FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY AND TRANSPARENCY

School budgets and school funding is an ongoing challenge and requires careful, competent and transparent oversight. As an MBA graduate with a background in finance, I understand budgets, cash inflows and outflows, and budget projections. I want to make sure that expenses are necessary and incurred for a good cause. Many can easily enumerate what they think needs to be done in the county school districts. In life, many may want a Tesla for all the right reasons but settle on a different car because it is what their budget can afford. 

Creating a balance between cash inflow and cash outflow is a challenge.  It is important to look at budgets from the top level and then dissect each specific area that can be enhanced or minimized. Prioritizing needs and demands and making conscious decisions on matters that we may be passionate about but truly lack funding for is difficult. Board members need to make fiscally responsible decisions.  We need to be sure to live within our means and always keep the current and future financial health of Marin County Office of Education in mind.

This fiscal function is an area where I can bring strong skills and expertise. 

THE BEST TEACHERS AND STAFF FOR OUR SCHOOLS

It is essential that Marin schools work actively to recruit and retain the highest quality teachers and staff members for our schools.  There is a need to provide competitive wages so teachers can live in Marin and not have to start class stressed because they are commuting from the far-reaching counties where they can afford to live. It is also important to recognize that while staff members may not be teaching children in a classroom environment, they interact with children. That positive interaction can have such a profound impact on a child’s own way of interacting with people from childhood on into adulthood. 

We must continue to promote careers in education as positive and fulfilling work that is essential to the well-being of our community. We need to expand programs like Education Pathways in our high schools that will encourage education careers and that will “home grow” teachers that reflect the growing ethnic diversity and richness of Marin.  We need to expand programs for classified school employees who wish to return to school to earn a teaching credential and expand successful efforts to recruit and train para-professionals who are essential employees in our schools.  We need to be an engaged partner with post-secondary education institutions and work with them to create an educator pipeline that will be accessible to all.

I support MCOE’s work with community partners to create affordable housing opportunities for school teachers and staff.  Positive work is underway with the Oak Hill development. More similar projects need to follow.

SAFE SCHOOLS AND HEALTHY STUDENTS

The health and safety of the children we serve is our highest priority. Violence on school campuses, drug and alcohol use, mental health issues – these challenges can happen in schools anywhere, and they are happening in Marin schools.   It takes community-wide efforts to keep our schools safe.  We need to support and continue to strengthen ongoing projects that deal with mental health. This includes training students, who are most likely the first to hear or see signs of another student in distress. We need to strengthen our message to the students that they are not alone. They have a voice. They can reach out to us and trust us.

I support the work that MCOE and its partners have done to develop a responsive and effective system mobilizing law enforcement, health partners and community agencies through the Marin School Law Enforcement Partnership.  As a board member, I will strongly support MCOE’s role as the lead for all schools, public and private, with Emergency Services and Public Health.  MCOE’s very capable leadership for our schools during the COVID pandemic shows that this is a model that is working!

Our schools must continue to partner with health leaders to expand education, prevention, and intervention to address substance abuse and the opioid epidemic.   Many students were experiencing mental health challenges pre-pandemic, and for many, those issues have increased during COVID-19. I support MCOE’s role as a leader of the Marin Wellness Collaborative, which brings together health partners and school leaders to provide expanded resources for teachers and students and will strongly support other similar programs.

EDUCATION EQUITY AND EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Early education childcare is very important to me. I have spoken to countless people (newlyweds, new parents, and families who may want to have more kids) and unequivocally, the one common response is “no kids” or “just one kid” because daycare is so expensive. Many parents become so happy when their child finally goes to kindergarten and on to higher education because they no longer need to pay for childcare. A child’s education does not start at kindergarten age. It starts from birth and a child’s brain development is fastest in the first five years of life. We need to strengthen our childcare system and make it not such a financial burden to the parents. Perhaps, this would lead us to have a stronger family system.

As a board member I would actively support efforts to address and eliminate the equity gaps in our community, especially in education.  I believe that high quality early childhood education programs provide a key answer to bridging the gap.  As a single mother, I know firsthand the importance of quality childcare and early childhood education.  Childcare allowed me to work, which was vitally important as I was the only wage earner for my family.  High quality early childhood education programs for all children is proven to be a key factor for success in school and in life.  I know this because I saw the impact these programs had on my own child. 

I support efforts working to make this a reality for all children.  MCOE implements and manages a $1 million grant for quality early childhood education, providing support and services that will be expanding in the areas of our community where it is needed most and where there are the most children currently not enrolled in quality programs.  

 ADDRESSING SOCIAL AND RACIAL INEQUITIES

Social and racial inequities are problems that are not inherent to just Marin schools. It is also something that is not just isolated to the educational system. There are deep rooted factors that have led to social and racial inequities. We only have to look back at our history and we can see how inequities became a part of society. I was a divorced mother who raised my daughter alone since she was 16 months, amidst challenges of surviving in Marin’s high-income environment. I am a woman from the Philippines who was married to an American. Throughout our struggles, what has been most important to me was my daughter’s overall welfare. I had to make sure that the fact that we did not have a lot of money did not negatively affect my daughter’s feelings of self-worth. I saw the school system as a partner in her educational and personal values development. The result is an individual who is well-balanced and sees the values in people for what and who they are and not what they own. This is sometimes difficult for our current society, which equates success and happiness with bank accounts, nice homes, nice cars, fancy vacations, and high paying jobs. Now that she is on her own, I would like to use that passion for the greater population.

HEALTHY FOOD PROGRAM

I believe that a healthy food program is a top priority especially since for some children, they may get a major portion of their daily meal from the school’s food program. In a well-off county like Marin, no child should be hungry or be deprived of the health benefits received from good food.