Jerry Brown for California Attorney General

CAMPAIGN CONTACTS

Campaign Name: Brown for Attorney General
Address: 2633 Telegraph Ave, #302, Oakland, CA
Campaign Phone: 510-628-0202
Campaign Fax: 510-628-0202
Campaign E-mail: julia@jerrybrown.org
Campaign Website: www.jerrybrown.org

POLITICAL BACKGROUND

Mayor of Oakland, 1999-present
California State Democratic Party Chairman, 1989-1991
Governor of California, 1975-1983
California Secretary of State, 1971-1975
Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees, 1969-1971

If you ran for public office but were not elected, please list those races below:

United States President 1992
United States Senate 1984
United States President 1980
United States President 1976

YOUTH ISSUES

1. Good schools from pre-K to graduate school require adequate funding and innovative leadership. How would you use your elected office to improve public education and/or make higher education affordable and accessible for young people in our community?

I am painfully aware that the ravages of historic segregation and growing inequality have thrown up huge barriers to successful achievement on the part of many students of color. I have heard platitudes on this subject for four decades and yet the gross inequalities continue.

Children who grow up in families that lack the security of a stable home and income fail to achieve at the levels of children who are not so burdened. Drop out rates exceed 60% in some urban schools. The answer is straightforward: make it a priority to invest in those schools and those kids who are falling behind because of the stress and instability of low income families.

That’s why I have used every elected office I have held to improve public education and make it as accessible and affordable as possible. As Governor I expanded opportunities at our community and state colleges and I made it a top budget priority to keep tuition to these public institutions affordable. I feel so strongly about this issue that as mayor of Oakland, even though I do not have any power over public schools, I have made expanding educational opportunity a priority of my administration. I am proud to have founded two model public charter schools that are now serving a total of 900 students, most from low income families. Both schools serve students from the 6th grade through the 12th and are among the best performing schools in Oakland.

As attorney general, I will take the lead in demanding equal educational justice for California’s children. Before the legislature and in the courts, I will champion the cause of those children who have been systematically deprived of their rights to a “free, appropriate and equal education.