I’ve been saddened lately to read some of the letters to the editor in our local papers. Many of the letters opposing Measure S are full of a barely-disguised hostility toward our schools, and contempt for the parents, teachers, and students who rely on them. I believe that our schools are part of the fabric of our community, and I’m distressed that so many people seem so indifferent to their fate.
By their own admission, most of the anti-S writers have no direct contact with our Malibu schools, and it shows in their letters. The bloated, mismanaged schools which these writers describe bear no relation to the schools my three children have attended for the past 10 years. The greedy teachers and administrators whom the letter writers see as picking their pockets are not the dedicated and highly educated men and women I know, who reach into their own pockets for much-needed classroom supplies. The lazy and indifferent parents they portray are not the parents at Malibu schools who annually raise hundreds of thousands of dollars through direct donations and fundraisers, and who spend thousands of hours of volunteer time in their children’s classrooms.
Sadly, there are those among us whose distrust of government is so great that they can’t acknowledge the fact that by any measure, our schools in Malibu are doing a stellar job. Test scores in the schools in our district are among the highest in California. Malibu High School was recently named a California Distinguished School, and its graduates are regularly admitted to many of the most selective colleges in the country. And the district has passed its recent audits with flying colors.
I agree with the opponents of S on one thing-the system which we in California use to finance public education is badly in need of a major overhaul, and Measure S won’t fix that. But what S will do is cushion our local schools against the most dire consequences of the state budget crisis, those which will most directly affect our children. Think of S as a tourniquet-we’ll stop the bleeding locally, and stabilize the patient, while the “doctors” in Sacramento are still arguing about whether a Band-Aid is necessary.
Measure S gives us a choice-for the cost of a couple of movie tickets a month, or a venti latte a week, you can ensure that 91 teachers in our community will not be collecting unemployment, our schools will maintain their standard of excellence, and our property values will remain high as new families are drawn to our district by the excellent local schools. Or you can decide that you can’t afford the cost, and all of us will ultimately pay the price. That’s the penny-wise, but pound-foolish approach.
I urge everyone in Malibu not only to vote “yes” on S, but also to become more involved with our schools-visit the campuses, sup-port the fundraisers, attend the school concerts, plays, and sporting events. After all, these are our schools-we the people own them, they are run for our benefit, and it’s up to us to make them the best they can be.
Pam Eilerson