Make Your Voice Heard for Education

Spring is here, the birds are singing and our allergies are kicking in again. For most of you, that means that the summer break is almost here and your children will be out of school and off playing with their friends. However for elected officials such as myself, the beginning of summer is the time that we have to make the difficult decisions needed to balance the budget. Here at Santa Clara County, we are facing at a minimum, $250 million in cuts. But that is not all that scares me. In addition, millions of dollars in cuts that our schools, the future of our children, are facing.

Last year when I took a group of over 100 local residents up to Sacramento to lobby for school funding, the worry was that sports, art and music programs, and other enrichment programs would be cut to save money. However this year, the situation has become even more dire. As the State is trying to balance its budget, the school districts are sending out layoff notices and proposals are coming out to increase class sizes. I am already hearing from our local schools that many are being forced to increase their class sizes to 30 students or more! As a former school board trustee, I know first hand how important it is to maintain appropriate class sizes so that our wonderful teachers can ensure that all students receive quality education.

With that in mind, I would like to invite you to participate in this year's 8th Annual Sacramento Bus Trip, co-sponsored by the Silicon Valley Education Foundation and join me in personally speaking with our state legislators to remind them how important it is to maintain school funding for our children's future. If your child is in a public school, if you work in a public school, or even just know a parent or child in the public school system, I urge you to make your voice heard in Sacramento. Last year we were joined by over 100 people, including 10 youth from the East Side Union High School District. Their heartfelt pleas to protect our schools from the devastating cuts were painful to listen to but very important because it gave the state legislators direct and personal insight into our needs locally in Santa Clara County.   

This year's trip will take place on Monday, May 17th, and as in years past, there is no cost to participate. We will board the bus at 6:00 am from a location in San Jose and once we arrive in Sacramento, we'll take over a committee room in the State Capitol Building for a series of intense discussions with Assembly Members and Senators. Lunch will be provided FREE and attendees will be fully briefed on the topics for the day.

As an added encouragement, we will be offering a "participating organization" status to any community group that pledges to send five or more members on the bus trip. Participating organizations will be featured on all trip literature and in our correspondence to the legislators.

Furthermore, this year, we are adding a whole new dimension by hosting a pre-bus trip Educational Summit to discuss issues related to state budgeting for education and the impact that funding cuts have had on our schools. This summit is for both those of you who will be taking the bus to Sacramento and also for those who cannot make it on the bus, but would still like to make your voice heard by creating a foundation for our discussions in Sacramento. This summit will take place May 13th from 6:00 to 8:00 pm in the Isaac Newton Senter Auditorium at the County Government Center and I hope you will consider attending. 

If you would like more information or would like to sign up to participate in one or both of these events, please visit http://www.supervisorcortese.org and click on the Sacramento Bus Trip page or call my office at (408) 299-5030 for details. In order to ensure we have enough transportation, an RSVP is required to attend.

I am looking forward to another successful trip that will make a difference for our schools. In addition to making our concerns known to our state delegation, this trip is an excellent opportunity for residents to establish relationships with the state elected leadership as well as with fellow education supporters from around the county. I truly believe that we must ensure that our schools provide our children the best possible education so that they can grow up to be our future leaders. I encourage you to join me in that mission and get on the bus to Sacramento.

As always, my office is open to you. If you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to contact me at dave.cortese@bos.sccgov.org or by phone at (408) 299-5030.