Poetic SOS Letter to Governor Schwarzenegger

My Letter to the Governor:

February 9th, 2005
School Funding Crisis MDUSD


Dear Governor Schwarzenegger:

My name is Sherry Williams and I am a parent of 2 children who attend public schools in Concord, California. I am writing to you today because I would like to schedule a few minutes of your time to meet with you or at least speak to you on the phone. I do not represent any organized group. I am not a teacher; I am not a politician; I am not in the media business; I am not a member of any union nor do I work for the school district. I am just a full-time homemaker and an active parent volunteer. I am registered as a Democrat but that really isn't for any particular reason as I vote based on issues and I voted for you in the recall election.

As a parent, it is almost impossible to understand all of the information being disseminated by the media, politicians, unions, etc. on school issues. However, as a parent, I can tell you how it is impacting my children firsthand. My children attend school in the Mount Diablo Unified School District. One is a 5th grader at Monte Gardens Elementary School in Concord; the other is an 8th grader at Sequoia Middle School in Pleasant Hill. I believe that my children's education is extremely important and I try to spend as much time as possible helping my children to get a good education. I drive all over creation to do this, by the way, as both of my children attend alternative public schools. I spend a lot of time helping my children with their homework; I am involved in their schools; and, I jump into other volunteer activities when I see a need.

I was recently motivated to "jump into" this issue because of the severe cuts facing our District. After my first school board meeting, I sent e-mails informing everyone I could think of about the situation in MDUSD. I felt that if the meeting had been this alarming to me and I was fairly involved, then there were probably a lot of other people who didn't know about the issues either.

As a result of this networking, I ended up being told by another parent about your visit to Mt. Diablo High School this past Monday. She heard about your visit on Sunday evening and contacted several of us who decided to get together and speak up (something I'd never done before). I was with a group of parents, most of whom I'd just met, who were similarly motivated due to the dire circumstances in our district. Here's a photo of us. You can see that we are all just concerned Moms and Dads who want what's best for our children. I'm the Mom with the "Our Schools Need $" sign.

Concord parents support fully funding Prop 98

Our district is and has been financially strapped for funds for a long time. Every year, parents provide pens, pencils, markers, Kleenex, paper towels, antibacterial soap, paper, etc. and contribute money for music, art, science, field trips, the Parent Clubs, and many other items. I also know that our dedicated teachers often spend their own money to buy supplies for their classrooms. Our school facilities are old and in need of repair and upgrading.

This year, MDUSD has reached a crisis point. The district must cut 4 million dollars to stay fiscally sound. Programs facing cuts directly impact my children and include librarians, music programs, and many, many, more items. It is important to note that these cuts come on top of many, many, years of bare bones operations in the MDUSD district. I was shocked to find when researching into high schools for next year that the High Schools in our district have NOT been able to afford counselors for many years. Since Concord is a fairly affluent, middle-class neighborhood in California, I can only imagine how the circumstances must be in other less affluent areas.

Reading the newspaper, it's very difficult to know who is right and who is wrong about the funding the state is giving the schools. This is further complicated by the federal government's role in funding and the many new programs that our schools must comply with but do not necessarily receive additional/sufficient funding for (STAR testing, No Child Left Behind, high school exit exams).

I am actually to the point that I don't really care who promised what to whom and when. I just want the schools to get enough funding to keep what programs we do still have left and then, start improving. I have heard that California per pupil funding is almost at the bottom in the nation (44th). Our district feels that if the promises were kept that were made under Prop. 98, we would have about 3 million dollars more coming to us. That would sure help with the 4 million dollar shortfall our district is facing!!!

I know that you are a very busy man but I sincerely hope that you will be able to at least spare a small amount of your time to speak to me and possibly a few of my friends. California needs to make children their very TOP priority and we need to do this by providing the funding that our schools need.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Sherry Williams, One Mom from Concord
E-Mail: PoeticSOS@aol.com


cc: Senator Dianne Feinstein
Senator Barbara Boxer
Assemblyman for your District
Representative for your District
State Senator for your District
Your School's Superintendent
................................................................

I removed the list of addresses for elected officials from my note.
Instead, addresses of your elected officials can be found at the
following link by entering your address information:

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