Candidate for
Board of Education; County of San Francisco

Jill Wynns' Philosophy of Public Eduation

I believe that public education is the foundation and the engine of American democracy. I have a framed postcard on my office wall. It is a gift I once gave to my oldest son and rescued from his possessions when he left California after graduated from college. It says "Democracy Is Not A Spectator Sport". I use it as an inspiration and motivater as I remind myself why it is important for me to engage the battle every day. I regret that it is a battle to be fought. It is shocking that there are people in America, even in influential posiitons, that will actually say that public schools are a failed experiment and that we need to recognize that only competition and business principles are effective strategies to make any public or private endeavor effective. Yes, in my naivite I think that there are "truths" that are "self-evident"; I expect all Americans to see the inherent value in public schools and in the public accountability inbedded in democratic governance.

What does the "foundation of American democracy" mean? To me it means that the values that are embedded in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are implemented through public schools. "All men are created equal", that they have "inaleinable rights", "equal protection", and "justice for all". We have not yet reached these ideals, but we can strive for them and see them played out at their best in public schools. That is the job of school board members, to make sure that the poliicies of the District, including the budget and spending plans, advance our American ideals.

That is why I am passionate about public schools. Go into any public school and see the faces of America, especially public schools in San Francisco. Listen to the aspirations of the youngest Americans. They want what we all want, the opportunity to be their best. They will do more than their part; they will work hard to learn and to achieve. We owe them the chance to do their best; we should be working hard to make it easier for them.

For me this means funding public schools generously. The richest country in the world has the resources to provide qualified and well-compensated teachers, modern, healthy and attractive learning environments, plentiful supplies and equipment and generous support services for its children. We should be feeding every child in school nutritious and appetizing meals. Every school should have nursing, social work and family support services.

We have reams of research proving that the more parents are involved in their children's education, the more successful their children are likely to be in school. Only recently have we seen any real investments in support for parents in schools. This is among the most American of school values-parent involvement in schools.

Recently, we have seen significant changes in how decisions are made in schools. Finally, we have proof that schools that make their own decisions and use an inclusive process to reach those decisions, are likely to make better decisions and have more success. I absolutely support and encourage these efforts, like the Weighted-Student Formula and Site-Based Decision-Making.

Recent efforts to drive education policy from Sacramento and Washington have tended to elevate the role of testing and to allow the federal government to control public education, even though they do not fund education and have not even fully funded their own mandates on schools. These developments have underminded the sense of local responsibility for schools and should be vigorously opposed. School board members in a Prop 13 world must actively participate in advocacy and fight for funding and local authority. It is not enough to say that we need more money, it is not enough to say "we should organize". We have had more than two decades of underfunding in California. We need people who have proven that they will do the work of fighting for schools, not that they just thought of it and that no one has ever before. That's my real philosophy-value those that do the work to make our values real.