WHAT’S UP -- steve smith
My comments about the merits of a new tax to fix our schools were going
to wait until we got closer to the vote, but from reading the Daily
Pilot, it appears that the discussion has already begun. So, I will
begin, too.
First, it is important to recognize that no official acknowledgment of
the tax has been given. So, while it’s not a sure thing, it would be a
surprise to this writer if it did not occur.
The tax, which will appear on your ballot as a “bond,” is estimated to
total $163 million.
That’s a lot of money. It’s enough to buy 7,761 new Ford Windstar
minivans, which would stretch from Newport Beach to Catalina. With $163
million, you can get a new iMac computer for everyone in both Costa Mesa
and Newport Beach. And I have no doubt that the amazing Jean Forbath
could stretch $163 million into enough food to feed the hungry worldwide
until the next millennium.
But the tax is more than a number. It is also the latest in a series of
indicators of a severe lack of leadership in this school board. And if I
have doubts about the board’s leadership, I have doubts about its ability
to administrate $163 million in repairs to our schools.
The size of this tax indicates to me that for a very long time, someone
was asleep at the wheel. Among the questions I’d like to have answered
before I cast my vote on a new tax is this one: Exactly where were the
board members and what were they doing a few years ago when the bill was
$120 million? $80 million? How about “only” $30 million? Did the anti-tax
reputation of local voters frighten them so much that they deliberately
let our schools deteriorate? Did they not know how bad the problems were
until they reached in excess of, say, $120 million?
From this vantage point, almost any answer is sufficient to raise
questions about the leadership of the current panel.
To top it off, only one month ago, many of our children were sent home
with a pitch to buy products from a company called “Shopforschool.com.”
That’s a program in which local schools get a small percentage of the
sale of products.
Among the six music CDs available was one featuring music from one of the
stars of the television program “Dawson’s Creek.” Anyone familiar with
that show? It features an affair between a high school student and his
teacher.
And if our kids log onto the Shopforschool.com Web site, they can preview
or buy music from “Shyne,” a 19-year-old rapper who was indicted this
week on three counts of attempted murder, or leer at the CD cover for
something called “VA-Monster Funk Party,” which features a scantily clad
woman in a suggestive pose.
As was predicted in this space several months ago, this desperate school
board has sold its moral code of conduct for a few retail dollars. I just
didn’t think it would happen so quickly.
Added up, we have a board that cannot find its way. And until there are
answers and unless some of the board members want to come out from
hiding, I cannot trust them to properly administrate $163 million in new
tax revenue.
And yet, as usual, our children will suffer for the mistakes of their
elders. It is this sole consequence that stands in my way of proclaiming
outright opposition to the proposed tax.
It is not the students’ fault that in some of our schools the bathrooms
are unfit to use or that roofs leak. It is our fault and it is my fault.
After all, we elect the people who were supposed to watch over these
things.
Watch for the blame game. The school board will carefully choose a few
scapegoats on which to pin their need for more money. I expect they’ll
blame Sacramento, the county bankruptcy and the embezzlement. Some will
even reach back over 20 years and cling to the last bit of blame they can
place on Proposition 13.
They’ll point the finger at anything and anyone except themselves.
Leaders, on the other hand, accept responsibility.
Not having seen enough consistent responsible conduct by this board is
why I don’t trust them with the money at this time. I’d feel better if
built into the tax proposal is the creation of a separate panel or person
who will oversee the spending of the tax dollars. I’d like to see the
board hire someone with character and with school experience to do that.
I’d like to see them hire someone like Jim de Boom.
What we’ve got now with a new tax proposal is a handout and more fodder
for the pro-voucher crowd. For this public school supporter, asking
taxpayers for $163 million makes it much harder to deny them a turn at
bat.
* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and freelance writer. He can be
reached at (949) 642-6086 or by e-mail at o7 dailypilot@latimes.comf7 .
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