As we consider long-term options for Los Altos public schools, questions have been raised about which schools serve which students. I believe that every public school should help all children learn and thrive. It’s important to evaluate how all Los Altos public schools serve English-language learners, socioeconomically disadvantaged students and students with disabilities.
When I was younger, I struggled with learning disabilities. If it weren’t for the public schools I attended, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Making sure all children in our community are afforded the same opportunities is of critical importance to me. Schools that don’t enroll a representative population of low-income and special-needs students result in the remaining schools having to educate the highest-need students with insufficient funding.
For charter schools, enrollment is controlled by an annual lottery and management of waitlists. The lottery selects students from different prioritized buckets, and those priorities heavily influence school demographics. When students decline positions from the lottery, selective recruitment from the waitlist can further impact demographics. Unlike charter schools, the Los Altos School District enrolls students from within geographic boundaries and does not prioritize which students are admitted.
When rents were rising rapidly in 2016, forcing many renters to move, Mountain View voters passed Measure V, which stabilized rents to keep lower-income renters in Mountain View. It also enacted just cause for eviction, and, at the same time, allowed for a fair rate of return for landlords. Measure V, also known as the Community Stabilization and Fair Rent Act (CSFRA) capped rents for approximately 13,500 units in Mountain View built before 1995. The League of Women Voters of the Los Altos-Mountain View Area believes our communities are stronger when there is rent stabilization and just-cause programs to minimize displacement, provide stable and predictable housing costs and provide a fair rate of return to landlords.
However, a group of landlords initiated a ballot measure planned for the November election that makes radical changes to CSFRA, effectively suspending it. To potentially avoid this ballot initiative, the Mountain View City Council developed Measure D and placed it on the March ballot. Measure D makes significant changes to current policy. The LWV opposes Measure D because it is inconsistent with the fair rate of return standard and eliminates the use of an inflation index in determining the maximum annual rent increase. These two changes can more likely lead to large rent increases of up to 10% per year. In fact, rents could potentially increase up to 20% in just 13 months.
I am a seventh-grader at Egan Junior High School and am writing to inform you of a dangerous intersection on my bike route to Egan.
Each day as I bike to Egan, I encounter problems in trying to turn left onto Linden Avenue from Pine Lane. At least 30-plus students have the same problem as me every morning.
The Los Altos Hills garbage collection service, GreenWaste Recovery, apparently cannot differentiate between lip service and customer service.
I would like to commend the Town Crier for its coverage of school funding measures on the March 3 ballot.
We are less than two months from an important date, Census Day, April 1. Counting everyone is imperative for California and Mountain View to get proper representation and essential funding per the U.S. Constitution. California is a “hard to count” state. In particular, Santa Clara County ranks as the ninth toughest to count in the nation. This is also the first time the Census questionnaire will be primarily online.
Full participation is critical. Census data is used to allocate nearly $700 billion in federal program funding and designates political representation at various levels of government. States use this funding for essential programs such as health care, social services, education grants and infrastructure. California’s political representation in the U.S. Congress is decided through the Census, and there has been talk of California losing a seat if there is an undercount. This information is also used to redraw state and local district boundaries.
The Town Crier welcomes letters to the editor on current events pertinent to Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View. Write to us at 138 Main St., Los Altos 94022, Attn: Editor, or email editor Bruce Barton at bruceb@latc.com. Because editorial space is limited, please confine letters to no more than 200 words. Include a phone number for verification purposes. Anonymous letters will not be printed.
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