Opinion

While most kids grew up running around their daycare after school, I grew up hanging out in my parents’ classrooms. Both of my parents work in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District — a district that is severely underfunded. This district is largely populated by low-income, immigrant families.

It is generally accepted that, historically, a common survival strategy for autocratic leaders includes forming a personal paramilitary support group. These groups serve to counterbalance the regular military, strengthen security services  and provide an armed force loyal directly to the leaders, rather than the...