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 .