Candidate for
State Senator; District 13

When I worked in New York City, I taught at Seward Park High School in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The school was a gateway for immigrants in the early 20th century. Prominent graduates included Nobel laureate biochemist Julius Axelrod. Axelrod was the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland, and Seward Park High School set him on a path towards realizing his full talents. Many of us have similar experiences with our own schooling.

Currently in California, due to shortsighted state policies, a new immigrant that does succeed likely does so in spite of his or her schooling, rather than because of the quality of his or her public education. I am running because someone has to fight to bring our state's focus back to the primary mission expressed in its first Constitution in 1849: quality public education.

The vitality of California's economy and democracy depends on this singular focus. Every other public problem we care about stems from our neglect of our children. It will take courage to say "no" to the many other progressive causes that our state government is involved in and that Californians have grown accustomed to having. I would not be running if I felt others were truly committed to prioritizing children first. I ask for your vote to bring California back to its former greatness.