WE MUST PRESERVE PUBLIC EDUCATION
OP-ED BY PATRICE APODACA IN THE NEWPORT BEACH DAILY PILOT | HTTP://BIT.LY/RTOTZI
December 31, 2011 | 6:49 p.m. :: By many measures, 2011 was a momentous year.
Osama bin Laden was finally tracked down and killed. The Arab Spring uprisings toppled ruthless regimes. The Eurozone's unity was sorely tested. The Occupy protest movement swept across America.
Closer to home, Costa Mesa became a key battleground in the municipal belt-tightening wars. The Newport-Mesa public schools chief was charged with three felony counts that could send him to jail. And a group of teenagers launched an effort to preserve a cherished local icon, the Balboa Fun Zone.
2012 will be another year of great import, for no other reason than it is an election year. That voters are discontented is not in