Acalanes Hosts Interactive Forum on State Budget Woes

Governor Jerry Brown has made it known he wants public input on how his administration should solve California’s budget quagmire and on Thursday, Feb. 10, Assemblymember Nancy Skinner will allow her constituents to do just that.

In a public, interactive forum at Acalanes High School, Skinner intends to explain the issues, offer possible solutions and invite their audience to vote, using an “instant-response clicker” to register their preferences.

Mark Chekal-Bain, Skinner’s District Director, said Next 10, a nonpartisan organization that creates tools and presentations for understanding public policy, is providing the interactive tools.

“Education is such a big part of state funding, 40 percent, so we thought, what better place to hold a forum than at Acalanes?" Chekal-Bain said. "It’s such a great school."

Skinner and her staff will be coordinating three forums: at Acalanes; Claremont, a middle school in Oakland; and at Contra Costa College in San Pablo, each school chosen for its educated commitment to the issues.

Cuts to redevelopment, MediCal, education and proposed tax increases will impact all Californians, regardless of political party, and Assemblymember Skinner said she will use voters’ response to guide how she votes when she returns to Sacramento. She will also email the results of the forum to all constituents on her office’s mailing list, so people can see how others voted.

Field representative Jael Myrick said the event is among the first to use the immediate, first person technology.

Where and When: The Lamorinda forum will be held from 7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 10, in the auditorium at Acalanes High School, Lafayette.