De Anza College hosted a summit on education and the November ballot measures on Oct. 2 in the Hinson Center. Local politicians, organizers, experts and students gathered to discuss community and statewide issues related to California government. The American Leadership Forum, California Forward, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation sponsored the event.
Members of the De Anza Associated Student Body were among those in attendance. “I want to hear what these grownups have to say,” said Thoa Hoang, vice chair of Marketing.
“I want to find out what local leaders have to say about various propositions,” said Lena Ghamrawi, chair of the Diversity and vents committee. She knew about the Measure E parcel tax, which is DASB endorsed and promoted, but was undecided about others.
Hoang and Ghamrawi were concerned about the impact of the California budget on education, such as the furlough week, which shut down Leland High School from Oct. 4-8.
The attendees broke into groups, including a moderator, a scribe and an expert. They discussed the merits of local versus state control over funds from local taxes, and propositions such as 25 and 26. Prop. 25 would reduce the requirement to pass a budget from a two-thirds majority to a simple majority, and Prop. 26 would increase the requirement to pass some state and local fees to a two-thirds majority.
During a break, a panel of five experts were assembled and asked what was the worst policy problem facing California. Bruce McPherson, former California secretary of state, and Zabrae Valentine, deputy director of California Forward, said that term limits are the biggest problem, as they cause a loss of institutional memory allowing a rise in lobbyist control of government.
Maria Ochoa, a lecturer at San Jose State University, said the practice of paying or the gathering of signatures for initiatives needs to be eliminated.
“A multidistrict proportional representation system would work better than what we currently have to make sure that every vote counts,” said Joe Mathews.
DASB President Ze-Kun Li said that his reasons for getting involved with this event were to get “connected with the rest of the community, and to work with other organizations to make this community stronger.”
“What we are doing is trying to create participatory democracy,” said Chris Block, CEO of ALF-Silicon Valley. He said that the purpose of this event was to “inform and engage people around reform.”
ALF and the Knight Foundation will also be putting on a digital town hall to discuss Propositions 22, 25 and 26 on Oct. 14 from 7-8:30 p.m.