Last year, Mike Napolitano heard something at a school meeting that upset him.  “We learned that we were going to lose about 15% of our site budget.  It was demoralizing.” 

Napolitano decided to take action:  he sent an email to other parents suggesting a bike ride to Sacramento to bring attention to the budget cuts.

Within three weeks, Napolitano had gathered 200 signatures on a petition to change the way the legislature voted on school funding.  He had letters from students.  And he had three additional riders: Ron Kriss, Mike Mages, John Harkins and Napolitano set out on May 4, 2009, to ride the 100 miles from Oakland to Sacramento. 

Supporters, students and legislators met them in Sacramento at the end of the ride.
“It was wonderful to see the look in the kid’s eyes when Loni Hancock was signing the petition and talking with them.  That was the best part,” recalls Napolitano.  The second best part was getting to draft behind his riding companions.  Although he is a dedicated bike commuter, it had been 20 years since he rode a century (100 miles in one day).

This year the event, called Ride for a Reason, takes place on Saturday, May 8 and has room for 50 riders.  The ride will raise both awareness and funds for Oakland Technical High School and Claremont Middle School.  The money raised – over $11,000 so far – goes to support academic enrichment programs.  The goal is to raise a total of $20,000 so the ride can contribute $10,000 to each school.
The impetus to expand the event came from the continuing budget crisis. 

“It’s frustrating when we get really good programs and we can’t afford to keep them,” Napolitano says.  “We can’t keep up with the cuts.”   He grew up in California and remembers what schools were like before Prop 13.  “We had the best schools in the nation.  California is a very rich state.  It’s frustrating that we can’t fund at the national average.”  California now ranks near the bottom in school funding per student and student/teacher ratios.

Napolitano encourages everyone to get more involved with the schools. He says “I think that it’s important that people go out and get to know their school and their neighborhood and see if they can do something to contribute.  I think they will be impressed with what’s going on, despite the financial hardships.”

It’s not too late to donate to the Ride for a Reason and/or sign up to ride with them.  To find out more, visit http://rideforareason.dojiggy.com/