I am running for the Santa Barbara County School Board District #4 because I believe it is time for a fresh set of eyes, ears, and ideas on the board. I am in a three-way race with Roberta Heter and Jim Richardson in a district that extends from a small part of Ventura County to San Luis Obispo County, includes the Santa Ynez Valley, sections of Lompoc, Guadalupe, Santa Maria, and unincorporated areas nearby.
Perhaps this public entity, the County School Board, is unfamiliar to many because it turns out that the incumbents for the County School Board were appointed by the former County Superintendent of Schools and unopposed for almost a generation. I have not seen these school board seats on my ballot for 21 years. The more I reviewed this public agency, that did its best to stay out of the public eye, the more intrigued I became. This county school board oversees 22 school districts, 72,000 students. What do the incumbents have to show for a $58 million budget? I want to know how the SBCEO serves our students and how the public’s money is budgeted and allocated to our county school districts?
Unfortunately, the school board incumbents have watched our schools decline, to the point where we are now witnessing a generation of kids from this county who are graduating without the academic or vocational skills necessary to succeed in the workplace or life. The pandemic will only make matters worse.
