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Marin, Sonoma County, CA June 6, 2006 Election
Smart Voter

Improving Education

By Cynthia L. Murray

Candidate for Member of the State Assembly; District 6; Democratic Party

This information is provided by the candidate
We must bring our schools back into the top 10 in the ratings for the nation. Being in the bottom 10 in every measurement is unacceptable.
Gov. Schwarzenegger has starved our schools of funding and it has put our schools further behind in meeting the needs of our children. In virtually every measurement, California schools are in the bottom 10 of the states for quality and performance. That is unacceptable. As your Assembly member, I will restore the funding that has been lost, and work to increase the education funding to what it needs to be in order to provide the quality education that our children deserve and that the future of our state demands.

Control over how the funding for education is spent should be put into the hands of the local school boards. With local control over the spending, these local boards will direct the money where it will produce the best results for their given student population and school needs. At the same time, there should be increased accountability on tracking that the money is spent the way it was approved, and performance indicators should be used to help the public and the education community know how effective their educational programs and services are working.

I support more charter schools so that students can have the ability to flourish while they pursue special educational programs. I want to see vocational programs brought back to the schools to help students who are not interested in a college track have the ability to prepare for careers.

As a member of the School to Careers Partnership, I have been proud to sponsor hundreds of students for job shadowing and to have interns in my office on a regular basis. It is every civic leaders' duty to be actively involved in improving our schools.

To that end, I support universal preschool. It is important that we help students who are English learners or challenged in other ways be ready to learn. Preschool helps to level the playing field for these students.

We need more emphasis on math and science in our schools. I support an Innovation Initiative to provide thousands more math and science teachers to help inspire our students to pursue these fields. Our workforce of the 21st Century needs to be adept in math and science to be competitive in the global economy.

As your Assembly member, I will work with the local school districts to ensure that your concerns and needs are being addressed at the state level, and work to provide the funding needed to get our schools back into the top 10 in the nation.

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ca/state Created from information supplied by the candidate: April 26, 2006 11:50
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