out. That is not a strategy. That is a slow decline dressed up as fiscal responsibility.

Education is not going to look the same in five years. Artificial intelligence, adaptive technology, new models of instruction, and a rapidly changing workforce are reshaping what school needs to be. The districts that will thrive are the ones that get ahead of this — that treat the current moment not as a crisis to survive but as an opportunity to reimagine what public education can look like at its best.

Troy has everything it needs to be that district. The community. The talent. The academic culture. What it needs is leadership willing to think bigger than the next budget cycle — to ask not just how we cut less, but how we build something that other districts will follow. I have spent my career building institutions from the ground up in environments where the easy answer was always to do less. I have never taken that answer. I won't start now.

Every Child. Every School. Every Opportunity. Troy can set the standard. I'd be honored to earn your vote to help build it.

Beau Taylor is a candidate for Troy School District School Board, CEO of the Public Lighting Authority of Detroit, and a Troy parent.