Ask Albany families why they're here or why they came here and you'll hear the same answer I'd give you: the schools. Nearly one in five Albany residents is an Albany Unified student. Our schools are the reason many of us stretched to get here and the reason we stay.
I come to this issue the long way around. I was a classroom teacher. I worked for a teaching organization. I served on the Albany Education Foundation board of directors, where I saw up close how much of their own time and money our teachers pour into their classrooms. And I'm the parent of a kid who went all the way through Albany schools, kindergarten to graduation. I see nearly every city decision through a filter I earned in the classroom: what does this mean for students, for teachers, for the families holding it all together?
The school board and district run our schools. The City Council doesn't, and I don't think councilmembers should pretend otherwise. But the city does have an important role in getting kids safely to school, sharing facilities and working with the district on issues that affect both agencies.
Start with the walk to school. The crossing guard at the corner is funded by the city through the Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax Albany voters passed in 2016, which also pays for student bike safety education and youth swim programs. City streets are the routes our kids walk and bike every morning; the safe routes near every school site belong to the city. The gyms and fields our kids use on evenings and weekends work because the city and district share facilities. None of this is glamorous, but it matters to families every single day.
And right now there's a bigger item on the city side of the ledger. If Golden Gate Fields transfers to a tax-exempt public agency as planned, Albany Unified stands to lose about $700,000 a year. That's real money in a small district's budget, and a loss the school board cannot fix alone, because the path to replacing it runs through the city's advocacy in Sacramento. As Albany fights to be made whole in this transition, I will insist that made whole means the schools too. Every letter, every meeting, every conversation with the state: the district's $700,000 goes in the ask, period.
There is also a basic coordination issue. City infrastructure projects and school district projects should be planned together earlier, especially as Measure L work gets underway.
I will respect the school board's role and work hard on the areas where the city can genuinely help. Given my years working with Albany's schools and education organizations, those relationships are something I can bring to the council from day one.