I am pleased to announce my candidacy for San Bernardino County Board of Education Area B, representing the school district areas of Upland, Central, Alta Loma, Etiwanda, Mt. Baldy Joint, Ontario and Montclair. I decided to run because I think we need to take our government back to the people. I believe that parents are the primary educator of their children and the educational systems should supplement and not supplant a parent’s role. As a parent of three children, I am very concerned with the current state of education in our country, state and especially in San Bernardino county. The drop out rate for our county is an astonishing 22.5%. That means one out of five students drop out of high school and do not receive an education. The lack of education is estimated to cost the state $1.1 Billion dollars annually and is directly related to juvenile crime. A Rand Corporation study shows the California k-12 school system has fallen from a national leader 30 years ago to near the bottom. The children are our future and it concerns me that this great nation may be losing our competitive edge.
I support community involvement at all levels of government. As public servants we are elected to serve, not to dictate. When leaders become complacent and apathetic and allow unnecessary bureaucracy, the community suffers. I want to help ensure fiscal accountability and common sense spending in these tough economic times. School safety, increased career and college readiness for all students and providing educators with the proper tools to close the achievement gap, are issues facing our schools. Education is everybody’s business and partnering with local, state and national leaders as well as the private and faith based communities is key to ensuring successful outcomes for our children.
Education is a key aspect of our future. Education enables an individual to achieve better opportunities in life, to compete for better jobs, and most importantly to understand and assert our rights in a democracy. Education is the legacy I leave my children and I want to ensure transparency and accountability in the agencies that provide this service. I take my responsibilities seriously, as a legal immigrant from Cuba, a country where government controls every aspect of an individual’s life, the liberties we enjoy in our country are especially precious to me. I want to help ensure that our children learn about these liberties and also appreciate the great price that was paid by many people, dating back to our founding fathers and presently to our service men and women, to live in a democracy. Education is at the core of passing on this knowledge to our future generations.
