Mayoral Candidate Bonnie Dumanis last week announced plans to develop a regional Educational Leadership Summit as part of her ongoing commitment to reforming the San Diego Unified School District and implementing her ‘Framework for America’s Finest Schools.’

“When schools succeed, students succeed. And when students succeed, cities succeed. As Mayor, I’ll take a leadership role in ensuring San Diego City schools are utilizing best practices, making district finances transparent, and integrating partners such as AmeriCorps, cultural institutions, universities, businesses and government offices to expand the resources available to teachers and students,” said Dumanis.

As part of continuing discussions with parents, educators and others, Dumanis recently visited with United States Conference of Mayors Education Reform Task Force Chairman Mayor Kevin Johnson of Sacramento. Mayor Johnson provided feedback and support for Dumanis’ education reform plan to expand the mayor’s leadership role over San Diego’s city schools.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors has developed an Action Guide for Success, which includes five levels of participation based on the current governance structure of each city and each mayor’s personal priorities. The spectrum, developed from best practices, encourages a wide range of options — from aligning city services with schools to mayors taking full control, ensuring responsibility and accountability among their schools.

“A San Diego Educational Leadership Summit will gather the best and brightest in our region to follow the pathway already laid out by the nation’s experts. They’ve given us a road map, complete with current examples of best practices that are making the difference between good schools and great schools.”

Dumanis’ bold “Framework For America’s Finest Schools” already incorporates some of the suggestions in the national Action Guide for Success, including utilizing mayoral influence to advocate for improving the educational system by lobbying at the state and local level, and publishing a report card. In addition, the Guide calls for mayors to take partial control by appointing board members, which Dumanis’ Framework also recommends.

Dumanis also announced plans today to include another successful program, City Year, that is already working in nearly two dozen cities across the nation. The City Year corps of young workers helps mentor students. At the end of their City Year service year, they receive an education award of $5,550 funded through AmeriCorps. City Year is similar to a current program in the Office of the District Attorney, that employs young adults to gain experience in the criminal justice system through AmeriCorps.

More information about Dumanis’ 'Framework for America’s Finest Schools' can be found http://bonnieforsandiego.com