San Francisco for Democracy BOE Candidate Questionaire
The following is directly based on a candidate questionaire developed and published by the origanization San Francsico for Democracy. Every effort has been made to republish all of the candidate resonses fully, completely, and accurately. The format of the presentation has changed to help readers more easily view and compare the responses. The content, the words of each candidate, have been copied intact.
To improve the quality of our public schools and the education of all children in San Francisco
I am running because I strongly feel we need a Board that is representative of the communities that attend SFUSD - primarily immigrant, low-income, communities of color. I do not feel that the current Board is reflective of these communities and, consequently, are not accountable to them. I work in these communities and I come from an immigrant, community of color background. As a board member, I would be able to bring the voice of these communities to the table and assure that their issues are addressed
I have also worked with students, visiting different schools and doing outreach. I relate to the students and understand their needs. The current board is missing the representation of the student voice, which I think is essential.
We need a candidate that is connected to and represents the communities and students. I feel that I am that voice.
I was a mentor of 84 SFUSD high school students over seven years. I saw the first-hand the great quality of education that the students receive from our outstanding educators at SFUSD. Yet, when I went to School Board meetings, I saw the District's senior staff not being respectful of parents, students, educators and the community. So I want to create a more parent-friendly, student-friendly, teacher-friendly School District.
A school board that takes the month of August off from bargaining and then authorizes replacement workers in September needs new leadership. I recently decided to run with the encouragement of parents, educators, administrators and support staff who suggested my experience was consistent with the attributes they sought in a school board commissioner.
I want to improve the quality of education for all the students of San Francisco. I also want to improve the Achievement Gap for our African-American, Hispanic, Samoan, Bilingual, Special Education and other failing students.
I believe that San Francisco for Democracy should support my candidacy because I have proven my commitment to the cause of quality public education. I have demonstrated this commitment through my professional work in youth education and development and through my efforts in community organizing and campaigns related to education and youth-related issues. My focus is improving the quality of education for students and families that are a part of the San Francisco Unified School District and ensuring that we are serving all students, but especially the low-income and immigrant communities that make up the majority of the SFUSD. I am committed to this cause because I firmly believe that a quality public education is one of the best equalizers and thus, a vehicle for racial and economic justice.
I am the only candidate out of the 16 people who are running who has been to all of the School Board meetings in the last two years. I am the only candidate who has done a thorough analysis of the last three school district budgets. I have visited 40 schools and many of the District's child development centers. And I am running because I passionately believe in the children-I passionately believe in the quality of education that they are receiving from their educators-and I think that our students, parents and workers should receive more support from the District in getting a good educatioin.
I am a 5th generation Irish-Catholic San Franciscan and 4th generation SEIU. My wife Cynthia is a Filipino immigrant who still speaks Visayan (dialect) with our four children and granddaughter. Although we both received a Catholic education and are active in our parish community, we chose to send our children to public schools.
I am a union member for nearly 28 years and the only candidate with extensive family, educational and professional experience with the public schools and their union partners: United Educators, SEIU, the AFL-CIO and the Building Trades.
I've worked with kids for the past 25 years as a volunteer, a coach and a mentor, served on the school-site councils at John Swett (on the eastside) and Lawton Alternative (on the westside), as PTA parliamentarian and as the delegate to the citywide GATE Advisory Committee. I developed after-school sports and educational programs in Hayes Valley and at the United Irish Cultural Center.
For the past 10 years, I worked on wage and hour issues, investigating complaints at the local and state levels. I was directly responsible for the statewide debarment of 5 recalcitrant contractors who had violated the public trust by mismanaging projects paid for with public monies.
This type of experiences is not currently reflected on the school board.
Like your organization, I believe in strong "grassroots" and "community" involvement for my election and all other elections. Having total community involvement from various ethnic groups is very important.
You should vote for me because if elected to the San Francisco Board of Education, one of my top priorities will be to help generate new revenue for the school district by working together with school unions and other city leaders to promote a funding mechanism that supports education the way the voters want to support our public schools. I will also work with all of the board members to pursue more state and federal monies that support our work in schools. I believe that we need to pressure the state and federal government so that proper funding gets returned to the public school systems. Part of these funds should go towards the development and creation of subsidized teacher and school staff housing or a housing assistance program.
And you should vote for me because if elected, another top priority is to bring communities and stakeholders, who work in schools, together to assess and address root systemic issues that enable and set up barriers to providing quality education to all the children of San Francisco (e.g. student assignment truancy, discipline, meaningful academic achievement ,No Child Left Behind, etc.). Theses issues have negated quality-learning for students for years and after all of our efforts, our public schools are worse than ever.
And finally you should vote for me because if elected, I will work to see smaller schools and learning environments flourish and receive the necessary support from the District and all San Franciscans. Smaller learning environments address the needs of specialized student-family and school communities that have not been served by our older, traditionally large school programs and institutions. Small schools should be embraced, nurtured, and their successful implementations learned from as continuing solutions to some of the aforementioned issues that we have struggled with for so long. Additionally, they will be able to focus on beginning solutions that, I believe, will help address the graduation rates crisis and exit exam performances.
I have been a pediatrician for more than 20 years and a child advocate for more than 30. I have served multiple terms on the following nonprofit Boards in San Francisco, all of which serve children:
- West Portal CARE
- UCSF Child/Care-Study Center
- The San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center
- The San Francisco Education Fund
- San Francisco Arts Education Partnership
- Ruth Asawa Fund
I am a certified adaptive sports instructor and volunteer regularly with Disabled Sports USA-FW to bring outdoor skills and experiences to children and adults with physical &/or mental impairments.
I have been a public school parent for 21 years
I am the senior member of the San Francisco Board of Education
I have a Master of Public Administration. I authored a curriculum that was adopted by the third largest school district in Colorado. I then wrote a curriculum on natural resources that was used in elementary classrooms throughout North America. I was the founder of the Environmental Summit for High Schools and the co-founder of "Sun, Wind and Water Day" for elementary students. It has been held at the Randall Museum for the last 11 years.
I was selected Mentor of the Year by the Mayor's Education and Employment Program for my work with 84 SFUSD high school students over seven years. My team of employees and I were selected as the Management Team of the Year by the Mayor's Committee for Excellence. I am currently the treasurer of the Harvey Milk Democrat Club and an elected member of the San Francisco Green Party's County Council. I am also a member of the John Muir PTA.
My formal education is specific to labor-related studies. I am a trained community organizer (AFL-CIO Organizing Institute 1996, Cornell University Summer School 1999) and received my AA from City College of San Francisco (Award of Achievement in Labor Studies, Supervision Certificate Program) and BA from the National Labor College (Political Economies of Labor). I was elected to the NLC Student Union by my peers, elected labor officials from throughout the US, Canada and Puerto Rico.
I created and ran the Hayes Valley Vipers (covering several SFUSD School sites including John Swett, John Muir, Raphael Weill, Benjamin Franklin, New Traditions, Golden Gate, Spring Valley), staring with soccer (ages 5-10) and expanded to include older female siblings (ages 10-14) who had no interest in soccer but wanted a basketball team. Through a dedicated and strategic community organizing effort the HVV brought together programs and suppliers (SFUSD, Rec & Park, PAL, YMCA, Sunset Soccer Supply, Viking Soccer Club, University of San Francisco, SF Seals Professional Soccer Club, Western Edition Newspaper) who traditionally operate independent of each other.
I served as Assistant to the Director of the CA Department of Industrial Relations during the Davis Administration and understand the difficulties surrounding budgets, staffing and programs. I created the SEEC (Shadow Economy Enforcement Collaborative) and BASE (Bilingual Access to State Services for Everyone) Programs, but implementation was cut short due to the Recall. Schwarzenegger's folks adopted the concept of SEEC by implementing a diluted version.
I was elected to the statewide board of directors for the state attorneys union (a non-profit) and helped to rebuild the reputation and influence of their Political Action Committee after the fallout of the Richard Riordan donation fiasco. Was instrumental in negotiating a new contract and spearheaded passage through the state legislature. Created a multi-union labor-management program.
I was elected treasurer (then president) of the United Irish Cultural Center (a non-profit) at a time when we had lost a quarter of a million dollars and closure of the facility was imminent. As a result of my actively recruiting younger members to become more involved, it is still open and doing much better.
I was Executive Director the Bricklayers and Tilesetters labor-management committee trust (a non-profit) where we created a cutting edge private investigations wage and hour enforcement program.
I have been professionally affiliated with the SFUSD for 30+ years and have dedicated over half of my life working on behalf of the students of San Francisco. I was employed by the SFUSD for over 20+ years; starting out as a teacher's assistant, then teacher, counselor, head counselor/dean, assistant principal and principal.
I have taught grades K-12, and during my career I have worked with regular students, bilingual education, special education, gifted, counseling, career planning and adult education. I was a college instructor for City College of San Francisco, San Francisco State University, University of California and Canada College. Over the years I have worked with students, teachers, staff, parents and community members from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. I am also sensitive to the issues surrounding sexual orientation, the challenged student and the disabled student. In October, 2005 I emerged from retirement to the SFUSD as a Substitute Teacher. Prior to retirement, I became an administrator and was an active member and elected to the Board of Directors of the United Administrators of San Francisco. Presently I am a proud member of UASF-Emeritus. I have had experiences dealing with both union and management issues.
I hold the following degrees and credentials: AA, BA, MA and Doctor of Education, Community College Instructor Credential, Education Administration and Standard Teaching Credential.
Please see attached resume (at end of the linked document).
Bronx Community College, AA Nursing 1973
School of General Studies, Columbia University, BS Biology 1976
Stanford University, School of Medicine, MD 1980
Two terms as President of The Board of Education
Four terms as Vice President of the Board of Education
Multiple Committee Chairmanships
Member of the Executive Committee at the Council of Great City Schools (CGCS) in Washington DC (current)
Chair of the Task Force on Immigrant and Bilingual Education, CGCS
As the youth program director at Chinatown Community Development Center, I have educated over 200 students attending all 11 San Francisco public high schools our after-school programs. In my work, I have also visited different schools and continually outreached to teachers, parents and the community. I am also entering my third year of service on the Proposition H Community Advisory Committee to the SFUSD. This committee makes recommendations to the School Board and Superintendent on how to distribute funds from the Proposition H fund, voted into implementation in the March 2004 election. I currently serve as the President of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco People's Organization (SFPO), where I learned to lead not only through guiding and focusing the work of the organization, but also through effective coalition building between different community leaders and labor leaders.
This is a time when the school board needs a unifying presence to work on solutions for our school district. I grew up with strong Labor and Democratic values. My dad was President of the SF Labor Council and my mom served on the Democratic County Central Committee for many years. I currently serve as a delegate to both the SF and San Mateo Labor Councils. Although both my parents are deceased (Dad 1991 & Mom 2000), my wife and I continue to demonstrate these values and teach them to our children.
When my mom worked at UESF, we spent many an evening around the family dining table discussing issues with her closest friends, some of whom were UESF members. Our eldest daughter, who attended Mark Twain Alternative High School, now works as a labor rep for SEIU and has walked picket lines with her daughter in support of healthcare workers, hotel workers, and grocery workers, among others.
My great grandfather Charles "Pop" Hardy helped bring BSEIU to the west coast, helped to found Janitors Locals 9 and 87 and served on the International Executive Board; my grandfather George Hardy was the International President immediately preceding John Sweeney, helped found Hospital Workers Local 250 & 399 and worked as a retiree on the initial Justice for Janitors Campaign; my dad Tim Twomey was an International VP and led SEIU 250 for 30 years; my mother was an editor of the Service Union Reporter and worked on the initial home healthcare campaign (under Sal Rosselli).
Presently, I am employed by San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) as a Substitute Teacher. I get a chance to work with the students of San Francisco almost everyday.
I am the only candidate that has as deeply committed and varied >experience with children from all types of backgrounds. I've been working with severely disadvantaged children since 1986, when I worked at an orphanage (for mentally, physically, emotionally and sexually abused children), which continued for 10 years. During part of my tenure there, I was a tutor for the Los Angeles Unified School District on special assignment. I was able to take advantage of the family-style relationships that I already had with the children to help them strengthen their own sense-of-self and not be afraid of how learning could benefit them.
Beginning in 1994, I have volunteered for a considerably at all of my daughter's schools to understand San Francisco's educational systems and how to help other parents move through them. I have worked for the SFUSD as a Parent Liaison when the district created the position so a parent advocated could assist other parents integrate seamlessly into the school community; I have volunteered as a PTSA President of at Thurgood Marshall Academic High School beginning in 2002, with the PTSA at Lincoln High School and, helped our own PTA at the district level with recruitment across the board. I am a founding member of, and appointed to, the Board of Education's original Parent Advisory Council for my ability to be a voice for all parents, chairing the Safety Committee and working on the Recruitment Committee. I firmly believe that strong "student-parent-school site" communication and relationships facilitate the most fruitful of all academic communities.
I also volunteer as a USA Track and Field as a certified coach, encouraging athletes to use their studies and talents to propel them through the school and onto college. Additionally, I coach for the Northern California Chapter of the International Special Olympics in Track and Field, supporting all of the athletes regardless of their and/or abilities. I currently work for the Department on the Status of Women, as a CEDAW Policy Analyst (CEDAW is the United Nations' Treaty on the Convention to End All Forms of Discrimination Against Women for which San Francisco, in 1998, was the first municipality in this country to adopt this treaty as law). My focus is centered around policies in San Francisco and the School District that support girls and young women.
Experience and a track record of working for children of every background
One the most important qualifications that I bring which sets me apart is hands-on experience working with over 200 high school students in the SFUSD for the past six years as the youth program director at the Chinatown Community Development Center. My holistic vision of education means that I believe that learning does not stop at the last bell. Through the nationally-recognized youth programs I created to develop the leadership, advocacy and civic engagement of the youth participants, I have played an important role in their overall education. Through this work, I am convinced that we need the partnership of the entire community to successfully educate our students, and that's why I want the School Board to be a vehicle that truly represents the will of the community - parents, teachers, advocacy groups, community-based organizations, and government bodies - in order to benefit all San Francisco youth.
In addition, I believe that one of my strengths, as a school board member will be my capacity to reach out to community leaders and stakeholders and develop a strong community coalition to support these ballot initiatives. In my last campaign for school board, I was able to organize a 300 member volunteer base that dropped in 300 precincts. I will be able to bring strong community and field support-aspects that are essential to any campaign.
My passion for improving the quality of education for our students. I was the only candidate to walk with teachers and classified staff in their demonstrations for a better contract. I am the only candidate who stays at the School Board meetings till they end at 2 a.m. I am the only candidate who has done site visits to the schools and child development centers. I am the only candidate who has done a thorough analysis of the last three school budgets.
IMPROVING MULTI-CULTURAL AND MULT-ILINGUAL EDUCATION IN THE SFUSD
Throughout my time on the Board of education I have worked to improve second language and multicultural education for all students in the SFUSD. I have authored several resolutions that expanded true bilingual programs. As President of the Board in 1995, I was the lead plaintiff in the SFUSD suit that blocked implementation of the anti-immigrant Proposition 187, and later I strongly opposed the ill-conceived Unz amendment. I led the fights to preserve our Newcomer programs whenever they have been threatened. I authored the resolution mandating that Bessie Carmichael School, serving the SoMa immigrant community be built before any others in more affluent communities. I played a central role in the development of the nation's first public school K-8 Chinese Immersion Program (Alice Fong Yu), and I worked directly with SFUSD staff and Chinese educators to overcome US State Department resistance, and create a mutual student exchange program between Alice Fong Yu school and its counterpart in Beijing. I currently Chair the Council of Great City Schools' task force on Bilingual and Immigrant Education
The San Francisco Unified School District is to provide every student with a specified and excellent educational program that meets their particular needs, regular education, bilingual, special education, gifted, etc., etc.
Provide all of our students with a well-rounded education, including both basic skills and enrichment programs. Provide an environment, which has high expectations and encourages every student to work at her/his maximum capabilities and potentials.
Work hard on the Achievement Gap for our African-American, Hispanic, Samoan, Bilingual, Special Education, Low Socio-economic students. Increase the number of unrepresented and under represented students into our Advance Placement and Gifted Programs.
Provide an excellent educational leader at every school site. Provide an excellent and certificated teacher in her/his field of expertise in every classroom. Provide excellent paraprofessionals and classified staffs at every school site. Last but not least, provide the money, resources and supplies to meet the individual needs of every student at every school site.
I see that lack of funding and resources for our schools and staff as the root cause for the crisis in our public school and in the SF School District. We also need to create smaller learning environments to assist in addressing the non-reduction of the achievement gaps, high stakes testing concerns, and the behavioral health issues that are also at the forefront of the important issues in the SF School District. I believe that the lack of an open budget process means that money meant for our schools has not been getting to the classroom and to teachers, paraprofessional, nurses, secretaries, counselors and other school workers who are the backbone of our public education system. I'm committed to getting money to the classroom that will support our staff and teachers.
Recruit and hire the next Superintendent of Schools
Reduce identifiable opportunity gaps affecting students of color
Improve the quality of educational options on the eastern and southern portions of the city
I think the three largest issues are:
- Increasing the District's discretionary dollars.
- Focusing attention on the improvement of our middle schools.
- Developing more partnerships with Community Based Organizations
This year, the District's budget stands at just over $800,000,000. Of this sum, the District's General Fund dollars, or its operating budget, has seen only a two and a half percent increase from its levels in 2004-2005 . These discretionary monies are vital to the stabilization of our schools, and in reality, provide the most meaningful way that we can express our educational priorities as a community. In order for the District to prosper, we must increase the base of discretionary dollars.
The City's budget increased dramatically this year providing for $387 millions in new revenues . And yet, the District has not seen such exponential growth. Where the City has been able to capitalize on increased state and local tax dollars, the District has been unable to tap into new revenues in a similar fashion.
As the District prepares for continued shortfalls of revenue , we must re-double our efforts to find new revenue sources. The following represent just some ideas for doing that. I have listed some of ideas in Question #9.
Focusing Attention on our Middle Schools
There are 17 schools in our District that offer education for middle school students. Middle School is a time of transition as our children begin exploring more independence on their way to becoming young adults.
It is instrumental that Middle School-aged youth receive the support needed to stay on track during these formative years. It is no secret that the lack of sustained emotional support in the home often manifests itself in behavioral problems at school. As a District, we have witnessed a precipitous increase in number of suspensions of Middle School-aged youth. Some schools with particularly at-risk youth experience suspension rates that have nearly doubled over the past several years or routinely exceed 25% . We must work to combat this trend.
Teachers cannot be expected to maximize their students' potentials when they are forced to have 80 and sometimes 90 children assigned to one class. The drop-off in level of attention from the smaller class size in Elementary School to a larger one in Middle School must be addressed. I view smaller class size as absolutely fundamental.
In addition, I believe must provide increased learning supportive services at the Middle School level that would include expanded conflict management, positive incentive plans, parent-school partnerships and more counseling services.
Partnerships with Community Based Organizations
I would facilitate more partnerships with community-based organizations and colleges/universities to increase learning support services. CBO's such as Youth Speaks can come to schools (both during school and after school) to give students additional learning support. I would partner with higher education institutions so college students could volunteer to help K-12 students. I would promote more peer tutoring, plus older students tutoring younger students (e.g. high school students tutoring elementary school students). This kind of tutoring not only provides learning support services to students who need them, but also provides community service hours and civic engagement opportunities to the tutoring students.
- Declining enrollment. The District's budget is based on the number of students that attend on an average day. I would market the outstanding programs that our schools offer-from biotech academies at our high schools to reading clubs with principals within elementary schools, from elementary schools centered on arts to high school programs centered on world languages and international business. With the 123 schools and programs at SFUSD, there are a wide variety of programs that can meet the different needs of students and their families.
- Rehabilitating the Schools for American for Disabilities Access under the Timetable of the Lopez Settlement. SFUSD does not have a great track record of getting capital projects done on time and within budget. But under the Lopez Settlement, schools that are not ADA accessible need to be in order to accomodate all of our students who want and deserve a quality education. This is why it is critical to pass the $450 million school bond measure on the November ballot. But Board of Educations needs to ensure that the District puts in place prior to the release of those capital funds, a set of procedures to ensure that the funds are being properly spent and that the job is being done in an efficient and timely manner.
- More Professional Development Dollars Need to Be Invested in Our Hardworking Certificated, Trade and Classified Staff. Currently, the District does not spend any funds on professional development for our outstanding child development staff. Only after hard negotiating for the current contract did our hardworking paraprofessionals receive just one professional development day a year. SFUSD is an educational institution and it needs to do a beter job in providing professional development funds to help its workers get more skills and succeed on their career ladder.
I have direct experience with each of our community stakeholders and can better relate to their concerns and needs.
My top and all encompassing priority is to achieve a balance within the Board so that the dignity of each person involved in the school district (students, paid staff and their representatives, parents, elected board members and all community partners) is acknowledged, respected and protected.
The Board must find a solid administrator with a positive track record in a like sized school district; one who has a firm understanding of the financial issues facing this district, a dedication to building and maintaining effective labor-management relationships and a solid background in class room education. The Board should be very involved in the formulation of policy, along with our other partners, and must monitor the implementation to ensure the agreed upon methods are adhered to.
I will strive to maximize learning opportunities for our students by improving the tools provided to the educators and support staff within our school sites. Our administrators, teachers, paraprofessionals, support personnel, cafeteria workers, custodians and other program staff are equal partners and must be included in decisions.
I will work with district staff to ensure all construction projects are properly budgeted, include project labor agreements and stay within the guidelines of state wage and hour requirements.
I've sent much of San Francisco life organizing parent and youth allies around issues that matter to community members. The folks that are supporting my campaign understand from years of work how to building momentum through coalition building and grass-roots collectivism and strategizing. I have the volunteer assistance of my fellow-Emerge Sisters graduating class of 2006, and other consultants volunteers via the Emerge CAT (Campaign Advisory Team), Mr. Claude Everhart (The Everhart Company and also a member of my church), Marsha Pendergrass (Pendergrass-Smith and also a member of my church ), the Democratic Leadership Network (via Emerge networking) and various community advisors (including woman mentors and clergy, school district administrators, teachers, parents and student leaders and supportive volunteers that I have met on the campaign trail).
I will rely upon my ties to many groups and communities, developed over many years.
One of my priorities if elected is to make the School Board more accessible to the community, and I am modeling that accessibility through my campaign. I am actively outreaching to many community-based organizations and parent groups throughout San Francisco in order to understand their concerns and needs. Also, members of my campaign include a broad spectrum of community and grassroots group members - parents, high school students, community activists, professionals, etc. I am utilizing the community organizing skills I have honed in my experience as the youth program director at the Chinatown Community Development Center and as a fellow at the Greenlining Institute to ensure the inclusion of the community in my decisions and policy making. I strongly feel that my campaign and my policies must be accountable to the community, which is why I have and will continue to make sure the voice of the community is represented.
We have been going to bus stops and transit stops. We have also been doing events-and will continue to do events at different spots throughout the City. We are also doing district merchant walks with community leaders at different neighborhoods throughout the City. We have a dedicated group of 100 volunteers who have helped collect enough signatures (1,101) to get on the ballot without having to pay the filing fee (the only school board campaign to have done that) and who have already done several successful outreach events.
I was the campaign manager for Sarah Lipson's School Board campaign and Mark Sanchez's re-election campaign. And even though we were outspent by all of the challengers and the other incumbents, we were able to win due to our grassroots campaigns.
I plan to include all current (and future) institutional partners who have endorsed my candidacy (Teachers, SEIU, Building Trades, Democratic Party and local clubs) as well as the parents of children I have worked with over the years. Many of the young people I worked with as children are now of voting age and have asked to be included in my campaign.
I am spending considerable time reaching out to various language communities who are stakeholders in the school district and will be working with them to create a targeted program.
I already have a "grassroots" and "community" campaign in place, with the help of San Francisco for Democracy I would love to expand this base.
Fiscal responsibility:
I was in the forefront of the Board in resisting and exposing the casual record keeping and outright malfeasance that occurred in the SFUSD during the late 90's.
I have been more willing to make hard decisions than some other Board members. For example: after weighing all options and impacts I voted to close several schools that were kept open by the majority, even though they were severely under-enrolled. One of those was subsequently closed on an emergency basis, another probably will be closed soon.
I am a proponent of values which embody the socially progressive (and fiscally responsible): grassroots democracy, ecological wisdom, social justice, nonviolence, decentralization, community-based economics, feminism, respect for diversity, global responsibility, and sustainability. I have worked to promote these values, both personally and through my involvement in various political committees. Most recently, I supported the current universal health care access plan co-authored by Supervisor Ammiano and Mayor Newsom that would serve approximately 82,000 uninsured and poor San Francisco residents with funding from the City and the business community. I have also worked to support reproductive rights issues (oppose Prop 73 11/05 and Prop 85 11/06), affordable housing and homelessness issues (affordable housing bonds in 2002 and 2004), and immigrants' rights issues (San Francisco Prop F in 2004).
- I am advocating for cuts within the Central Office. Their budget for 2006-07 has increased by 18%, while all of the schools' budgets were cut by 1%-which has meant layoff of educators and classified staff.
- I am advocating for funding cuts for outside consultants. Much of the work that the consultants do for the district, could be done less expensively by the talented individuals that we have in the school district.
- I am advocating for the District to increase its enrollment by working with nonprofit organizations to promote SFUSD to families with incoming kindergarteners and high school freshman. I am advocating that the District work with nonprofits to ask for their outreach coordinators to market the District's "hidden gem" schools and programs to get more students into the District's classrooms.
The amount of money raised in a campaign can be utilized in several ways I am committed to using my resources to increase the participation of young people in the political process and to stay on a positive message, declining any opportunities to create a negative campaign against any other candidates.
Because of my "grassroots" and "community" campaign, I solicit no money from big business or corporations. My funds come from individuals, who live in various communities throughout the city.
I've working in the accounting field for more than 18 years (primarily for law firms) reviewing budgets and funding/spending streams throughout that time. I'm also in the last 6 months of my M.B.A. in Finance, degreed near the end of 2006. I'm particularly interested in assessing the current funding that supports the district as well as re-prioritizing funds so that more go directly to the school site and classroom.
Additionally in my daily work with the Department on the Status of Women, in areas of Human Trafficking (via the Anti-Human Trafficking Education and Awareness Grant that I wrote for our Department) and with the SFUSD's Office of Equity Assurance to support the Compliance Order from the U.S. Office of Civil Rights. The SFUSD violated the Title IX compliance regarding sexual harassment monitoring and record-keeping. I have offered to the district created program using the 1999 S.L.A.S.H. (Student leaders Against Sexual Harassment) Curriculum in collaboration with CBOs already doing work in the school district. I am in the process of updating it because it will be suitable for teachers, administrators, students and other school staff.
Furthermore, after attending the Equal Justice Societies, beginning discussion regarding overturning Prop. 209, scheduled for the 2008 election, I am committed to working together with legislators, community members, parents and students to bringing Affirmative Action's policies and practices to the California landscape, which will support a more equitable distribution of funding and increase minority/female access into the University of California School Systems.
I believe that Prop 13 has seriously handicapped the ability of local school districts to be able to adequately fund for the services and other needs to be able to provide a quality education for our children (as well as other essential government services) through the capping of property tax revenues. I have several ideas on how we can offset the effects of Prop 13 locally to increase funding for schools:
- Lobby the State government (and the San Francisco delegation) for increased appropriations.
- Support the refinancing of bond monies allocated for facilities renovation.
- Build community support for a parcel tax.
- Create a voluntary $5.00 'check box' to support our schools for San Francisco taxpayers.
My opinion of Proposition 13 benefited senior citizens who are property owners but have a limited income. But Proposition 13 has been a huge blow on our educational system. California's education system made our state a destination for families who invested in our economy-and help to create it as the fifth strongest economy in the world.
But now, California is now 47th out of the 50 states in the nation with its spending per pupil for education. California's K-11 education system is struggling. So we are now having to cut essential programs such as music, arts and theater-classes that encourage the students to stay through general education classes.
I think that we need to pass a parcel tax to benefit our schools. I think that we should look at the state level and reduce the state's categorical funding and increase the state's general unrestricted funding to public school districts. With categorical funding, school districts have to fill out a series of paperwork-and then get reimbursed for their expenses. With categorical sources of funding, the district may not get its expenses reimbursed-due to changes within the program, miscommunication on the requirements between state and the school districts, and other bureaucratic challenges.
A parcel tax is now necessary to offset the wreckage of Prop 13. I hope the voters of SF can see that we must fully fund our system.
Prop 13 was real bad for education. Bond measures and Parcel Tax might be a way to offset its effects.
I want to say here and now, that I will always be on the frontlines challenging and working towards ways to undo the harmful aspects of Proposition 13, that ensured the under funding California's School by allowing corporations to avoid paying into the revenue tax base that funds public schools. I will use all my resources to strongly advocate for a parcel tax, with no strings attached (no merit pay) for school workers and develop public bonds that better support our schools. I will also work with the school unions and parents to reprioritize the limited funds the district has to better support our students and the people who work closely with them. When cuts are necessary they should be made as far from the classroom as possible. Working more closely with city departments and community organizations and bringing SFUSD classroom spending levels up to at least the requirements of law. Consultants and private interest should be cut first, especially when they are doing the job we should be paying our workers to do.
Prop 13 has had devastating effects on the state budget and on the human services, including schools, that traditionally are funded locally. This shift of fiscal responsibility to the state has led to decreased services and decreased local autonomy. Moreover, the locked-in real estatevaluel for taxation has created a skewed tax structure and contributes to the unbalanced real estate values now found throughout the state.
It is still unlikely that a repeal or judicial overturn will undo Prop 13, since its buzz-word image is still one of taxpayer emancipation.
We have had success in crafting some relief with the passage of Prop 39, which allows school bonds to pass with a 55% majority rather than the 67% required by Prop 13.
Perhaps we can expand the Prop 39 model to other taxes for vital local services.
[Hydra's submission to the San Francisco for Democracy questionaire did not respond directly to the numbered questions, so it could not be collated by question like the other responses. It is copied here in its entirety.]
Hydra Mendoza is a strong advocate and supporter of public education. She is a product of public schools, a parent of two children in public schools, a former preschool teacher and an education advisor.
Hydra has been a co-chair of her children's school site council, Vice-President of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and an active classroom volunteer. Hydra's experience as an education advisor, has given her the opportunity to serve as a community member and parent on key policy changing committees for the San Francisco Unified School District, which includes Weighted Student Formula, Student Assignment Task Force, and the Public Education Leadership Project, which is an innovative joint effort of the Harvard School of Business and Graduate School of Education.
Hydra is the former Executive Director and a founding member of Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco, a national organization who engages parents and community members to support, promote and improve public education. Under her leadership, Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco successfully moved towards greater reform in parent involvement, recruitment and enrollment, student health and nutrition, school site council's, and language immersion programs.
For the past 10 years, Hydra's work in education has afforded her the knowledge to intimately understand the inter-workings of public schools and how they can best serve our children. In 2005, Hydra was appointed as Mayor Gavin Newsom's Education Advisor and Liaison to the San Francisco Unified School District. Hydra's work allows her to build a strong partnership between the School District and the City.
Hydra has served as vice-chair of the mandatory school bond oversight committee, which oversees the District's capital improvement projects. She served on the steering committee for the successful passage of Proposition A (2003), a $295 million facilities bond and Proposition H (2004), which brings additional support to our students for art, music, sports, librarians and universal preschool.
Hydra has been invited to speak on key educational policies ranging from parent engagement to school governance on panels for State and National organizations and school institutions such as the California Council of Parent Participatory Nursery Schools, Teach for America, San Francisco State University, Senator John Burton's staff and Hawaii Unified School District. In 2005, she was honored with the Parent of the Year Award from the California Association for Bilingual Education.
Hydra is married to Dr. Ricardo Alvarez, a family practice physician who has a non-profit HIV/AIDS clinic in San Francisco's Mission District. They live in the Bernal Heights neighborhood with their two children, Ashoka and Santiago.
