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Alameda County, CA November 7, 2006 Election
Smart Voter

Real Advocacy for Schools and Youth

By Aimee Allison

Candidate for Councilmember; City of Oakland; District 2

This information is provided by the candidate
Education must be made a city priority, not just a campaign promise. City leaders have to do more to resolve the crisis in Oakland schools, because these problems always manage to spill over into other parts of the city's life and because we need to prioritize the future of Oakland's children.
Oakland cannot succeed as a city while our schools fail our children. In the 1950s, California led the country in spending on students. Now, we have sunk to disastrous levels. For too long, Oakland's education system has been dependent on unreliable state resources and is now controlled by a state administrator who is not accountable to parents or the community. The State Administrator is bringing our schools to the brink of a disaster by not negotiating with the Oakland Education Association, while the solutions that he offers -- layoffs, charterization of schools, cutting down arts and music programs -- will only make things worse for our children.

My solutions:

- Bring youth recreation programs to every neighborhood
- Demand transparency and accountability of the state administrator and transition back to local control
- Lobby in Sacramento and Washington, DC to deliver necessary funding for successful schools and universal preschool and after-school programs
- Fully fund libraries in Oakland to provide educational support for Oakland students
- Restore $2.4 million to and expand the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth
- Work with local businesses to develop a comprehensive jobs program (like the Boston Compact) to guarantee jobs for high school graduates in the top 10% of their class
- Provide bilingual services for parents to allow greater community involvement in the schools

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ca/alm Created from information supplied by the candidate: August 7, 2006 14:50
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