Jessica Speiser is the community's choice. Her opponent is the incumbent without the support of her education board peer group despite her tenure.

Speiser is endorsed by (partial list):

See more endorsements here.

Speiser's campaign is also funded by 200+ individual donors in our community—including parents and teachers in the school districts the county board oversees. Speiser's opponent is funded by outside special interests, including an outside Political Action Committee (PAC) that just recently dropped $150,000 to win the race.

A vote for Speiser is a vote for keeping our county's educational priorities aligned with those in our community and against outside special interest control. I believe Jessica Speiser is the best candidate — so much so that I volunteer for and support her campaign.

UPDATED: Speiser's opponent, Grace Mah, is being investigated for "willful violations" of policies under The Brown Act. Mah has been reported to say to her colleagues, "If I’m not going to jail for violating the Brown Act, I don’t care if I break the law.” (Source: The Mercury News)

The Brown Act is a California law that guarantees the public's right to attend and participate in meetings of local legislative bodies. It was enacted due to growing public concern about undisclosed or secret meetings by public officials—where impactful decisions could be made without the knowledge or input of the public. The Brown Act requires that local legislative bodies publish meeting dates, agendas, and other actions so that the public has the ability to know about and participate in public matters. You can read more about The Brown Act here.

Christine Case-Lo is a longtime resident and volunteer in Mountain View. She has been a resident of Mountain View since 2006 and a parent in the MVWSD district since 2007 until present. I know Christine from my time on the LAMV PTA Council. Christine was the VP of Advocacy, and I found that she was committed to and thoughtful about providing our PTA Council with updates on what is happening in Sacramento in terms of policy discussions and how that impacts our area. In addition to this role, Christine has held a number of other service roles for our community, such as:

Lisa Henry has been a longtime volunteer since moving to the Bay Area in 2012. For instance, she has served on the board at her children’s parent participation preschool and she has been an active parent in the Mountain View Whisman School District for more than ten years. She has been a classroom volunteer, PTA and as a member of district-level focus groups and task forces. She is also a volunteer leader with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

I know Ibrahim personally and have worked with him on the Product and Engineering Leadership Team at Box. I think our City Council needs a fresh and new perspective to compliment the experience and tenure on the Council. I believe Ibrahim Bashir will be a great addition to our council — so much so that I volunteer for and support his campaign.

I also believe Bashir is the only candidate who can represent the interests of families with young children and the families moving into Los Altos. I want to see someone who can represent me and my family on the Los Altos City Council.

In this race, we have two strong candidates. They're both experienced, and they've both demonstrated themselves to be capable leaders. What I've heard from talking to friends is that they seem so similar, it's been hard for people to differentiate and to decide who to vote for. For example, if you look at The Mountain View Voice's coverage of the candidates, you'll see that they are pretty similar in terms of policy positions.

This was a race where I went back and forth on the candidates, and I think either one would do a good job. I eventually decided on Sam Liccardo for a couple of reasons. One of them is that, in my evaluation, Liccardo did a much better job in the debate than Low. You can watch the debate here. Liccardo answered the questions clearly, and he had specific and tractable ways to solve the problems posed by the moderators. I would like to see more tangible solutions in Congress, so his approach resonated with me. Second, in The Mountain View Voice's coverage of the candidates, they were similar but had a few differences in the areas of taxation (capital gains and wealth tax), border security, rank choice voting in congressional elections and use of natural gas. I thought Liccardo's positions on taxation, for instance, demonstrated a more thoughtful approach to taxes that would bring more equity into our tax system without causing unintended consequences like incentivizing investments to leave the US. In reading through the comments associated with their policy positions for other areas, I also thought Liccardo had a stronger grasp on the issues and ways to address problems.

Assembly District 26 covers Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Cupertino and parts of San Jose (West San Jose and Alviso). You can find your Assembly District here.

Patrick Ahrens is running for the CA Assembly to represent District 26 — or Assemblymember Evan Low's current seat. Ahrens is District Director for Assemblymember Low and has Low's endorsement.

Of the candidates running, Ahren has the most robust policy experience and knowledge at the state level — with 10 years working in the state legislature. He has also been on the Foothill-De Anza Community College Board since 2018. Serving as a Trustee on this School Board is important to him as the first member of his family to attend college.

Ahrens had lived, for a time, in a car with his twin brother. While on the Foothill-De Anza School Board, the community college passed a $200 million bond measure to build affordable housing. Ahrens said, "We did that because over half of our students experience homelessness, and we’re not going to wait around for the cities in our district" (Source: The Mercury News).

You can read about why the Los Altos Town Crier has endorsed Measure EE here and why Alex Wang (one of our community leaders and top realtors) also encourage you to support Measure EE here.

I'm also voting YES on Measure EE (Bond for Los Altos Schoo District) because our school district is in need of facilities modernization. We have not had major upgrades for over two decades. Compared to other school districts, we have one of the lowest bond tax rates—which means we have not invested in our public schools' facilities as much as other districts.

For instance, Mountain View Whisman School District has a bond tax rate of $76 per $100,000 in assessed value. Los Altos School District is at $19.50 (Source: LASD). You can also just drive over to Graham Middle School, for instance, and compare their facilities to ours, and you'll see the difference.

"…some of our school facilities are over 25 years old, aging, and in need of improvements. Locally controlled funding from a bond measure like Measure EE would allow us to complete essential repairs and upgrades to school roofs, windows, bathrooms, plumbing, wiring, and heating and cooling systems to provide a safe, healthy learning environment for all students.

Additionally, many classes are currently held in old, deteriorating portable classrooms that are well past their useful age, presenting safety issues for students. Measure EE would provide local funding to replace these aging portables with permanent classrooms." (Source: LASD)

I'm voting YES on Measure EE so our K-8 children can attend school in buildings that are safe and up-to-date. LASD is in the top 1% of California schools. All of their schools are California Distinguished Schools and 3 are recognized as National Blue Ribbon Schools. Let's have our facilities match our educational quality and facilitate spaces for continued educational excellence.

Measure AA would renew an expiring parcel tax for the Mountain View Whisman School District. The parcel tax would pay for ongoing expenses like paying teachers and staff to support students. This parcel tax cannot be used for administrators' salaries or pensions. Senior citizens can apply for an exemption.

Measure AA changes the existing parcel tax by replacing a flat rate with one based on building size (not parcel size). Owners of larger homes would pay more than owners of smaller homes. "At 15 cents per square foot, a 1,500 square foot home would be charged $225. The math works out so that properties with 1,273 square feet or less of building area would save money compared to the current parcel tax" (Source: The Mountain View Voice).

If the parcel tax isn't passed, then the school district would face budget cuts and the district's deficit would be exacerbated. Measure AA funds would be used for largely the same teachers and programs that exists with the current, expiring parcel tax. The school district is currently facing a $4.1 million budget deficit that would worsen without Measure AA funds (Source: The Mountain View Voice). Voting yes on Measure AA would help the district continue running its schools.

There have been recent controversies with the district's superintendent, who is currently on short-term leave. Those controversies, in my mind, are separate from whether or not you want the school district to be able to continue to run its operations — that is, by paying teachers and staff to work at the schools.