Save Our Schools (Long Beach Unified School District)

Our goal is to send a clear message about the importance of maintaining the level of quality that currently exists in the Long Beach Unified School District and its programs.  In order for this to happen we MUST let the school board know that we want measure T re-introduced (although this probably won't happen until November).  In the meantime we need to put our efforts in at the state level.  Please contact PTA president Leslie Gebb about what you can do to pressure California into maintaining the quality education our kids deserve at leslieg@keystrokepos.com.

We believe that a clear message was not sent in November about the importance of a quality school system on the community.  The amount proposed in November was just under $100 per household.  This amount is nothing compared to the cost of not funding the schools adequately.  If for no other reason than the fact that property values plummet in areas with poor education we MUST help our schools maintain our current standards.

More importantly, it is critical to our children's futures.  We can not allow their futures to be taken from them for less than $100/year. Those who voted against it felt that it would have no real impact on the schools and most had no children in the system.  They didn't realize that, as retired people they could opt out of the tax.

We are a group of concerned parents, PTA members and leaders, community leaders/organizers and educators who are more than willing to implement our talents and energy to spread the word which will keep down costs.  The biggest issue in November was a profound lack of awareness of the consequences and the assumption that the majority would be in favor of funding the schools.  Turnout was low (I worked in that election) and the energized group was retired people who mistakenly thought that the burden would be on them.

We are asking for cooperation from LBUSD to help us make this happen.  We would like principals to give all teachers the time to go vote or encourage them to get an absentee ballot, to involve their parent support groups, allow use of school loop to get information out and flyers to be sent at school regarding how to register to vote and the impact on the schools if this is not funded.

Long Beach Unified has a long history of making amazing things happen because we are a community that cares about our children. We have many awards to show this.  We have strong parental support.  Six out of ten of our high schools are in the top 500 in the country according to Newsweek.

There is absolutely no doubt we can make this happen with real awareness of the repercussions of not funding our schools in a way that is needed.

We urge you to put us to work to make this happen!!!