Empowering Families for Student Success
Stand with Families to Ensure Leaders Put Students First
What the Headlines are Saying
- “Save Our Art Class at Century High School” Change.org Petition by Alejandro Padilla, May 9, 2025
- “Teenager charged with murder for stabbing at Santa Ana high school” CBS News, May 9, 2025
- “Top 5 most outrageous ways the government has wasted your taxes, as uncovered by Elon Musk’s DOGE,” FOX News, May 2, 2025
- “Statement from Santa Ana Unified School District Regarding CIF Sanctions at Segerstrom High School” Posted to SAUSD Social Media, May 1, 2025
- “Will the failed SAUSD kill the OC School of the Arts?” OC Register, Apr. 3, 2025
- “Santa Ana School District Settles Lawsuit Over Alleged Antisemitic Classes” Voice of OC, Feb. 20, 2025
- “Declining enrollment and poor budget management spark Santa Ana Unified layoffs,” Orange County Register, Feb. 5, 2025
- “Editorial: Why are SAUSD Taxpayers Pay for Trustee Alfonso Alvarez’s Elks Lodge Membership?” OC Independent, May 18, 2023
- “SAUSD Board Approves Unusual Subsidy For Trustee Katelyn Brazer Aceves, Paying for 20 Days Off Work Annually,” OC Independent, May 13, 2023
- “Sex abuse case involving a former assistant baseball coach prompts Santa Ana Unified to pay $2.175 million” Orange County Coast, Feb. 23, 2021
- “Santa Ana Unified wrong to attempt charter money grab,” OC Register, May 26, 2019
Support Families For Better School Leadership Today
Our local school board should be focused on educating our students not using their seat as a platform for higher office while allowing district staff to run amok behind the scenes.
From national media coverage to local editorials, the district has become a case study in failed leadership and oversight. They point to repeated failures in fiscal oversight, student safety, and transparency—ranging from questionable trustee perks amid massive budget deficits to inadequate responses to violence, sexual abuse, and controversial curriculum decisions. At the same time, the Board has pursued costly legal battles against charter schools like Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA), diverting funds away from classrooms while cutting essential staff amid a massive $180 million deficit.
This pattern of dysfunction points to a deeper issue: a Board lacking the experience, independence, and focus required to responsibly manage a large public institution. Too often, trustees have acted more as followers of staff agendas than leaders accountable to the community. Whether it's mishandling curriculum decisions, failing to safeguard students, or prioritizing politics over student outcomes, the consequences are now undeniable. With hundreds of teacher layoffs approved, the Board faces a defining choice: continue funding lawyers and failed initiatives—or refocus on classrooms, collaboration, and the core mission of public education.
Donate Today
Every dollar helps us combat the mismanagement and lack of leadership throughout Orange County. Your support empowers us to fund legal action, advocacy, and outreach that defend our students and their right to a thriving arts education.
Empower Families For Better School Leadership
Join us in empowering individuals and communities through your generous donation to Families For Better School Leadership. Together, we can create positive change!