Education critic Michael Baumann has announced his candidacy for Coquitlam school trustee

Education critic and post-secondary educator Michael Baumann has announced he is running for a seat on the Coquitlam school board.

Baumann, who has spent his career working at universities and colleges, said his campaign will focus on bringing greater experience and scrutiny to decisions about education.

“Education is too important to be left to people with little experience,” Baumann said in announcing his candidacy. “We have to think more rigorously how we want to teach the generations to come. That’s why I am running.”

Baumann’s platform identifies four priorities: merit-based hiring and promotion, addressing the growing use of artificial intelligence, what he describes as sensible spending and transparent decision-making, and tuition-free post-secondary education and training.

He argues schools need to do a better job of preparing students for both their responsibilities as citizens and their eventual entry into the workforce.

“The function of higher education is twofold,” Baumann said. “First, the development of competent citizens; and second, the training of a skilled workforce.

“Your child will become an adult. You want your child prepared for adult life. We can do better than we are currently doing.”

Baumann holds a master of science degree from the University of Vienna and a PhD from the University of British Columbia.

His career has included work as a researcher in animal behaviour and psychology, teaching complex adaptive systems and working in university administration. He also spent a decade as the director of a university career centre.

Despite his eventual academic career, Baumann says his own experience with the education system was rocky from an early age. His campaign biography says he began skipping school at seven and “barely made it through grammar school.”

For the past 25 years, Baumann says he has been a vocal critic of the education system.

Baumann is seeking election as a trustee for School District 43, which oversees public schools in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Anmore and Belcarra.