Simitian to speak at PTA Founder's Day Simitian to speak at PTA Founder's Day (February 01, 2002)

State Assemblyman to discuss advocacy in light of budget woes

By Amy Goodpaster Strebe

State Assemblyman Joe Simitian will be the keynote speaker at the annual PTA Founder's Day celebration to be held Feb. 6 at Crittenden Middle School. Simitian currently chairs the Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance which is responsible for approximately $50 billion in spending on California's K-12 and higher education systems. A former Palo Alto mayor, county board supervisor, and Palo Alto School Board president, Simitian represents 800 voters in Mountain View. In his speech he will be discussing ways in which parents and community members can be effective advocates for education during these tough budget times.

With the largest drop in revenues since World War II, the state's education budget has been severely gouged. "The next few years are going to be really tough as far as the budget goes," Simitian said. "Educators have grown accustomed to the resources we've had here in California, and I want to try and help community leaders and parents to be better advocates for their children's education in these challenging budget times," he said. Simitian said he will be giving the audience 13 tips for successful advocacy, and discussing ways in which they can better communicate priorities in education to state legislators.

This year the PTA will be celebrating its 105th year, according to Fara Brock, committee chair for public relations for the Los Altos-Mountain View PTA Council. The council, which has 5,500 members, represents three school districts which include the Mountain View-Whisman School District, the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District, and the Los Altos School District.

"We're so honored to have Joe Simitian as our guest speaker," said Brock. "I think his talk will be informative, interesting, and hopefully empowering."

Brock said after Simitian's talk the council's co-presidents Catherine Vonnegut and Lois Sangster will give a brief talk and then introduce the three districts' superintendents, Eleanor Yick, Rich Fischer and Margaret Gratiot, who will each deliver a report on their respective districts.

The Founder's Day celebration will be held at Crittenden Middle School at 1701 Rock St. from 8:45-10:30 a.m. There is no cost for the event and the pubic is invited to attend. For more information, call Fara Brock at 969-3246 or e-mail her at farafaun@yahoo.com.