Education Plank

General Preamble

California’s education system was once the envy of America.  Thirty years ago K-12 schools were among the best funded in the country the California Master Plan for Higher Education made our community colleges, our California State Universities and our University of California institutional systems examples of academic excellence throughout the world.  California’s K-12 level is now ranked at 47th out of 50 states in educational funding and we are the only state in the nation to spend more on prison funding than on higher education, despite a projected shortage of more than one million college graduates by 2025.

Ventura educators are the bulwark of democracy in our county and help to create equal opportunity for all to achieve social and economic mobility in our society, providing a pathway to restore the California Dream. But our institutions of public education are in great trouble as funding has been severely cut teachers and school employees are vilified as parasitic public employees and scape goated by extreme political opportunists who want to crush public service professionals and blame them for the fiscal crises in California.

“By abandoning public education, we are destroying something for which our country is universally admired — a healthy democracy. Democracy does not work, however, without the systems that foster equal opportunity, equity and social justice.” (Ventura County Unified School Board Member Mary Haffner, Ventura County Star, May 5, 2011)

To help educate Ventura County’s young leaders for the 21st century we espouse these Democratic values:

Statement of Principles

• Fully support the K-12 funding necessary for a tuition free, fully accessible and equitable world-class public education that will meet the challenges of a globally interconnected world. In addition, we believe that postsecondary education must be available and affordable to all eligible and qualified students;
  
• Invest in per student funding at above the national average to guarantee our commitment to excellence in our schools and provide for the employment of dedicated and professionally skilled individuals and the acquisition of material resources and thereby improve California’s long-term economic viability and competitiveness in the 21st century;
  
• Support majority, as opposed to super-majority, voter passage for school bonds in order to guarantee the necessary funding for our goal of high quality education;
  
• Ensure teachers have the professional skills necessary to instruct in all content areas, including math, science, English, history, social studies, health, physical education, and foreign languages.  That all schools are assessed through multiple means that are valid and reliable for all students; and have the resources they need to be prepared for postsecondary education, career technical education, and active citizenship in the 21st century; 
  
• Provide linguistically and culturally relevant educational opportunities so that our diverse students can draw upon their knowledge and experience as their factual learning increases and they master essential skills; 
  
• Ensure adequate preparation of students and affordable access to career technical education, community college, and university-level education without incurring long-term heavy loan burdens, including opportunities for lifetime learning (adult education, job training) and career retraining to enable all Californians to succeed in the global economy;
  
• Reevaluate reforms and standard testing methods (not just standard testing) and resources to close the achievement gap, with specific emphasis on critical thinking skills. 
  
• Support practices to aid more effectively English learners, students coming from generations of poverty, and special populations.
  
• Support ‘good faith’ collective bargaining (as practiced under National Labor Relations Board) on terms of and conditions of employment for teachers, support staff and custodians;
  
• Support multiple means and local input of evaluating efficacy of administrators, teachers, schools, and districts;
  
• Support health education with comprehensive, age-appropriate sex education designed to help stem the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies;
  
• Empower students to take ownership for their education and engage in the civic process;
  
• Ensure educators include critical thinking skill development and real world problem solving processes that recognize character development in students;
  
• Ensure that teachers are well compensated, have opportunities for professional growth, and are able to work in safe learning environments within modern facilities with access to up to date curricular materials and technology for their students;
  
• Ensure that accountability measures for both traditional and charter schools are held to the same standards; and
  
• Engage family, civic organizations, and involved adults wherever possible in the educational process to create learning experiences.