Candidate Forum: Jim Beall and Joe Coto

The League of Women Voters of the Southwest Santa Clara Valley is hosting a forum tonight at the Campbell Community Center.

The forum will offer a chance to hear from State Senate District 15 candidates Jim Beall Jr. and Joe Coto in the Roosevelt Room at 6:00 p.m. Sept. 17.

State Senate District 15 includes the cities of Campbell, Los Gatos, Cupertino, Saratoga and parts of San Jose.

Coto, the longtime superintendent of San Jose's East Side Union High School District told Campbell Patch earlier this year that for the communities included in the newly drawn Senate District 15, education is a high priority and with his experience and skill set, he's a good match to the position.

Education is also one of the issues Beall is campaigning on.

"It’s a battle. You can’t just talk about education. These costs have to be controlled," he said to Campbell Patch earlier this year. "I’m a strategist. I look at a strategy for education, strategy for creating jobs and how to handle public safety and keep our prison cost down.

"Everything that goes into the prisons is taken away from the education," he says. "So unless we solve our public safety, we will lose in terms of higher education. It's like robbing our children of our future."

The form takes place at the Campbell Community Center, the Roosevelt Room, tonight, Sept. 17 at 6:00 p.m.