Meet Mari Barke
As a parent of students who attended Orange County schools, I believe that all children deserve a high quality education.
I am a champion for our children by ensuring that the focus is on students, families, and local community members, not special interest groups. Parents should be making educational choices for their children, not politicians and bureaucrats.
Since I joined the board in July of 2018, we have:
Approved six new public charter schools and the material expansion of several of our existing charters, including moving the largest Orange County charter under the umbrella of the county as authorizer.
I led the effort to move the monthly meetings from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm to improve transparency and allow for more community participation. We also now have all of our meetings live streamed for those that cannot attend in person.
Hosted California Healthy Youth Act, Reopen the Schools, Charter School and two CRT Expert Forums to educate the community
During my first four year term, I served as President twice and Vice President twice. In addition, I never missed a meeting and through my leadership at the beginning of the pandemic, all meetings have been in person.
Under my leadership we took a deep dive into the Budget including much more transparency of expenses. We are still litigating the right to change line item expenses.
Education in Orange County should start with giving parents a choice of where to send their children. If your local public school is not fulfilling its duty, you should have a choice to move to a different community public school or public charter school. I want every parent and child to have choices when it comes to their education.
