Reshma Karipineni has lived in Fremont for over 30 years and is very passionate about education, both as a consumer and advocate. Through her professional and volunteer work, she has experienced firsthand the impact current economic turmoil has on education. She has great ideas on prioritizing the educational programs to ensure best value out of scarce financial resources.
Despite being less than 1% of American population, Indo-American community holds significant proportion of positions in education, politics, medicine, administration, technical and business fields. What do you attribute this growth to?
Reshma: Indian culture has always held education in high regard. Many Indian immigrants and immigrant families in the US have first-hand experience with, or at least knowledge of, poverty of a different level than that which we typically see here. In my experience, part of the Indian immigrant culture is a sense of responsibility for our own welfare and that of our families. This is what drives the desire for education and motivation to work hard to achieve our goals.
How are Indian Americans able to integrate easily with American mainstream?
Almost all Indian Americans speak English, which makes it easier to integrate into the American mainstream.
What potential areas of improvement you see for further growth of Indian Americans here?
I would like to see Indian Americans continue to build our presence in the area of politics and other public positions. I think we as a community recognize the importance of making our voice heard and ensuring we are represented in government. We can continue to support each other and overcome our trivial differences.
What message you would like to give to Indo-American community on integration and assimilation with American mainstream?
I think the Indo-American community has done a good job of integrating into American society, while still maintaining our values and traditions. I want us to focus on coming together to achieve our common goals.
Tell us about your early years. Where did you grow up? How long have you been in Fremont?
I grew up in Fremont. My parents are physicians who moved here when I was just a year old, and our family has lived here ever since. My sister and half a dozen cousins, along with my own two children, were born right here in Fremont.
Growing up, my parents always prioritized my education and values, and my grandparents spent many years with us when I was young. As a parent, I realize it must have been difficult for them to manage demanding full-time careers while staying so involved in my and my sister’s lives. But they did it because it was important to them, and we were lucky to have the help of their own parents as well.
What motivated you to get involved in the community and education?
I’ve been involved in the community for as long as I can remember. Over the years, I’ve volunteered at Fremont institutions like Abode, Washington Hospital, and local businesses. I’ve served as a volunteer tutor, admissions advisor, resume editor, and job counselor to community children and their parents.
Education has always been important to me – as a kid, I was concerned about my own education. I felt a strong education was the key to becoming self-sufficient, to achieving my own goals, and ultimately to helping others. With the support and encouragement of my family, I was privileged to receive my BS in Biomedical Engineering from Yale, and my MBA from Stanford.
As a parent, education took on a different meaning for me. I believe the collective education of my children’s generation will affect not just them, but all of us. A strong public education system is at the very foundation of democracy, and in the current economic environment we cannot take for granted that our children will have the resources to reach their potential. We need people that have experience in both finance as well as education to get involved – people who know how to use finance to achieve our educational goals. I have this experience. I can’t make the economy magically improve, but I can explore ways to reduce our dependence on unpredictable state funds, and make sure we get the most bang for our buck out of our limited budget by bringing better investment discipline and accountability to the Board’s decisions.
Last few years have seen a big economic turmoil in the country. How has it impacted education?
Public education is dependent on federal, state and local funding. So when the economy suffers, education suffers. Fremont Unified School District has lost about $100 million in funding over the past three years alone, leaving us with a budget of under $250 million. So the cuts to our budget have been extremely large. We’ve lost many programs, our facilities are in need of significant repair, our classrooms are overcrowded, children are overloaded to non-neighborhood schools…the list goes on. Teachers and parents are unhappy, and the education of our children has absolutely been affected in every way.
Fremont today is a melting pot of different cultures and ethnicities. What changes have you seen in Fremont over the years?
When my family moved here over 30 years ago, Indians were a minority. Today, a typical Fremont classroom may have an Asian majority. We also have the largest Afghani population here outside of Afghanistan. So from a cultural perspective, Fremont is indeed a melting pot.
What measures can be taken to minimize impact of budgets cut on k-12 education?
While we must continue to seek all federal, state, and local funding for which we become eligible, we need to find ways to decrease our dependence on unpredictable state funding in particular. We can explore public-private partnerships, using our facilities to generate revenues, and other creative opportunities to raise money from local sources. Perhaps most importantly, we must make the most of the funds we do have by being disciplined about our spending.
Every time we fund a program, we should ask three questions: (1) what are the specific goals of this program? (2) how will we know it is working, and (3) when we will re-evaluate this?
We have to be proactive because children only get one chance to be in first grade, or fifth or tenth or whatever. They are counting on us to provide the resources they need to achieve their maximum potential. We are proud of our schools in Fremont, and we should be, but we cannot rest on our laurels much longer. The cuts we’ve made will have an impact, and it will show up in our kids.
Education is such a cornerstone of our community in Fremont, perhaps as a result of the Asian cultures that are now prevalent here. It is one of our city’s great selling points, and even props up our housing values when the economy is weak. For so many reasons, it is imperative that we act to minimize the impact of budget cuts on our schools.
How can people get involved to support you in campaign?
I’ve been honored to receive endorsements from education leaders, community leaders, business groups, and trade organizations. At this point, I want to get the message out to as many people as possible. We would be grateful for donations of time or money, and have a number of volunteer opportunities for students and parents. I love to hear directly from people in our community, and hope people will email me personally at vote4reshma@gmail.com.
