2 CITY
10.05.11
CCSF STUDENTS HOST COMMUNITY INFORUM
SAN FRANCISCO MAYORAL RACE
CANDIDATES FACE SF EDUCATION WOES
| GOLDENGATEXPRESS.ORG
With funding for education constantly subject to cuts, mayoral candidates say they will do what they can to help.
Candidates tackle issues from transportation to education to facilitate political discussion between students and create topic awareness. lcarmack@mail.sfsu.edu
Mayoral candidates appeared at City College of San Francisco cassbeck@mail.sfsu.edu
W
ing to the California Budget Project. The
hile each candidate for mayor of San Francisco has a general idea of how to handle education woes in the city, few candidates have a solid plan of how to deal with the issue of funding for education, the root of the problem. District) get it worse than the universities... at least the universities can raise tuition. We can’t raise money,” said SFUSD Superintendent Carlos Garcia. “It’s just unfortunate that... we say we value education but we don’t put our money where our mouth is.” The state legislature has consistently reduced funding for education throughout the
“The reality is that we are going to have do this, but isn’t the future worth it?” Garcia said. “How short-sighted could we be that we’re not willing to invest in our own future?” In the meantime, the reduced funding has taken its toll on higher education at SF State, and some students hope that the new mayor will be able to help. “More focus on education for sure, I think that would be the biggest necessity,” said student at SF State. Her biggest hope for the energy into advocating for education. Wright wants the mayor to “focus on not allowing re-
has no direct control over the budget and its implementation, the position does allow the mayor to propose a budget to the Board of Supervisors. The mayor can
44
th
advocate certain priorities for the government. “The mayor doesn’t have direct responsibility over education,” said District a mayor with a lot of education connections.” Some mayoral candidates, including -
As of the 2009-2010 fiscal year, California was 44th in the nation in general funding per student in K-12 education alone, according to the website Close the Loophole.
tion alone, according to Close the Loophole, -
Dennis Herrera, believe they can make a change by simply making the mayor the primary supporter for education. “I believe the mayor should be the chief education advocate for the city and thinking about public schools and how to improve them in relation to job creation, in relation to community, in relation to safety and security tion is her “moment of obligation” and the reason she is running for mayor.
community colleges. Yet, the budget continues to get slashed.
to reduce the number of school days, increase class sizes and reduce or eliminate summer school. -
$6.3
BILLION
Between the 2007-2008 and 2009-2010 fiscal years, annual state funding for schools K-12 has decreased by $6.3 billion.
ing for higher education and affordable housing in the city.
already limited funnel into higher education.”
year, California was 44th in the nation in
its the amount of money the state can receive
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believes in focusing primarily on the SFUSD; both Chiu and Yee believe that the mayor should be the primary advocate for increased funding for education. Yee has a track record in the state Senate of opposing tuition increases for students and has consistently advocated for increased education funding. chi want to use private sector and business involvement to integrate private and public schools, and work with businesses to get internships for students. internship programs with private sector companies to facilitate the transition from school to work for students in our schools,” Ultimately Garcia thinks it’s up to the students to make the change. “We stand up to the governor, the legislature and we say ‘Hey what you’re doing is wrong,’ but it can’t be done with single voices,” Garcia said. “It has to be done with everybody caring enough to walk, to talk Lisa Carmack contributed to this report.
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Smith, who helped facilitate the forum, felt it would provide a unique opportunity for students to be involved in local politics. “We’re hoping to educate the students and encourage them to be a part of our democracy,” Smith said. Several students in attendance were there to get information as part of a class. Broadcasting student Tom Morrow admitted he didn’t know much about the role of the mayor in city politics. “I know a little (about the mayor),” Morrow said. “I think he’s got a lot of politics, and really very little power,” the forum was overall a success. “It was informative for the students and it will help them make decisions about who they’ll be voting for,” Fang said.
dents, organized the forum and delegated the questions to candifor each round. Time was split into four sets of questions along with a ten minute intermission for a CCSF student video. However, due to long-winded and convoluted answers from the candidates, the intermission and closing statements were skipped. Smith thought imposed time constraints demonstrated which candidates fully understood the issues. how several candidates had trouble coming up with succinct and appropriate answers to the students’ questions.
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Some candidates were concerned with restoring jobs in the struggling San Francisco economy. jobs in the last two years.” said President of the Board of Supervisors David Chiu. defender, told the room that the best way to encourage the growth of business would be through Proposition B, which would provide legislation to create micro loans. “That way we can invest in your future and you can choose the kind of
The conversation was civil, aside from the occasional overlapping ideas and candidates clarifying that they too PRESIDENT OF have supported an issue when another THE BOARD OF said he or she was the “only one” who SUPERVISORS had taken previous actions. When improving Muni was brought up, Chiu asserted that he was a stakeholder in the issue and had dealt with the shortcomings of public transportation. Muni,” Chiu said.
responded in good humor on the subject. “I’m going to be the mayor that makes sure that David Chiu and Wilma Pang have a bus when they need it,” Yee said. didates were asked how they would ensure that all students in San Francisco have access to a quality education. but “There’s very that little a mayor can do to affect education.” University, said that addressing the issue of education was her “moment of obligation” and took this as an opportunity to discuss future. Whether it be through creating jobs or prioritizing education, candidates emphasized the importance of the students sitting in front of them. “The overall interest of students was good,” Fang said. “They were sitting and listening the whole time.”