District facing more than bond

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT-MESA -- As school board members take their seats under new

leadership next month, they are looking forward to acting on the

carefully laid plans of the past year.

First and foremost among those plans, of course, is deciding which

schools need repairs most and whether it will take a school bond to pay

for the costly construction.

“It’s the single-most important thing this district has looked at in a

good 20 years,” said school board member Jim Ferryman.

After a year of dissecting the problems in each deteriorating school,

they may finally be ready to move forward.

“The focus for the district for the year needs to be making sure that all

the communities that we’re working with have an opportunity for input,”

said Dana Black, newly elected school board president.

Because board members cannot campaign for the passing of a bond measure,

they hope that educating voters on the need for repairs and hearing how

the public feels about the subject will be enough to get it passed.

“The reality is that it is exceedingly difficult to pass a bond for

repairing schools, even for building new ones,” said Judy Franco, school

board clerk for the upcoming year. “It will depend on how it is presented

to the electorate.”

Although what was top priority seemed to be a no-brainer for school board

members, their ideas on what to tackle next differ.

For Black, it is implementing the district’s strategic plan, specifically

forging a bond with local colleges and universities, including UCI and

OCC.

“I’d like to see them become more a part of our plan,” Black said. “One

of the goals we have is to have more of a leadership role with them.

They’re right there in our own backyard.”

One idea included an exchange of high school and college professors.

Serene Stokes, on the other hand, would like to see an increased emphasis

on the arts.

Regardless of each member’s priorities, there are ongoing issues the

board will face in the upcoming year.

The board will continue to look at the curriculum and make sure it aligns

with new state standards. Adjustments may be needed to integrate the

state’s new testing and high school graduation standards with district

rules, and the board will likely attempt to get in lock-step with the

state’s crackdown on “social promotion.”

When it comes time to write the budget, the school board will need to

look closely at how programs are funded, because the way the district is

funded may change.

If property taxes continue to rise in Orange County, the district may

soon qualify as a “basic aid” district, as opposed to the current

“revenue limit” status. That would mean relying on property taxes as

funding as opposed to receiving money from the state per child.

Whatever happens, Black said, she wants to see the positive trends of the

past few years continue.

“We’ve been hiring incredible people. We’ve brought so many wonderful

assets to our community,” she said. “I want to continue that

empowerment.”