Things have always operated with somewhat of a shortage. We could always use more qualified substitute teachers. There are days when the administrative staff looks for teachers to cover somebody's class because we couldn't find anybody to substitute.

It doesn't sound like a lot. And it isn't a lot but it's six more cents and when you put it in perspective it adds up.

Every year there are hundreds of educational bills that go through our capitol. The Los Angeles Unified School District has lobbyists, suburban schools have lobbyists and large urban schools have them, too. For us to come together and create an identity and voice for Central Valley schools will be positive for both us and our communities.

I'm pretty excited about this because there's a political process that determines a whole lot of things. Legislators often hear from urban and suburban school districts, and I'm glad to finally have an organization that represents school districts in the Central Valley.

There are tracts of land that are going to be annexed by the city and are going to be developed by developers that we don't have mitigation agreements with. Part of our job is to continue to get agreements with all of those developers.

One of the things we'll be looking at is how many students need to be accommodated before the new high school is ready for students to occupy it.