Guest View

As Mayor of Morgan Hill, I know our city is strongest when we have great schools, thriving small businesses and high-quality public services. That’s why I’m supporting Proposition 15, the Schools & Communities First initiative on the November ballot.

Morgan Hill: Where Only Some Students Succeed Parents need more local public school choices like Rocketship Education for one simple reason: Our schools are not serving all students well. At first glance, Morgan Hill Unified schools appear to be educating all students, but in fact, they are leaving many at-risk students behind. Locally, Latino students, English Language Learners and students from low-income households scored 100 points lower on state academic tests than their Asian and white classmates. Students with special needs are also not succeeding in Morgan Hill schools. This is unacceptable. All of our students must have access to a high-quality education at a neighborhood public school. The foundation that an excellent elementary school provides to children is critical. Otherwise, students who fall behind at this young age often never catch up. Knowing this, and without improvement from the Morgan Hill Unified School District, local parents have been forced to search for alternatives for their children, including looking outside the district. Morgan Hill is a great place to live, but the quality of the education system has become a drawback for many families. We need more choices locally.   Rocketship Education has an inclusion program for students with special needs. All types of students are welcome at its nonprofit public charter schools. Through its personalized learning model, all students have the ability to be challenged, supported and successful. Seventy percent of the 5,000 students at Rocketship are English Language Learners and even more are from at-risk households. Christopher is a third grader who spent four years waiting for a spot to open up at a charter school in Morgan Hill, since he was falling behind and needed extra support in English and writing. Despite having engaged parents who worked with his teachers, Christopher continued to struggle until this year, when his parents made the choice to drive 70 minutes each day to San Jose for Adam to attend Rocketship Spark Academy. He’s gone from being teased by his friends for not doing well in school to becoming a responsible leader in his class who enjoys learning. Clearly there is a need in Morgan Hill for this kind of approach to education. Rather than making it more difficult for Rocketship to open, we as a community need to do what is best for local children and give families more choices. Ethan is a fourth grader with autism attending a public school in Morgan Hill. His parents want him to be able to attend a four-year college someday, but he needs high expectations, goals and individual support to be able to get there.  While he has some great teachers, he’s not learning the 21st century skills that he’ll need to be able to succeed in life. The problems local families are facing and the possible solution shouldn’t come as a surprise to local leaders. As parents, we have been vocal about what we want: We want quality school choices. We want to keep our children in neighborhood public schools. We want Rocketship to open and operate such a school.   It was us, Morgan Hill parents, who reached out to Rocketship and requested that they consider opening a school in our community. It took numerous phone calls, gathering over 400 signatures and many meetings over the course of a year before Rocketship proposed opening a school here. Our dedication to providing what’s best for our children convinced them. This is an opportunity to guarantee that academic success is not given to only a subset of kids. All Morgan Hill children can and should succeed in school. Parents deserve the ability to find the right academic program for their child at a public school within this community. Rocketship is offering a proven option to serve at-risk students who are currently being left behind. Allowing Rocketship to open would give families a choice that we’ve wanted for years. Our kids can’t wait any longer. We hope you will join us in supporting Rocketship Nov. 5 when the Morgan Hill board of trustees will vote on the charter petition. Together, we can ensure that all families have quality school choices for their children and that all our students have the chance to succeed. Guest columnist Tony Saenz has been a Morgan Hill parent and resident for 44 years.   

A much deserved windfall is on its way to many low- and moderate-income California workers. For those who file state taxes and claim their benefit in 2017, the state is offering an Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) that, combined with what is available through the federal government, could provide up to a $6,000 rebate to families who meet specific qualifications.Research has shown that the cash benefit from the EITC has been one of the single greatest contributors to move people and families out of poverty and to improve their financial security. Unlike other programs to assist low- and moderate- income families, this benefit applies only to those who are working but still remain in financial difficulty.  For many of us, $6,000 could ease our financial challenges and it could make the difference between a family keeping a roof over its head or becoming homeless.In 2015, Gov. Jerry Brown and the legislature created California’s EITC program, CalEITC, as a way to help qualified working, low-income families. This cash-back credit is intended to complement a similar federal EITC that has existed since enactment by President Gerald Ford in 1975. In order to benefit from the state credit, eligible families need to claim it when they file their state tax returns.According to the California Department of Community Services and Development (CSD), the state agency that administers CalEITC, one out of five eligible workers does not claim the EITC on their state income tax return. On average, a qualified family that did not participate in 2016 lost $2,409 from the state and federal governments.The specific amount of cash-back credits for qualified working individuals and families depends on income and family size. Californians with an income of up to $53,505 annually may be able to receive cash-back by claiming the federal EITC on their tax return. Additionally, California families that earn up to $14,161 annually may be able to utilize the CalEITC to supplement the federal EITC when a state tax return is filed.If you meet the criteria, you must file federal and state income tax returns to claim the credits, even if you do not owe taxes or are not required to file a return.For more information, visit CSD’s website, www.csd.ca.gov/.  During this tax season, I encourage you to find out if you are eligible to receive the benefits of the Earned Income Tax Credit.  Monning represents the 17th Senate District, which includes all of San Luis Obispo and Santa Cruz counties, and portions of Monterey and Santa Clara counties.