Campaign Summary

By Annette Cordero

I am an eigth-generation Santa Barbaran, one of eleven children. I graduated from our district schools (Franklin, SBJHS, SBHS) and SBCC and UCSB (B.A. in English; M.A. in Education, emph. Reading). I have been a full-time member of the English Skills department at SBCC since 1997.

I have worked in the educational field since I was eighteen years old, largely with at-risk and underrepresented student populations and have devoted a great deal of my life to empowering individuals through various forms of education.

For more than twenty-five years, I have worked in the community, advocating for affordable housing, equal access to jobs and political representation, and social justice for underrepresented and working-class communities, as well as educational equity. I believe my public record speaks to my level of commitment and to my belief in service.

I believe that as an educator and graduate of our district and as a parent of two graduates, I am able to bring a unique perspective to the board. In addition, having served for over four years now, I have gained valuable experience in understanding the very complex issues the district faces, from the intricacies and uncertainties of the budget to the subtleties of negotiations to the pedagogy of programmatic innovations. Finally, I strongly believe that I can be a voice for segments of the community who often go unheard.

My highest priorities are to:
1. Improve the performance of all students to reduce the achievement gap between our lowest and highest performing students.
2. Increase the proportion of Latino and other underrepresented students in GATE, AP and other higher level courses.
3. Develop a budget process that promotes financial stability, transparency and accuracy.
4. Strengthen parental involvement in our schools
5. Ensure that our hiring practices more closely reflect our district demographics.