Melissa Fox For Assembly

When it comes to our local politicians' response to California's budget crisis, our smallest citizens pay the biggest price.

As a mother with a child in a public school, Melissa knows the devastating impact of the budget crisis on our children and our schools. Our classrooms have too many students. Our schools have too few teachers and too few resources.  Our children are being prepared for success in the 21st century.

Our kids deserve better.

During tough economic times, investing in education is one of the most important investments we can make.

California is projected to face a shortage of nearly 1 million college-educated workers by 2025. Cutting funding for education will worsen that skills gap and hurt our economy.

We cannot afford this slashing of our investment in education. We must stop the destruction of our schools.

Politicians who vow to follow party lines and say "No" to everything will only increase the gridlock in Sacramento. They will not bring dollars back to our District to fund our schools.

As a parent, Melissa wants her child to have quality schools, well-equipped teachers, and a curriculum that prepares students for achievement and the challenges of the future.

As a member of the Assembly, Melissa will fight to prevent teacher layoffs and protect students from budget cuts.  She'll fight for our schools, students and dedicated teachers, and make sure that California's schools are again the best in the nation.

According to Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, “Our state budget crisis has forced districts to lay off thousands of teachers over the past few years. The governor has proposed cutting another $2.4 billion from public education. While the education community opposes these cuts, our schools are forced to prepare for this potential outcome by issuing a massive wave of potential layoff notices.”

The effect of these cuts will be enormous – and will be felt most acutely in the long term by our children.  They will see their class sizes increase (again) to even more unmanageable levels; their libraries shut down; their schools dirtier and less safe; their textbooks older and scarcer; their music and art programs eliminated; and their after-school and athletic programs either seriously curtailed or eliminated entirely.

Each of the school districts in the 70th Assembly District will suffer. Irvine Unified is facing $22 million in cuts, Saddleback Valley is facing $33 million, Newport-Mesa is facing $13.5 million, Capistrano Unified is facing $34 million, and Tustin is facing $7.4 million. Each school district will lose teachers and/or cut school days. Every child will suffer.

How can our children be expected to compete and succeed in the 21st Century?

Melissa is running for the Assembly to fight against these disasterous cuts to education.

As your representative in Sacramento, Melissa will fight to make sure that our children have the teachers and the schools they need to succeed.