THERE ARE CERTAIN PEOPLE who come into your life that you realize just fit. I met Mary Haffner back in 2000 when our children's school had been covered in a toxic cloud from a pesticide drift from a neighboring orchard, an incident which I've written about a few times here. My daughter and other children became ill.

Enraged, I alerted every media outlet I could find. The story ended up on the front page of the Los Angeles Times.

Enraged, Mary organized parents, held meetings and helped spearhead legislation later carried by then-Assemblymember Hannah-Beth Jackson to stop this from happening again.

Used to operating independently on various activist endeavors, we discovered each other one day with a mutual exclamation of "OK, you were the one who did that. I was wondering."

Three years later Mary called me to co-chair a group she wanted to start to raise money for the Ventura Unified School District. Save Our Schools raised thousands of dollars, sponsored many education rallies and helped bring our highly successful School Resource Officer program back to our campuses.

In 2005 my friend told me she wanted to run for school board here in Ventura and I enthusiastically agreed she would do a fine job. In the past four years she has already been elevated to the position of president. I am proud of her accomplishments and I heartily support her re-election.

The only school board member with children in the district, Mary is a devoted mother of three who manages to do it all and do it all well. An attorney, Mary has also been a strong voice for sustainability and environmental stewardship. As a board member, Mary helped to draft Ventura Unified's Green Schools Resolution -- a statement of Ventura Unified's commitment to sustainability and the promotion of policies and actions that help our district tread more lightly on the earth.

In alignment with this philosophy, Mary serves as the board representative on the Ventura Unified Green Schools Committee and is the Chair of the Ventura County Regional Energy Alliance.

In these tough budget times for our schools, she has shown exemplary leadership. And Ventura schools have weathered this storm better fiscally than most surrounding districts. Our API scores have increased every year since 2002.

But on a more personal note, she has been a wonderful friend. Like any two strong, independent women, we've had our little spats, but we always find our way back to each other because in this life you always need somebody who really understands you.

On Nov. 3, cast your vote for Mary Haffner and by doing so you will also be helping the children of Ventura.

For an interview with Mary on CAPS-TV, go here.

SCHOOL EMPLOYEES statewide will be taking to the streets on Friday, March 13 to protest the estimated 20,000-25,000 layoff notices going out to teachers across California. Here in Ventura, the Pink Friday protest begins at 4 p.m. at the corner of Victoria Avenue and Telephone Road.

"It's a show of support for the teachers who are getting pink slips," said Ventura Unified Educators Association President Steve Blum. Other demonstrations are expected across Ventura County, Blum said.

With education taking up about half of the state's budget, the reduction of $8.4 billion to our schools was part of an agreement passed by legislators on Feb. 19 to plug a deficit projected at $41.6 billion over the next two years.

In the Ventura Unified School District, 17 Reduction in Force (RIF) notices will be sent out to teachers in addition to letters notifying an additional 86 temporary instructors that they may not have a job next year. Temporary teachers, Blum said, are those who have been hired to fill in for those on leave or to fill "categorical" positions like music, art or P.E. State law requires permanent teachers to be notified by March 13 if they will have jobs next year or not.

Ventura Unified will need to trim $10 million from its budget in the next two years. An unknown number of "classified" positions such as janitors, secretaries, etc. will also be lost, Blum said.

THE NEWS IS FAR MORE GRIM in other parts of the county. The Conejo Valley Unified School District is sending notices to 160 employees. Fellow Star blogger Brian Dennert reports an astounding 231 employees in the Simi Valley Unified School District will be notified their jobs are in jeopardy.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles Board of Education will vote today (March 10) on whether to issue layoff notices to about 9,000 employees.

"It's ugly out there," Blum said.

Without the revenue package passed by legislators with the budget, even more of our educators would be out on the streets next year, a fact conveniently ignored by radio shock jocks John and Ken of KFI-AM 640 last weekend at a "Tax Revolt Day" in Fullerton. Ventura County Supervisor Peter Foy joined the event with the giant inflatable ATM he hauls around with him. (I've always wondered if in Foy's case that stood for Avoiding Taxing Millionaires.)

While these radio goofballs partied last weekend, more than 20,000 teachers were likely wondering if they could feed their families next year. And up in Sacramento, Sen. Roy Ashburn of Bakersfield was giving an interview to the Sacramento Bee: "Ashburn, who is termed out of his Senate seat next year, said that 'more than a few' Republican legislators acknowledged privately that the budget deficit could not be patched without tax hikes." But they just didn't want to be the ones to vote for them, apparently.

Let's hope they're not laying off math instructors. Math skills are urgently needed in Sacramento.