Why I'm running and why I need your support.

By Gloria Hom

I am running because I feel that Byron Sher has failed us. Time has passed Byron Sher by, and his 1960's way of looking at problems is wrong for the 21st Century.

Let me tell you why I am a candidate and why I would like to have your support in my campaign for the State Senate. To understand my desire to serve in public office you need to know about Mike Sloan.

Mike signed up for an Economics class at Mission College, where I teach. He was having trouble passing the course. It wasn't that he was not smart, but he read and wrote poorly and was terrible in math.

I called him into my office. Before I could say anything, he knew what I was about to say, because he had been failing other classes. Mike told me how angry he was because he was shortchanged by a system of education that failed him.

Mike said that he was born and raised in Santa Clara and graduated from Santa Clara Unified School District. He was just passed along, from grade to grade because his teachers were not committed. As he got older it got harder for him to catch up.

I have been in the classroom for over twenty years, and the number of Mikes' has increased at an alarming rate in recent years. Mikes transcend color, racial, age and gender lines.

As a member of the State Board of Education for six years, then later on the California State University Board, I tried to better understand what was the cause and what can we do to better our schools. What we need are good teachers and appropriate curriculum, good classrooms, and good equipment and good Internet connections.

My conclusion was that it was the politicians in Sacramento that prevented good teachers from doing a good job.

Do you realize that because of the politicians in Sacramento, our children have the shortest school year? If you count the number of hours our children spend in school, our kids spend less than the rest of the country by a year and a half. In other words, our children finish their school years by Thanksgiving of the junior year.

We are reducing the size of classrooms, but we must do more to retrofit our classrooms.

In terms of good equipment and instructional materials, we should exempt our schools from having to pay sales tax on books and materials. This would increase the purchasing power of our school budgets by 8.5%.

Byron Sher has been in the legislature for twenty years and serves on the education committee. Education standards have not gotten better but worst.

That is why I am running for the Senate.

But the story about Mike does not end here.

Mike and I became friends. We talk often. Today he works at a job that pays $12.75 an hour in the warehouse of a high tech company.

He would like to move out of his parent's home, but cannot afford the rent. He could move in with his girlfriend, but then he would have to make a life decision prematurely.

Besides - on their joint income they would have to move out of the area and commute into the area. The amount they would be spending on the road and for gas would be prohibitive. With traffic at a stand still in this valley, more pollution is added to the environment.

I realize that the responsibility for land use, density and much of transportation is a local issue. As a legislator, I would never push things down their throats, but if our local officials do not respond to constituents they would be hearing from me. I would do everything to get more housing and have incentives to build residential dwellings.

What is the commitment of our teachers, parents, policy makers and the State of California? We say we are committed but are we?

I am running because I feel that Byron Sher has failed us. Time has passed Byron Sher by, and his 1960's way of looking at problems is wrong for the 21st Century.

I am a better fit for the district because I live here, work here, shop at our markets and drive on our freeways. I listen to the concerns of hundreds of my students each year, listen to their dreams and aspirations, and feel their pain when they are disappointed in the system and disappointed in an uncommitted government.

I am a fiscal conservative, moderate in social issues and sensitive to environmental issues. This district is historically Republican, and I follow in the footsteps of Marz Garcia, Becky Morgan and Tom Campbell.

This district is accustomed to a high quality of representation. It deserves active, creative and intelligent solutions to our everyday problems. This is the moment to make that change.

Time has passed Byron Sher by, and his 1960's way of looking at problems is wrong for the 21st Century. Join the Hom Team to bring 21st Century solutions to our problems today.