Why You Should Care About This Election

Since honors and Advanced Standing courses were eliminated for freshmen and sophomores districtwide, over 1,200 parents signed a petition asking the board to bring them back. In April 2026, a motion to restore honors access failed on a 3-2 vote. The Almanac, April 2026

This isn't an abstract curriculum debate. Every kid is passionate about something different - math, chemistry, English, the arts - and it shouldn't matter which. It's about whether your child gets a real chance to be challenged in whatever area they're ready for, instead of being held to the same pace as everyone else.

The district cut Advanced Standing science courses at Carlmont too - physics and chemistry among them. Advanced English for incoming freshmen is one of the few courses Carlmont still has, while the district removed it entirely at the other three campuses, which may be exactly why this doesn't feel urgent if your kids are there. Last April, a trustee proposed adding the honors English option back at the other three schools, without touching Carlmont's. The board member I'm challenging voted against that expansion, and at the same meeting said the district should look into why Carlmont still offers English while the other schools had it removed SUHSD Board Meeting, April 2026. This board has only ever equalized access by cutting it. There's nothing stopping that from being next.

We are not the first district to try this, and we already know how it ends. San Francisco pulled Algebra 1 out of 8th grade in 2014, for the same stated reason: closing achievement gaps. Stanford researchers who studied a decade of that district's own data found the gaps did not close, while AP math participation fell and AP Calculus enrollment dropped from 30% to 24% EdWeek, March 2023. San Francisco reversed it. Its board restored the course in March 2026 Mission Local, March 2026. I would rather learn from their ten lost years than spend ten of our own.

Our kids deserve a school system that keeps them competitive, not one that's falling further behind. See Alon's plan to restore academic choice.

SUHSD's adopted 2026-27 budget spends $266 million to educate our kids SUHSD 2026-27 Budget Summary, yet only 51 cents of every dollar goes into direct classroom instruction Ballotpedia. Since 2020-21, spending on everything other than classroom instruction grew 47%, while instruction itself grew just 28% Ed-Data.

Sound management matters, but more of every dollar should reach the classroom, teachers, and students first.

A starting SUHSD teacher earns $86,466 a year - low income by Bay Area standards M-A Chronicle. The average home in Belmont is now valued at $2.6 million Belmont home values. Statewide, 84% of California teachers say they can't afford to live near their schools, and 4 in 10 are considering leaving the profession over financial pressure The Almanac, July 2026 - a crisis playing out right here in our own community.

The board has real tools here that don't require a new tax. It can partner with existing county programs - like below-market home loans and down payment assistance - to help teachers buy locally. It can also use the state's 2022 Teacher Housing Act to explore building workforce housing directly on land the district already owns, without a rezoning fight EdSource. Our neighboring Jefferson Union High School District already did this: it built 122 below-market apartments for its teachers and staff on land it already owned ABC7 News. SUHSD hasn't seriously pursued either path. I'll make sure it does.

The basic shape of high school hasn't changed in more than a century. Since 1906, students have earned credit by logging hours in a classroom Education Week. Even the Carnegie Foundation, which created that standard, now says “at best, the Carnegie Unit is a crude proxy for student learning” Carnegie Foundation. Students feel it: in a 2025 Gallup survey, only 10% strongly agreed they enjoy their classes, and just 44% felt prepared for life after graduation Gallup, 2025.

Meanwhile, our kids are growing up surrounded by remarkable opportunity: Stanford Medicine, Kaiser, and Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City, Electronic Arts' headquarters in Redwood Shores, biotech and research labs up and down the Peninsula, Cañada College, and the small businesses that line El Camino. Yet nationally, only 35% of students say they're learning skills relevant to their future careers, and just 23% get to work on projects related to the jobs they want Gallup and Walton Family Foundation, 2024.

SUHSD has strong pockets to build on. Carlmont's Biotechnology Institute, for example, gives students college biotech courses through Skyline College Carlmont BTI. But opportunities like that should be the norm for every student, not the exception for a few. I'll push for real partnerships with our local hospitals, labs, colleges, and businesses: internships, mentors, and real projects. I'll also push to expand free dual enrollment so more students graduate with college credit already in hand.

This isn't a hunch. In a long-term randomized study, students in career academies, which pair classes with local employers, earned 11% more per year over the eight years after high school MDRC. Just up the road, Genentech partnered with South San Francisco's schools to build a four-year biotech pathway at South San Francisco High Genentech.

And it doesn't require a new tax. California already funds this work, including $470 million in Golden State Pathways grants for career exploration and work-based learning California Department of Education.

Technology is part of this too, including AI, which is changing work faster than any shift in a generation. Students need to learn to use it well, with guardrails that keep it a tool for thinking rather than a substitute for it, alongside the skills it can't replace: leadership, public speaking, and working with people.

Our kids shouldn't have to wait until college to discover what they love. The opportunities are right here. Our schools should open the door.

Strong public schools build strong communities. A school system anchored by real academic excellence is one of the best things a community can offer, not just to the families enrolled today, but to everyone who lives here.

When a public school stops offering real academic challenge, the families who can afford to opt out for private school or private tutoring will, and the families who can't are left with less. A public school should be the place where every kid gets a real shot at being challenged, not just the ones whose parents can pay around the gaps.

That loss of confidence shows up in home values too. Most of us didn't move to Area A by accident, we came here for the schools, and real estate data shows school quality is one of the biggest drivers of home values on the Peninsula, with well-regarded districts commanding a real premium over comparable homes nearby. San Carlos vs. Belmont: Why Home Prices Are Higher