Alameda Education Foundation

As our school district faces a potential budget reduction from Sacramento of $4.5 million in the coming fiscal year, it is imperative that we act to ensure that our schools can continue operating as they have - immediately.

Recently, I joined a growing list of local citizens endorsing Measure H - the parcel tax on the ballot June 3^rd. I am happy to report that the Executive Committee of the Alameda Education Foundation has voted, unanimously, to endorse it as well.

Why? If we do not want to lose class size reduction, advanced placement classes, high school athletics, elementary music and so much more - we must pass Measure H in Alameda. If we want to maintain local control of our schools by avoiding state take-over - we must pass Measure H in Alameda. If we want the time to really investigate how to organize our schools to be the best they can be - we must pass Measure H in Alameda.

There is no other option for staving off these cuts for the coming school year than Measure H. It alone can guarantee our community $4 million in revenue for our schools over the next four years.

When there is a crisis a community must prioritize. We at the AEF have endorsed Measure H because it is the first thing that must be done in order to help our schools. Do not be lulled into thinking otherwise.

Advocacy, individual fundraising efforts, even the Foundation itself - as vital as they all are, as well orchestrated as the efforts may be– - cannot generate $4 million in time for the fall.

Once Measure H is passed (and only then), the Foundation will be able to work to innovate programs, bring back programs that have been lost in other budget reductions, and expand the educational opportunities our students have in Alameda.

Part of those continuing efforts will be in advocacy - using what Alameda has been through to challenge a state funding structure that is inherently flawed, inequitable, and misguided. You will never see me rest on this.

But first?

First, this community must pass Measure H. And the community can only pass Measure H if all of us - and that truly means all of us - volunteer to make calls and walk the precincts with Keep Alameda Schools Excellent (which runs the Measure H campaign).

It’s not enough, in other words, to simply say, “Sure, I’ll vote Yes,” and assume others in the community will do the work to make sure other Alamedans will also vote Yes. We all have to work to make this parcel tax pass - or it may not pass at all.

At the triage desk in an emergency room, medical personnel take care of the most urgent matters first. The State of California has handed us an emergency. I ask that you do what you can to respond, believing as we do at the AEF, that “Public education is too valuable to throw away!”