Guest opinion: County needs united voice on education Guest opinion: County needs united voice on education (August 24, 2005)

By Jerry Hill

More so than any time in recent memory, our schools, teachers and students have become one giant political tug-of-war in Sacramento.

Witness recent events. The state Superintendent of Schools is suing the Governor to get back voter-mandated revenues guaranteed by Proposition 98 for schools. The Governor "borrowed" $2 billion with a promise to restore these funds. He hasn't done so and probably won't. Thus, the lawsuit.

The Governor also is targeting teachers with state ballot proposals that are aimed directly at their union, apparently in an effort to diminish their political viability. This is not exactly the way to make friends and reach consensus.

At our local level, there are various organizations and governmental bodies, mainly school boards, which in their own way take on these issues or seek to collaborate on them.

San Mateo County has 24 separate school boards whose primary function is to be sure they provide the highest quality education for the students who attend their schools. Yet, on policy matters that impact all San Mateo County students, teachers and schools, our county and cities have little or no avenue to formally collectively assist the school districts.

As a response to the problems we see growing in Sacramento and to address the lack of a formal structure to bring school districts, the county and city governments together on education matters, I proposed and the Board of Supervisors agreed to draft specific language to place a measure on the November ballot to create a county education commission.

The mission of the commission would be to formally encourage the school districts, the county, the cities and the public to work collaboratively on policy matters that impact all schools and county residents. The goal is to give local governments of the county, cities and schools a place to formulate a shared vision for quality public education throughout the county.

To my knowledge, no other county in California has such a group that brings together the various levels of local government to work on such an important issue as education. There was no intention to create a new layer of government, spend thousands of tax dollars or step on the jurisdictional toes of any school boards. Rather, it was my desire to work collectively and collaboratively to develop a strong united voice that fueled my interest.

Many persons in the local education community were very supportive of this idea and saw the need for such an entity. I thank them for their shared vision and leadership.

There were others who supported the idea of an education commission but who had specific detailed questions or concerns, which are legitimate and need to be addressed. I, of course, knew that there would be questions, but I felt it was important to have San Mateo County voters support the idea of the commission first, before collaborative work began on the details.

However, out of deference to those in the education community who do have questions, I have asked my colleagues on the Board of Supervisors to delay action on creating the commission for the time being.

It is my desire to engage all the school boards in the county in a discussion about how we can collectively work in a more cohesive way to protect our schools, teachers and students from the political battles now being waged in Sacramento, and how to overcome the negative impacts of those battles. I want California elected officials to know that San Mateo County speaks with a shared vision on one of our most important public policy issues - quality education.

I believe in my heart that with one united effort we can combine forces to achieve the very best for education in our county. I look forward to working with all those who share my concern that quality schools, quality teachers and quality education for our children are vital to the well-being of San Mateo County. Jerry Hill is a county supervisor from the 2nd District, and represents San Mateo, Foster City and Belmont.

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