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School Beat: Election Day Not Bad for Schools
The returns from the November 2006 election are in and the results for education in California are quite interesting. Locally, San Francisco's Board of Education (BOE) will have all new members filling the open spots, all of whom are closely connected to students in our schools. Statewide, except for re-electing Governor Schwarzenegger, voters came through for clearly identified needs (facilities bonds Proposition 1D and A) and rejected the strategically unsound and ill-defined fiscal solution presented by Proposition 88.
The financial choices voters made were wise ones, strongly supporting the need to repair education facilities. For San Francisco, the combined threats of unsafe, inaccessible school buildings and the possibility of a takeover by a federal facilities master have been averted. Together Proposition A and 1D provide the infusion of funds required to meet our legal obligations as specified under the Lopez settlement, not to mention our ethical obligation to provide adequate buildings for our kids and their educators.
A striking contrast to the support of the facilities bonds was the clear defeat of Proposition 88, which would have imposed a $50 parcel tax across the state. No doubt our schools need a great, regular stream of revenue, but this effort would not have met that need. The levy was not tied to a well-calculated measure of the gulf between what we have and what our standards require. Further, the passage of Proposition 88 would have made it all the more difficult to go back to voters in the future, to ask for yet another levy once we actually knew how much we really needed.
The return of the Governor can only herald bad news for schools, as he so clearly views public education funding sources as simply a line of credit for just about any other needs, and feels only moderately obligated to pay back any dollars he borrows. Given his solid victory, we will have to be on our guard and ready to circumvent the next blow to schools that is sure to come from his direction.
The ballot decisions of most interest to San Francisco voters were most likely those for the three available BOE seats. With only one incumbent running and within a general environment of unhappiness with the school board, the race for these spots was hard-fought and too close to call. The winners on Tuesday, in order of number of votes, were Jane Kim, Hydra Mendoza, and Kim-Shree Maufas, all women of color who have been active with schools and youth in different ways. In a big change for the BOE, the selection of Mendoza and Maufas increase the voice of parents of currently enrolled students on the school board. Kim brings direct experience with older students. Their election seems to be a resounding call away from incumbents and for BOE members to have closer ties to the experiences of parents and kids at all levels of K-12 education and to better reflect the diversity of the SFUSD's student body.
Read More
http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=3888#more
A striking contrast to the support of the facilities bonds was the clear defeat of Proposition 88, which would have imposed a $50 parcel tax across the state. No doubt our schools need a great, regular stream of revenue, but this effort would not have met that need. The levy was not tied to a well-calculated measure of the gulf between what we have and what our standards require. Further, the passage of Proposition 88 would have made it all the more difficult to go back to voters in the future, to ask for yet another levy once we actually knew how much we really needed.
The return of the Governor can only herald bad news for schools, as he so clearly views public education funding sources as simply a line of credit for just about any other needs, and feels only moderately obligated to pay back any dollars he borrows. Given his solid victory, we will have to be on our guard and ready to circumvent the next blow to schools that is sure to come from his direction.
The ballot decisions of most interest to San Francisco voters were most likely those for the three available BOE seats. With only one incumbent running and within a general environment of unhappiness with the school board, the race for these spots was hard-fought and too close to call. The winners on Tuesday, in order of number of votes, were Jane Kim, Hydra Mendoza, and Kim-Shree Maufas, all women of color who have been active with schools and youth in different ways. In a big change for the BOE, the selection of Mendoza and Maufas increase the voice of parents of currently enrolled students on the school board. Kim brings direct experience with older students. Their election seems to be a resounding call away from incumbents and for BOE members to have closer ties to the experiences of parents and kids at all levels of K-12 education and to better reflect the diversity of the SFUSD's student body.
Read More
http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=3888#more
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