Key Issues
1. Fiscal Sustainability
As trustee, I will work with fellow board members to require a clear, public, multi-year plan to eliminate deficit spending, rebuild our operating reserves, set reserve goals and guardrails, and ensure every major budget decision is tied to measurable student outcomes. Families, educators, and taxpayers deserve to understand how dollars are being spent, what reductions are administrative, contractual, programmatic, or classroom-facing, and whether spending decisions are actually improving student learning using accurate data.
I will also push for transparent budget reporting, regular forecast-to-actual updates, and a public crosswalk connecting major contracts, staffing decisions, and LCAP actions to student outcomes. Fiscal discipline is not separate from student success, it is how we protect classrooms. I will work to align resources with what matters most: strong instruction, effective staff support, full student schedules, electives and arts, and improved reading and math outcomes beginning in the earliest grades.
2. Better Student Outcomes
Specifically around reading and math as they are foundational to a student's future success. SBUSD has invested in literacy curriculum, screening, teacher learning, and academic support. The next step is making sure those investments are implemented consistently and are producing measurable improvement quickly.
We should not wait until middle school or high school to discover that a student has serious gaps in reading or math. Early identification and intervention matter.
I will support clear board priorities for early literacy, early math, and readiness for later-grade coursework, with transparent reporting that allows families and the board to see whether students are progressing and meeting targets.
That means paying close attention to instructional time, early screening, intervention, teacher training and resources, coaching, and support for students who are below benchmark. It also means making sure multilingual learners, students with disabilities, students with reading difficulties, and other students who may need additional support are identified early and receive timely help.
In math, we need to strengthen foundational skills before students reach later grades without the number sense, fluency, and problem-solving skills they need.
And we need reliable data.
Families deserve to know what measures are being used, what the baseline is, and whether students are improving over time.
The purpose of data is not simply to produce reports. It is to help the board identify problems earlier, invest in what works, and change course when results are not improving.
3. Stakeholder Alignment/Rebuilding Trust
I will help create alignment among families, educators, students, district leadership, and the broader community.
Trust is built through listening, transparency, respectful engagement, reliable information, and follow-through — especially when difficult decisions must be made.
At the same time, we need to protect the full student experience.
Students need more than minimum course access. They deserve strong core academics, arts, music, electives, athletics, career pathways, student supports, and full schedules that keep them challenged, engaged, and connected to school.
Student engagement and belonging are not secondary concerns. They are part of educational success.
Arts, electives, activities, and career pathways can be the very things that help a student feel connected to school, discover a strength, or see a future for themselves.
Budget pressures should not automatically result in reduced instructional time, dismissal periods, diminished course access, or the loss of programs that contribute to student engagement.
As trustee, I will support greater transparency around what students are actually receiving across schools and whether opportunities are equitable.
Strengthening trust means aligning what the district says it values with how it spends its resources and what students actually experience and achieve.
A financially stable district can better protect classrooms. Strong academics depend on early identification and measurable results and students learn best when they feel supported, engaged, challenged, and connected to their schools. That is the foundation I want to help build as a trustee alongside my colleagues.