Reader’s Report: Irvine students lobby Sacramento

“Beep, Beep.” My alarm is going off. My drowsy eyes wake up to see that it is 4:30 a.m.

I am upearly to fly to the state capitol to meet with legislators regarding education issues on behalf of the 30,000 students in the Irvine Unified School District. SoI feel a great sense of responsibilityas I scarf downsome breakfast, get in dress clothes, and my mom and I head to the airport.

There is crazy panicto make sure everyone’shere — 22 high school students from Irvine Unified are meeting for a long day ahead of us. We each went through a rigorous interview process to be selected as a school representative.

After an hour-and-half flight, we are all pumped to be in Sacramento.Sitting in the shuttle, a feeling of awe comes over us as we turn the corner to see the capitol building — a big white building with a large dome. The building is humongous.

As we first enter the Capitol, we find ourselves in the California Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance hearing. We hear live testimony about the Local Control Funding Formula which is how funds are allocated to school districts — and how certain districts receive more funds because of factors such as having more foster children, higher poverty level, or a higher amount of English learners.

There are a lot of reporters outside taking notes. Then the chairperson of the subcommittee opens up the floor to public comment and one of our fellow students, Tristan Malhotra, takes the mic and with a confident voice and broad gestures explains why the funding formula is not fair to our school district. I am surprised to see so many people paying attention to Tristan, and it gives us all a feeling of validation as we hear the applause from the crowd.

Tristan glows after hereturns from speaking and says, “It was an adrenaline rush.”

We didn’t think it was fair that Irvine receives approximately $1,200 fewer dollars per student per year than the state average.

Our school district has a strong Parent Teacher Student Assn., parent financial backing, and has historically been able to raise funds independently, but this effort has thwarted our ability to receive an equitable share of state funding. Our school needs additional state funding to continue to excel and to acquire technology necessary to be competitive in the future.

Next, we are herdeddown a long hallway until we enter the first discussion room. Assembly Member Rocky Chavez discusses programs, funding, procedure and technology with us and we pose for a picture in one of the ornate rooms.

I have the opportunity to ask a question about funding at a meeting led by Edgar Cabral, Education Budget/Proposition 98 expert, and Roger Mackensen, chief education policy consultant for Senate Republicans. My heart races as I speak up with all eyes on me.

Because the demands for money for programs at California schools exceeds the supply of state funds available, I ask how a district should allocate funds between its own programs and the state requirements for programs such as Common Core, the new curriculum. Cabral and Mackensen both said the districts should allocate their funds based on their own needs.

I am very impressed withSen.Lois Wolk, a 12-year veteran of the Legislature and a former teacher. Shehands us all a chart titled, The Life Cycle of Legislation — From Idea into Law. As I analyzethe chart I realize thatthe process is very complicated, but Wolk encourages us not to be cynical.

After a busy day meeting withlegislators,aides, policy directors, staff, consultants, experts andlobbyists, wehead back to the shuttles and to our flight.As we sit in the plane, we can’t believe the day is over already.But we feel that our comments, along with Tristan’s staring role in the subcommittee hearing,made a lasting impact on behalf of the Irvine district.

JACQUELINE CARR is a junior at Irvine High School.