Council hopefuls address city's top issues

Friday, September 24, 2004 By Susan Fuller, Alameda Journal

There were separate articles on each City Council candidate. There was one question regarding the City's role related to funding schools. "Should the city continue helping the schools financially?" While AUSD disputes the premise of the question, nonetheless it was asked of the candidates. Here are there answers clipped from the individual articles.

Marilyn Ashcraft:

"Schools are an important part of our community. I'd hate to see crossing guards and the DARE Program cut. It's give and take. The school district has been less than flexible on charging the city for the library. They should be willing to help us out."

Pat Bail:

"I don't have enough information to make a judgment. The school district has its own taxing abillity. I support public schools but I'm not so sure the city should take on the additional burden when it has no input on the school budget."

Betsy Elgar:

"To me this is bad, both of them. Talk about free lunch. Even though they are needy there's funding for them. That's part of social services." (Editor's note: The city's contribution to the school district is principally police services.)

Doug deHaan:

"The school sytem (paid for) school in the schools until five years ago. Schools are in a better financial situation than cities. We should make sure we support each other and that there's a give-and-take."

Marie Gilmore:

"Yes. The city's mission is to provide services to its citizens. Kids are our citizens and will be the people running the city in the future."

Ruben Tilos:

It's not the city's job to bail the schools out. Some of the programs the city pays for are viable, such as (police) school resource officers at the high schools. It's part of the job at the police department to make safe conditions in schools. I don't think the city should pay for police at extracurricular activities. (Editor's note: The school district reimburses the city for police at dances and games.)

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Last Modified: September 24, 2004

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