WHAT: This is an important reminder about the upcoming meeting regarding the CHANGE TO VOTING FROM AT LARGE TO BY TRUSTEE AREA.

WHEN: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.

WHERE: CUSD District Office — Board Room –  33122 Valle Road

WHY: Our petition of almost 1,200 names was certified by the OC Registrar of Voters and the next step is to bring our issue before the Orange County Committee for School District Organization.  This is our one and only opportunity to convince this committee that the constituents and voters in CUSD are serious about making this change and that we want the change made now.   We need to have hundreds if not a thousand supporters in that room to let them know how important this change is and how much support there is throughout our district.  We aren’t asking for anything other than your attendance.
Please mark your calendar! Tell your friends and neighbors!  Be there and make a real difference in how we vote in future elections in CUSD.

THANK YOU!

It should come as no surprise that the Board of Trustees voted down the waiver request after a public hearing Tuesday that neglected to present much of the pertinent information in the matter.  With no staff report and more confusion from the attorney, the trustees voted 5-2 not to pursue a waiver from the state that could have potentially saved the school district $500,000.

What was glaringly missing from Tuesday nights discussion was the over-whelmeing support that had been shown for the waiver in the prior weeks.  As part of the process, many of the “interested parties” in the district had been asked to weigh in on the topic prior to the public hearing.  So CUMA, CSEA, CUEA, and PTSA all gave a support position to the waiver — but no one ever mentioned that.  Dozens of people sent emails to Julie Hatchel (almost all in support of the waiver) and no one mentioned that either.  And then of course there are the 1,200 people that signed the petition in the first place.  Again no mention.

Now why would the Board of Trustees go ahead and make a decision without taking all those facts into consideration first?  Because the facts are inconvenient and did not support their decision.  Had there been a huge out-cry and tons of speakers in attendance all saying vote no, had the interested parties opposed the waiver, had there been any real opposition at all to going forward with the waiver then a “NO” vote would have made sense.  But since it was the exact opposite, one can only conclude that the trustees again did what they want, what is in their best interest and ignored the will of the people.  Just like when they fired the superintendent even after everyone asked them not to.

So I guess it’s no surprise.  Hey, they like spending money on special elections and attorneys.  It’s just another way to harm children and education.

On Tuesday, September 15 at the regularly scheduled school board meeting, there will also be a public hearing on whether or not the district should apply to the State Board of Education for an election waiver.

This all came about because a group of very concerned parents gathered almost 1,200 signatures on a petition to ask the Orange County Committee on School Board Organization to consider a change to the way we elect our trustees in CUSD.

The issue will be heard by the committee on September 30 at 7:00 p.m. at the Education Center.  In the meantime, we’ve learned that putting this issue on the ballot in June could cost the district up to $500,000 of money we really don’t have.  That’s where the waiver comes into play.

Over the past year, there have been several districts in the State of California who have requested similar waivers as they seek to make changes in their districts and save the election costs as well.  All have been granted.

I fully support this waiver and urge you to as well.   Please plan to attend the meeting and if you can’t, you can email your support to jhatchel@capousd.org.

Hope to see you there!

For those who follow local politics and like to stay in touch, you probably already know that we need to make serious changes in the way we elect our local school board trustees. The Capistrano Unified School District was formed in 1964. It is a large district with over 200 sq miles but there were not a lot of residents and voters 44 years ago.

Well those days are gone and times have changed. Currently we have about 220,000 voters in seven trustee areas that stretch from the South Orange county border to Rancho Santa Margarita in the northeast and Aliso Viejo in the northwest. It’s a very large district and as such, very expensive to run a successful campaign. Over the past 8-12 years, we have seen an ever decreasing number of candidates willing to run because they either don’t have the financial backing or the time and energy to run in a district this size. We have also seen, as our lives have become busier, an increasing detachment from voters to find the time necessary to learn about every political seat on the ballot.

We currently select our trustees by trustee area, which means that the candidate must live within their designated trustee area. However, we vote “at large” meaning everyone in the entire district votes for them. This puts a huge financial burden on the candidate to get their message out to 220,000 voters. Because there are so many seats with hopefully at least a few candidate choices, most voters don’t really ever get the chance to meet or know much about the candidates before voting. If we change to voting by trustee area, you will elect only the trustee from within the area that you reside. It is the same as we do now for county supervisor, assembly seats, senators, etc.
This will allow candidates to run a more effective campaign, attend local meet and greets, walk precincts, and really get their message out. It will also allow the voter the chance to learn about the candidates before voting. Instead of being a large, detached, and over-whelming process, it will be brought back to the local level. A candidate will have to be visible and responsive to be elected and after they are elected, they can be held accountable to the electorate.

Each trustee would also have the ability to really know their area, the schools, the constituents, and the issues and then bring that information to the table when making decisions. I think that we can all agree that local control will lead to better representation and we need good representation when dealing with our local schools and the tax dollars that fund them.

While voters pay a lot of attention to who they elect for President or Governor, it’s actually our local representatives that are more important. We have very little chance, if any, of sitting down to discuss issues with the President or Governor, but our local officials should be readily available to us. We should know who they are and have confidence that they will meet with us to hear our concerns. Having the opportunity to choose good local representatives is critical to our democracy.
A petition has been submitted to the Orange County Committee for School Board Organization which is the first step in making this change. A public hearing will be held on September 30, 2009 at the Education Center in San Juan Capistrano and all who are interested in this process are encouraged to attend.

This change is slated to go on the ballot for voters to decide but that might not be necessary. A process has already been initiated by which the school board can apply for a waiver and avoid the cost of the election altogether. This would save hundreds of thousands of dollars and allow the change to be in place before the school board election in November of 2010. A separate hearing on the waiver is scheduled for September 15, 2009 at the Education Center.

Another huge benefit, besides better representation, is that future election costs will be significantly reduced. Currently the school district must pay hundreds of thousands of dollars every two years for at large trustee elections. If this is changed, those costs would be reduced by about 50% and that is an on-going savings that will be recognized for years to come ultimately saving millions of dollars in tax-payer money that can be spent in better ways. For all of these reasons I support this change and hope to see it implemented prior to the November 2010 election so that we can have better local control and representation.

I am following a group called California Forward. Below is an excerpt from an email blast I received today.

Californians are fed up — with a broken system of government that caters to the special interests rather than people, with politicians who spend more time fighting than solving problems, and with spending too much on things that don’t work while short-changing real priorities.

California Forward is bringing people together to reclaim our power as citizens to make our government work again. But we need your help today to reform California.

Our goal is simple: government that’s small enough to listen, big enough to tackle real problems, smart enough to spend money wisely in good times and bad, and honest enough to be held accountable for results.

Please stand with us: Sign our online petition to the right, and help us show the politicians in Sacramento that Californians are demanding real change.

Go to this link to sign the petition and join California Forward.  We need to reform our state and change the way we operate.

http://getinvolved.caforward.org/t/4881/content.jsp?content_KEY=2734&track=caf