As the proud father of five grown children, all of whom attended public schools and have since graduated college, I am witness to the great potential of the California school system. But chronic deficits and neglect have led to slashed government funding for our most precious resource. Today, California consistently ranks in the bottom for per-pupil spending.

Classrooms are over-crowded, teachers are underpaid, and our state still does not provide a reasonable, public pre-school program for all. Finally, the most recent spate of budget cuts has made higher education even more expensive. Like healthcare, the solution is reasonably simple. What we have lacked is willpower and leadership. Our state needs to properly fund K-12 and higher education so we can return California’s schools to the top in the county.

We must ensure that each school has the materials and resources necessary for students to learn. We must engage parents and guardians in their children’s education. College bound students must be able to afford the college of their choice and have access to low-cost student loans. We must pay our teachers a living wage. And we must not forget that without our custodians, teaching assistants, secretaries, staff, and administrators, our schools would not be capable of meeting their great responsibility.

We should not be asking our children to shoulder the cost of inefficiency in Sacramento. Rather than pushing off our state deficit onto the next generation, we must give them every opportunity to thrive in a global economy. Rather than mortgaging the future for today, we must today invest in the future.

In the Assembly, I will support:
• Restoring education funding lost to Governor Schwarzenegger’s draconian budget cuts.
• Funding our UC and CSU system so our state has the best university system in the country
   and our students can afford to go to it.
• Increased funding for after school programs, extra-curricular programs and alternative education
   programs.
• Paying teachers a living wage