Costa Mesa not the ugly stepchild columnist says it is

Mark Schultheis

Well, our resident scold Steve Smith is at it again. This time he’s

trying to fan the flames of a controversy over the way our school

district spends its money (“Making schools separate but equal,” Daily

Pilot, Saturday).

According to Smith, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District has

it in for Costa Mesa. The district takes Costa Mesa’s money and

spends it on frills in Newport Beach. As usual, Smith has it all

wrong.

Smith starts with his usual confusion and misdirection. With

respect to school financing, he writes: “...unless my information has

changed since I first heard it about five years ago, it is the Costa

Mesa taxpayers who are bearing the biggest burden of the tax load.”

Amazing. Smith would have us believe that Costa Mesa taxpayers bear a

bigger property tax load than Newport taxpayers. Now, who in his

right mind living in either of our cities would believe that? It

wasn’t true five years ago, and it isn’t true today. Smith’s own

employer, the Daily Pilot, reports that the total property value of

Newport Beach is $25.2 billion for fiscal year 2004-05; the total

property value of Costa Mesa is $10.06 billion (“Newport property

values second to one,” Sept. 3). So, 71% of the assessed value in our

two cities is in Newport Beach, 29% in Costa Mesa. No surprise there.

Who wouldn’t have guessed the percentages would be along those lines?

Anyone except Smith, apparently. Why is that important? Because

Measure A funding, which seems to be at the center of Smith’s

heartburn this week, is based on assessed values in our two cities.

So, 71% of all Measure A improvements at the district’s 28 schools

are being funded by Newport Beach taxpayers, compared to Costa Mesa’s

29% contribution. Yet according to the Educational Facilities Master

Plan, 59% of all the Measure A money is being spent on schools in

Costa Mesa. That’s appropriate, since 16 of our 28 schools, 57%, are

actually in Costa Mesa.

Smith also combines his assertion that Newport schools are funded

by Costa Mesa largess with a weird notion that it is “the larger

population numbers provided by Costa Mesa that help Newport Beach

enjoy the school district status that it does.” Smith appears to be

commenting on the difference between revenue limit funding and basic

aid funding for schools, but that’s only a guess on my part, since

Smith’s argument is a total muddle. Let me assure you, Newport

schools enjoy no special status because of Costa Mesa’s larger

population.

But Smith doesn’t stop there. He picks again on Newport Harbor

High School, that apparent bastion of Newport wealth and privilege.

All the frills seem to go there for the exclusive benefit of Newport

Beach. But the two specific facilities located at Harbor High that

Smith picks on, Loats Performing Arts Facility and Davidson Field,

are not Harbor High facilities. They are district facilities

belonging to, and used by, every high school in the district. Surely

Smith knows this. No? Where does he think Estancia High and Costa

Mesa High play their football games? Does he also think that the

district has secretly funded a football stadium and performing arts

center somewhere at Corona del Mar High in its tireless pursuit of

cutting a fat deal for Newport schools?

Silly too, and terribly misleading in this argument, is ignoring

the fact that of the 2,478 students currently attending Newport

Harbor High School, 1,344 -- 54% -- reside in Costa Mesa! This year

isn’t an anomaly: The majority of Harbor High students come from

Costa Mesa every year. Smith surely knows that, doesn’t he? No?

Then, is it too much to ask that -- before he writes again on

education issues, or any issue for that matter -- he might make just

the slightest effort to check some facts? I’m sure Smith is busy, but

it doesn’t take much time. It took me only 15 minutes on the Internet

and two phone calls to get the facts for this letter. It’s called

research. Smith should try it sometime. But I guess it’s just easier

and more fun for him to write a column that supports his pre-existing

bias, making up facts as he goes along. The problem with doing so is

that some people read his columns and form opinions based on them. He

pretends to have it right in his columns -- and he doesn’t have it

right. Although we are entitled to our own opinions, we are not

entitled to our own facts. Those we must share. Next time, I hope

Smith will use some that are true.

Smith should consider doing what he consistently asks others to do

when he says they’re wrong. How about an “I’m sorry” from you, and a

promise not to promote controversy between our two cities again where

none should exist?

* MARK SCHULTHEIS is a resident of Newport Beach and was

co-chairman of the Measure A campaign committee.