Measure C Earns Two Major Endorsements As School News Gets Even More Bleak
![school](https://davisvanguard.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/school.jpg)
Then this morning it earned the endorsement of the Davis Enterprise, which continues its strong track record, at least on the editorial page, of supporting Davis schools.
Then this morning it earned the endorsement of the Davis Enterprise, which continues its strong track record, at least on the editorial page, of supporting Davis schools.
While each of four letters that we evaluate makes their own points, none of them come to reconcile how the district will manage next year with $10 million less in its operating budget, which would represent a cut of about 14% from this year’s budget. The district is already having to make do with $3.5 million less due to ongoing structural issues, but if you add the $6.5 million that Measures Q and W currently fund, that number jumps to $10 million.
During that time, the school district has done primarily three things. First, used one-time monies to temporarily get through the school year with minimal cuts and disruptions. Second, they have cut programs, staff, and teachers. Third, they have passed parcel taxes in 2007, 2008, 2011, and now are attempting another in 2012 as well. That is four of the last six years.
The judge ordered several sentences deleted from the ballot argument, while at the same time leaving intact some of the sentences that former Yolo County Clerk-Recorder Tony Bernhard had objected to.
The district knew it was a close call before entering the fray – the final results were actually almost identical to the polled level of support. But it did not help that the district and supporters of the parcel tax committed a series of errors or perceived errors along the way. That was coupled with the fact that the district was asking for a $200 increase in the tax, and we had a dog fight.
Moreover, the last election, in May of 2011, saw the parcel tax matter go to the voters in an all-mail ballot with no reported incidents. Nevertheless, Jose Granda, who was flagged for improperly bringing up peripheral issues on the ballot statement by the opposition to the parcel tax, Measure C, continues to bring up the issue of the all-mail ballot, accusing leaders of “stealing our secret ballot right.”
At issue are two excerpts from the Argument against Measure C – the renewal of the Davis School District’s Parcel Taxes that were passed by the voters in Measure Q and Measure W.
The school board is awaiting the results of a poll to determine the public’s willingness to extend Measures Q and Measures W, passed in 2007 and 2008, respectively.
In a statement from Superintendent Winfred Roberson, he said, “Concerning the mass mailing of Measure A senior exemption letters, I am pleased to learn that the FPPC has assigned no fault to DJUSD and has closed the file.”
On any given day, somewhere around 20 different individuals post comments on a regular basis, there is another group of periodic commenters, some occasional commenters and a few that have responded only to a particular article.
A candidate having received 67.2 percent of the vote would be said to have won overwhelmingly. Indeed the overwhelming majority of Davis voters supported the parcel tax.
It was close, too close for comfort by some, but Board Members and District Officials are cautiously optimistic, despite the uncertain state budget situation that could push the deficit to nearly three million under worst case scenarios even with the passage of Measure A.
With just over 16,000 votes in, Measure A appears depending on outstanding votes to have passed by…
Nevertheless, it is dismaying to see the amount of mud and accusations thrown in this election, at a time when the district is going to face a $6 million deficit, a time when teachers will be laid off, a time when class sizes will increased, and a time when the most vulnerable students in the school district will be at grave risk.
According to the Enterprise, Mr. Randall “said his committee has filed the complaint against the Davis Board of Education, and specifically board president Richard Harris and trustees Gina Daleiden and Sheila Allen.”
There is a simple reason for that, California’s education code is not a simple uniform document, but rather layers and layers of laws and financing strung together over the years. You have state and federal monies coming in, you have mandated spending in some areas such as special education, you have categorical funds that can only be spent on certain things.
He wrote, “When you look at these numbers, it is easy to conclude that Measure A is a farce. What the school board is doing to the teachers in unconscionable. Like hijackers, they are using them and the programs they are obligated to provide our children with taxpayer dollars as a political hostages to coerce the voters into approving Measure A. These numbers prove the deception of the school board.”
Democracy is not a clean system. It is messy because it is about process first and results second. We have ideals of free elections, open government, freedom of speech, freedom to express a variety of ideals. It is the marketplace of ideas that embodies our governmental bodies.
Why is that? Because they apparently went out of their way to invite only those speakers who supported Measure A and “specifically declined respectful requests from the ‘No’ side to have a seat at the debate table.”
Two of those donors should be no surprise to anyone: Jose Granda who has been been one of the more outspoken opponents of this measure chipped in 130 dollars, while Thomas Randall chipped in ten. The third donor bears some scrutiny: six hundred from Voters for District Elections.