Elections

Measure E and Proposition 30 Both Pass – It was a scary night for local supporters of education because, while the Presidential Election which was predictably close wrapped up early, the first returns did not look promising locally, either for Measure E or Proposition 30.

For much of the night Measure E looked to be in trouble.  The first returns just after 8 pm showed the measure with *just* 65.1 percent of the vote – a healthy vote total but not enough to meet the two-thirds threshold.

VANGUARD ANALYSIS – There’s an old legal aphorism that goes, “If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts. If you have the law on your side, pound the law. If you have neither on your side, pound the table.”

It occurs to me yet again, with regard to Measure E, that this is precisely what the No on Measure E side is doing.  They know that they cannot win on the merits of the argument.  They have not won on the merits of the argument in 2011 or 2012.  The public has consistently backed parcel taxes in Davis.  For the last twenty years, between 67 and 75 percent of the voters have approved each parcel tax.

Vanguard Analysis – The school board race this year is even harder to judge than the City Council race was.  In the City Council race, while there was one no brainer, we failed to call Brett Lee’s victory correctly.

By Greg Brucker, et al 

GUEST COMMENTARY – As we continue to make our way through this national and local economic crisis, we find that our schools are still at great risk. With class sizes at the highest levels we’ve experienced and having already lost close to 100 teaching and staff positions since 2008 due to a reduction of over $8.5 million in revenue from the state, we cannot afford to see any more cuts made to education.

Despite all this, teachers, counselors and support staff continue to work hard to deliver the great education offered here as we find incredible joy and accomplishment in seeing the success of our students.

By Hiram Jackson 

GUEST COMMENTARY – This Nov. 13, the 8^th and 9^th grade students of the Holmes Junior High orchestra will perform the National Anthem for the Sacramento Kings home game with Portland. It will be the largest live audience they have ever had, and for some students, it will be their first time ever attending a professional sports game. They will literally play on an NBA court before graduating from high school.

They have this opportunity because the Measure A school parcel tax has made it possible for junior high students to have options for elective classes. Measure A will expire at the end of this school year, but many more future students will have similar opportunities if Measure E passes on Tuesday. Measure E will continue funding for several other programs, but here I point out reasons to value the junior high music program.

By Claire Sherman

GUEST COMMENTARY – In one way or another, my entire adult life has been focused on education.  I’ve been through Pennsylvania State University, UC Berkeley, the University of Waterloo as a student, and at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, UC Davis, and San Francisco State as a professor.

As a researcher and advocate for child welfare I was employed by the State of California where I assessed and identified the effects of environmental hazards on the health of our school-age children.

VANGUARD Learns Both Randall and Zwahlen Take Senior Exemptions and Do Not Pay Parcel Tax – It was a longshot to begin with, a suit brought by Thomas Randall Jr and Janet Zwahlen claiming that Measure E was unconstitutional and arguing that the ballot wording of the measure was convoluted.

In a press release Thomas Randall writes, “They believe there are constitutional issues when the School Board has decided to apply the law in different ways to different groups.  They see that the fact that home residents who practically will pay the bill of Measure E by themselves, on one hand, are treated entirely different than groups that do not pay the taxes at all or do not pay equally, such as apartment residents, senior citizens and people who do not live in Davis but send their kids to Davis Schools on the other.”

Vanguard Analysis: Thomas Randall has thrown more dirt clogs into the air hoping somehow they will transform themselves into mud and stick to something, anything to give him traction.

A week ago he filed a complaint regarding Measure E with the State Political Fair Practices Commission that was shot down without even an investigation.

GUEST COMMENTARY – I have served on the Davis School Board since 2007.  During that time state funding for education has steadily eroded.  Progress toward closing the achievement gap is painfully slow.  We ask educators to do more with less even as they work to make sure all students achieve success.

I could have found ten – twenty – good reasons not to run for re-election.  Why, then, did I choose to throw my hat back into the ring?