Santa Monica School Board (1994-2006)
Brownley served three four-year terms on the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education and was elected Board President. She worked with the California State PTA and the Community for Excellent Public Schools to launch the "Caravan for Kids," which brought over 5,000 children and parents to Sacramento to demand that the Governor and Legislature create a state plan for excellence in education. Brownley and the SMMUSD, CEPS, local PTA's and other education advocates led the local efforts that secured $16,000,000 in additional funding annually for Santa Monica and Malibu schools. This enabled her school district to avoid massive cuts in the schools' budgets that would have eliminated programs and caused extensive layoffs of teachers and other employees. She also succeeded in getting Santa Monica to invest $6 million in public education by an increase in the city hotel bed tax. In 2006, she was named YWCA Woman of the Year for her leadership on the School Board and in her community.
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