Editor:
In a recent Daily Press, your editorial about measures GS and GSH questions the connection between strong schools and affordable housing. Both would benefit from the funding stream created if they pass on November 8. As a former President of the Board of Education, and the current Board Chair of Community Corp, a non-profit affordable housing provider, I think that I am in a unique position to see how they are actually inextricably connected. High quality Santa Monica public schools and affordable housing go together to ensure a strong community. We are a community where children, seniors, and families from many backgrounds can thrive. Measures GS and GSH will help keep it that way.
When people are secure in their housing, they are able to participate fully in the community and in the education of their children.
Affordable family housing is not being provided by the market, that’s where non-profits need to step in. The State funding on which California cities relied has been eliminated. State funding for schools is woefully inadequate to provide the kind of education that our families want and our children deserve.
We, in Santa Monica, have had to step in to support our teachers and staff and to make sure that our buildings are safe and technologically up to date. The additional revenue provided by Measures GS and GSH will be controlled locally, rather than by legislators nearly 400 miles away.
GS and GSH will help restore some of the funding that has been cut, but it will also ensure that tourists and businesses pay a fair share.
Vote Yes on Measures GS and GSH for a well-educated, sustainable community.
Patricia Hoffman
Former President, SMMUSD Board of Education
Chair, Board of Directors Community Corp.
