by Roger Riffenburgh
As she runs for her third term on the Solano County Board of Education, Amy Sharp sets an example of a trustee who can make important progress in serving students, despite being the lone Republican on a seven member board. She has succeeded by building relationships on the board and in the community, pointing out problems and providing solutions, and asking board members to take responsibility. Amy’s key belief is: “Our kids aren’t one-size-fits-all. And their education shouldn’t be either.”
The Solano County Board of Education has a different role than a typical school district board. The County Board supports local districts, runs programs at the juvenile detention facility, offers special and vocational education, and authorizes charter schools in the county.
Sharp is proud of her successful advocacy. After hearing repeated complaints about failures to transport special education students properly, sometimes leaving students sitting by the street, Amy pushed the board to get a transition coordinator to have services in place for students from their first day in the classroom. She learned from parole officers that Individual Education Plans for kids in the juvenile justice system were not being implemented well. She says, “We need to help kids in the system get off the wrong path and onto the right one.” She has worked well with other local agencies to attack the problem, which has led to wide bi-partisan support for her efforts.
Sometimes she has succeeded by simply taking an item off the consent calendar and requiring board members to vote publicly on a questionable action. She found some large budget reallocations being made by staff contrary to the Education Code, called them out, and now they are being done correctly. While previously the budget was presented with little time to evaluate it, her efforts have led to earlier review to allow time to analyze the budget.
Amy Sharp’s day job is serving as a district representative for county Supervisor Mitch Mashburn. Among her activities in the community has been serving as Honorary Commander for the 571st Mobility Support Advisory Squadron at Travis Air Force Base, which allowed her to shadow service members and gain insight into their work.
Amy grew up in Stockton. After high school, she attended Sacramento State University, where she met Dan Sharp at the College Republicans club. Eventually, they married and moved to Solano County, where her husband was raised. They had two sons, and Amy cared for them as a stay-at-home-mom. As her boys grew up, she went to work at her husband’s business, which does political and land use consulting.
At the same time, Amy started advocating for children, as she saw the difficulties that her two nieces faced while trying to get an education. They suffered from Batten Disease, a debilitating neurological disorder. Despite good intentions from the staff, the special education system sometimes left them without transportation or other needs. They eventually succumbed to the disease.
In 2016 when the seat came open on the County Board of Education, she ran for it and won, motivated in part by a desire to honor her nieces. And in 2018 she finished up her Sacramento State BA in Government/Political Science.
The Board of Education’s 2nd District (see map) includes Vacaville North of I-80, Fairfield West of I-80, Green Valley, Suisun Valley, and other parts of rural Solano County and Napa County.
Amy Sharp lives in Vacaville with her husband Dan. In her spare time one might find her scrapbooking with photos and memorabilia. You can learn more about Amy on her campaign website, amysharp.org.