Our public education system is a disaster. It is not the teachers, students or even the curriculum. It is the SYSTEM. We need a new innovative approach that utilizes 21st century tools to keep our students competitive.

San Jose Parks Foundations and similar organizations across the country all have public events to celebrate the wonder and beauty of our public parks. It occurred to us that we need something, too, so ordinary citizens can gather together.

In the last two months I have had the privilege of participating in the search for a new provost for San Jose State University. While times are tough in higher education circles, I'm happy to report the school made the right hire in Dr. Andrew Feinstein.

Voters in downtown San Jose will have a chance Wednesday to hear candidates for District 3 discuss issues ranging from pubic safety and traffic congestion to homelessness and downtown development.

I learned an important lesson from former state Sen. John Vasconcellos—politics are personal. Every vote, every issue, every candidate he endorses—it’s all a reflection of his own belief system.

I believe that of all the aspects of city government people encounter most frequently in their daily lives, parks top the list. So what do they think about the importance of our parks and trails?

The charter school world got body slammed once again at the National School Boards Conference.

Longtime Mike Honda supporter and fundraiser Rich Robinson offers a humorous look at political debates in his recent column. But he sells the voters a little short.

Debates make no difference in campaigns, especially in races where one candidate is so strong, that to share a stage with their opponent is a waste of time for the electorate and themselves.

More than 100 volunteers, including the highly-energized San Jose Sharks Foundation, recently came out to help build a playground in one pleasant day of sweaty grunt work.

Every middle and high school student in San Jose should be required to see and discuss the film 'Cesar Chavez: An American Hero.' His story still resonates with today's struggle for education reform.

Almost all of the laws that govern contribution and spending limits are unconstitutional. But everybody should have to play by the same wrong rules.

Santa Clara County was once the nation's capital for electing women into office. But a look at our current political landscape shows successful female candidates have become scarcer.

The recent poll showing Dave Cortese in first place—and Madison Nguyen in second—for the San Jose mayor’s race must have been a shock to the Sam Liccardo camp. So much so, that Liccardo released his own polling information showing him now in second.

The frequency of posts by the Mercury News' new political blog has been herky-jerky, but that isn’t the only aspect of the gossip site that’s missed a beat.

Gov. Jerry Brown, in his first stint in Sacramento, was a bold and courageous leader. But today, the 75-year-old Brown refuses to support a cost-effective intervention of the achievement gap. Continuing down the path we’re on is suicide.