Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, May 27, 2017

SATURDAY, MAY 27, 2017 SATURDAY, MAY 27, 2017 
SECTION B 


AROUND SAN GABRIEL VALLEY 
BUDGET SUBCOMMITTEE CHAIR PORTANTINO PROUD 
OF BUDGET SUBCOMMITTEE’S FUNDING PLAN 


Sacramento, CA – Senator Anthony J. Portantino closed out theState Senate Budget Subcommittee on Education last week withseveral important additions and ratifications to the Governor’srecently released May revised budget.

“It is our subcommittee’s job to review the Governor’s planfor education in California and reject, approve or improve onhis proposals. I was very pleased with the committee’s work andproud of my colleagues for preparing this plan for our studentsand families. From here our plan goes to the full Senate BudgetCommittee for deliberation and completion,” commentedPortantino. 

Budget Subcommittee Highlights Include 

Increasing Cal Grants for Community College Students: The 
proposal is included in SB 539, authored by Senate Pro Tem KevinDe León and Senator Portantino to include additional funding fortransportation and other costs associated with attending college.
Funding transportation costs is a top priority for Portantino andbecomes increasingly more important as efforts to fund studenttransportation needs have stalled and transit pass programs areregional and not statewide as this plan is.

Funding Childcare: A top priority of the Legislative Women’sCaucus, Governor Brown restored the proposed cut, which is inline with a budget agreement negotiated last year.

After School Education and Safety (ASES) Funding: The 
committee disagreed with the Governor’s proposal to not includea cost-of-living increase or additional funding for ASES. The 
committee voted to include $9 million dollars for the COLA and an 
addition $25 million for the program. Portantino recently toureda program in Monrovia and invited two elementary students tothe capitol to testify before his committee. The committee agreedwith the young advocates and added the funding.

University of California Accountability: The subcommittee 
built upon efforts of the Governor and State Auditor tobring accountable to the University of California Officeof the President in the wake of the recent State Audit. The 
senate committee included strong language in the budget toincrease accountability and transparency. It also accepted theGovernor’s proposal to hold back $50 million dollars fromthe UC office of the President until all of the State Auditor’s 
recommendations are fulfilled. 

Summer Institute for Emerging Managers and Leaders(SIEML): The Subcommittee was pleased to include continuousfunding of the institute initiated by Portantino when he was inthe State Assembly. The SIEML institute is a summer programfor undergraduate students from Historically Black Colleges andHispanic Serving Institutes at the seven University of CaliforniaBusiness Schools. The funding is intended to fund the school-

based institute and bring accountability to the Office of thePresident to administer the program.

Umbilical Cord Blood Collection: The subcommittee 
accepted the Governor’s proposal to create a continuousappropriation to the University of California Davis Cord BloodCollection Program. This is another successful program initiatedby Portantino that is providing life-saving cord blood stem cells toCalifornia’s diverse population.

Education Training for Updated Curriculum: Over the 
past several years, the legislature has passed several bills thatcreate new curricula for the study of several important socialscience additions. The California Department of Education hasadopted these proposals into an updated History-Social Sciencecurriculum framework with guidelines for public school teachers.
The Department of Education does not have the budget to offerstatewide teacher training and curriculum implementation. The 
sub-committee included $16 million dollars to implement thistraining. This is of particular interest to residents of the 25thSenate District as the study of the Armenian Genocide is one ofthe subject areas.

Restoring Cal Grants for Non-Profit Colleges: Nonprofit 
colleges like USC and the University of La Verneserve a significantly more diverse student population thanthe University of California. In fact, 47% of the students at 
these non-profit colleges are Latino students. The Governor 
had originally proposed to only partially fund Cal Grants forthese students, then added some restrictions that would make 
it difficult for students at these schools. The Subcommittee 
approved full funding of the Cal Grants but rejected thestrings attached to them.

Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF): The Committee 
accepted the increase in LCFF and LCFF implementation, whichwill help many of the school districts across the 25th SenateDistrict and the San Gabriel Valley.

Prop 98: After proposing that the Governor not defer nearlya billion dollars in Prop 98 funding in the January budget, theCommittee accepted the Governor’s May revised plan to fullyfund this money to K–12 districts. The committee deferred 
action to the full Senate Budget Committee on the Governor’splan to add an additional billion dollars to K–12 but only makethis money available in 2019.

“Although I’m very proud of our work thus far, there is muchmore to be done. I’m happy that the Governor is setting asideadditional funding for K–12 education but I don’t like the ideaof deferring it until 2019. Since I’m strongly supporting furthernegotiation on this item but had to close the committee aheadof next week’s full deliberations, I left this item open with theoptimism we can work out a better solution with the Governor’sOffice,” concluded Portantino. 


VETERAN JOCKEY GALLYN MITCHELL AT SANTA 
ANITA-BACK TO WHERE IT BEGAN 


By Joan Schmidt

A few months ago, a new jockey, Gallyn Mitchell,
came to Santa Anita. I went on line to learn more 
and was stunned that he suffered a near-fatal attack 
three years ago. “Why on earth would he return toracing?” I also read highlights of his career and thathis wife was his agent.

This past February, Gallyn played in the 50th 
annual Jockeys VS Holy Angels Benefit Basketball 
Game and a few days later, I met him after a race. 
He told me that he began at Santa Anita and 
this was where he wanted to end his career. He 
has family out here-two brothers and nieces and 
nephews, so it seemed like a good idea. It also was 
time for a change. A year ago, he lost one of his 
daughters.

Today Gallyn and I met at Clockers Cornerand he told me his story, which began in Denver,
Colorado, where he was born in 1962. At three 
years old, he saw cowboys on TV, and told hisparents that’s what he wanted to do. He and hisfamily relocated to California when he was aboutfive years old. He grew up around livestock. Hisfamily was in the Motion Picture Industry-they hadall kinds of wagons and animals which were used infilms and series. His parents had a rodeo companyso he and his brothers learned how to ride at an 
early age.

Back in those days, jockeys started at the bottomand worked their way up. They groomed the horsesand learned all about their care. Then they advancedto “Exercise Rider”-working out the horses. Gallyn’s 

mom worked two jobs and came home at 3AM, butdrove him to various local tracks so he could work 
out horses. (Later in the interview, when I askedhim about a role model, whom he most admired, it 
was his mom who worked so hard and helped himin his career.)

In 1981, he officially started his career at SantaAnita, the youngest but leading apprentice; herecalled riding alongside Gary Stevens, KentDesormeaux and Martin Pedroza. He completedthe entire Santa Anita Meet, then to Golden Gates 
Fields up north; he was in Arizona for a coupleyears, but eventually settled in Seattle and raced atLong Acres, (now Emerald Downs) for 30+ years.

Right now Gallyn races at Santa Anita, but alsotravels to Los Alamitos for quarter racing in theevening. (And does both in the same day!) He can 
get home late, but get up early to be at Santa Anitaat 5am to exercise horses! WOW! How does he do 
this? “It’s a routine…you have to go where you needto.” 

I really admire Gallyn not only as a jockey, butbecause of the person he is. He has dealt with theworst tragedy-the loss of his daughter, at age 24,
and she suffered prior to her death. Yet he is goingon with his life-not just the racing, but movingahead and focusing on the positive aspects of hislife. He talked about his beautiful grandchildrenin Seattle, his parents in Texas-and mom watchinghim race on TV, and his two brothers and their 
families who he lives near out here. I wish him onlythe best-many wins and happy times in CA. 


When it's time to BUY OR SELL a home, 
I can help you make the right decision at the right price! 
www.JanGreteman.com | 626.975.4033 | Jan@JanGreteman.com 
30 N. Baldwin Avenue, Sierra Madre 91024 
Real Estate byJAN GRETEMAN 
CalBRE #01943630 
REALTOR®, SRES, GREEN 
Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com