An Atlanta judge last week sentenced eight public school teachers, principals and administrators to jail for conspiring to inflate students' state test scores. The sentencing was a tragic end to the Atlanta testing scandals that began in 2009.

Watching returns come in from the special election for San Jose’s District 4 council seat, Steve Kline noted there was something wrong. “There are too many spoiled ballots, “ he said.

From what I recently witnessed while attending traffic court in Santa Clara County, there is nothing consistent or impartial about the way the court is conducting itself.

While parts of our nation engage in voter suppression, the city of Santa Clara continues to provide new ways to increase voter participation and provide citizens with tools to evaluate candidates.

Spring can be a period of new beginnings for all of us. Or it can be more of the same: a war of words and posturing while some of our children fail to achieve their academic potential.

The inflammatory rhetoric, misguided leadership and pro corporate charter school stance of county education trustee Joseph Di Salvo and others has set the stage for the current battle being waged in local school districts.

The real secret to securing political power is, and always will be, voter turnout. Democrats win when there is heavy turnout, and Republicans win with lower turnout. It is just a fact. But what if voting wasn’t just a right for American citizens, but rather a requirement?

It is an outrage that Silicon Valley education leaders continue to choose battle ground over common ground. Despite extraordinary innovation that occurs everyday in our region, our education leaders too often choose to protect the status quo.

Marketing is for terrible people, and art is for people who don’t realize they’re terrible. Leave it to an $85,000 city-sponsored “art project” highlighting San Jose’s sewer system to synergize the two.

Trustee Leon Beauchman will step down at the end of this month from his elected seat on the Santa Clara County Board of Education. I first learned of his decision during a call from him in February. It was a bittersweet moment.

Silicon Valley was once the female capital of the world for political power, but times have changed. In order to make progress, we need to not only elect more women leaders but also change the culture in which they are forced to compete.

Last week I attended the Children's Summit 2015 at Microsoft’s offices in Mountain View. In the packet for the workshop, I found a state budget analysis with the provocative headline, "Proposed State Budget Doesn't Do Enough For Kids.” When will we ever learn? Before it’s too late, I hope.

The Greater and Greener Conference, a leading international symposium for urban parks, takes place in San Francisco next month.

Hillary Clinton’s recent appearance in Silicon Valley highlighted the culture divide in today’s world. Clinton, as much as Barack Obama did in 2008, represents a culture change for our nation and the globe.

The current conundrum at City Hall has been exacerbated by the inability of personalities to work together on Measure B and pension reform. Mayor Sam Liccardo and his opponents should try to find at least one issue on which they agree.

Similar to SpaceX, the state's new Smarter Balanced Assessment System (SBAC) will eventually yield results that are worth the trial and error.