Milpitas Unified School District

In education—and in public service more broadly—we often say we want the truth. We want to know what’s working, what’s not, and how to do better for students. But wanting truth requires more than listening with good intentions. It requires something far more difficult: the willingness to change the way we see, listen and most importantly, understand the world.

 

If you believe there is truth, and you truly want the truth, you must constantly change your algorithm.

 

By “algorithm,” I don’t mean technology. I mean the internal systems we all use to interpret reality—our assumptions, incentives, lived experiences, political frameworks, perspectives, and the voices we choose to hear. These algorithms shape decisions long before any vote is taken or data is presented.

 

In public education, holding on to outdated algorithms is increasingly dangerous and we are once again at an inflection point. 

 

California’s economic model has produced extraordinary innovation and unprecedented wealth. It has also produced extreme inequality—and that inequality is destabilizing the very public systems designed to serve everyone identified in the California constitution.  We are all being asked to absorb the social consequences of economic policy in real time. We are all being told to deal with housing costs outpacing wages. We are all witnessing entire communities being priced out of stability. We are all families facing unexpected increases in healthcare costs alongside unmanageable inflation in essentials like food, gas, and utilities.

 

Our educators and classified team members see it in their personal daily lives outside of the classroom. They see it exacerbated by rising absenteeism, increased student anxiety, and hear student whispering about families forced to choose between rent, food, medical care, and transportation. 

 

Our education funding and accountability systems were never designed to function under these compounded pressures. Those algorithms haven't changed either. These economic forces converge, public education infrastructure further erodes under responsibilities it was never built to carry alone.

 

Public education was built for different reasons; industrial monetization and demographic equalization. Today, it is increasingly asked to function as a safety net for regional stabilization, housing instability, food insecurity, mental health needs, workforce displacement, and intergenerational poverty—often without the funding models or policy alignment to do so. Facts!!

 

If we want the truth, we must be honest about this.

 

Achievement or opportunity gaps do not exist in isolation. Learning recovery is not just an instructional challenge. Chronic absenteeism is not merely a behavioral issue. These are symptoms of deeper structural realities—realities shaped by economic decisions far beyond the classroom or a governing board or individual elected official - despite what your favorite news channel or social media platform may espouse. 

 

As a school board president, I’ve learned that leadership is not about defending conclusions or protecting old frameworks. It’s about continually updating the systems that produce our decisions. That means asking harder questions about how state funding models, property and goods based tax constructs, and regional economic forces impact who our schools are able to serve—and how.

 

Changing your algorithm means recognizing that opportunity is created through innovation, alignment, rapid prototyping and collaborative problem-solving. It requires listening closely to resource abundant industry partners driving the economy and educators who are now designers of learning ecosystems. We have MUSD employee families, and families who attend the district trying to make rational decisions within irrational economic conditions. 

 

We have students whose behaviors and outcomes reflect market forces and policy structures they did not choose, but must navigate.  This is our moment in history and it demands that we treat these realities not as excuses, but as signals—signals that our education system must evolve, diversify its revenue generating, cost benefit, and cost management strategies. 

 

This does not mean abandoning accountability. It means redefining and redesigning it.

 

Accountability must include whether our policies are aligned with the lived conditions of the communities we serve AND our funding systems recognize the true cost of educating students in high-cost regions AND knowing our public institutions are being asked to do more while being structurally constrained from succeeding.

 

Changing your algorithm is not a sign of weakness. Not changing your algorithm is generationally irresponsible and fatal.  

 

In Milpitas Unified, our commitment must be to institutional learning, student learning, entrepreneurship, civic engagement and more. Our differences are our greatest strength. We must treat feedback as data, discomfort as information, and adaptation as a leadership skill. It means acknowledging the antiquated design of the system itself—not students, not families, not educators, not the Superintendent, district office team, or school board —is the limiting factor.

 

Truth is not static. It does not reward certainty. It rewards humility, curiosity, and the discipline to adapt in service of the public good.

 

If we are serious about the future of public education in Milpitas Unified (MUSD, then leaders must be willing to evolve faster than the problems confronting our schools. That begins by reexamining—and upgrading—the algorithms that guide our decisions.

 

The goal is not to be right. The goal is to serve—effectively, transparently, and sustainably—for everyone who is a part of MUSD. #AlgorithmChange

 

In community,

Chris Norwood
2026 School Board President, Milpitas Unified School District