COMMUNITY COMMENTARY:Responding to concerns about school board

As president of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District board of trustees, I am often asked the same questions, and many facts tend to be ignored in election years. Here are answers to those questions and a listing of some facts that school board members often encounter.

Why didn’t the district approve the charter school petition?

The answer is very long, in fact the staff of the state board of education took 59 pages to answer this when it was appealed. The petition as presented had many shortcomings: It was not for the students of this school district; only six of more than 100 people signing the petition were from Newport-Mesa; nine of 16 elements required for a charter school were not there or answered as “uncertain.”

The state board staff report stated: “The petitioners personally lacked the necessary background in the following areas critical to the charter schools success … they do not have a plan to secure the service of individuals who have the necessary background in curriculum, instruction, assessment, finance and business management.”

Had this been approved, it would have cost the district about $5 million a year. Who would have been blamed for not fulfilling their responsibility if the charter was approved, the money gone, and the charter school in shambles?

Why was it necessary to have two bonds to bring the school facilities up to date?

Proposition 13 and the Serrano v. Priest court decision shortly afterward changed how school district finances were directed. The result was that local taxes were sent to the state and redistributed by average daily attendance to school districts. This paid for teachers and programs but did not consider maintenance of facilities. The state legislators recognized their obligation but only funded 1% of the requested amounts. In poor years they only funded 0.5% or none at all. With the thousands of students who went through the facilities each year, and almost no funding to maintain facilities, it did not take long for the facilities to fall into disrepair.

A school district cannot refinance a mortgage to make repairs, and its ongoing obligation to current students makes it impossible to save enough money from an under-funded status to do the repairs. This is similar to every family saving to pay cash before it buys a home. At the district, residents committees were formed to study the problem and recommend a solution. Each time issuing a bond was their solution. The community as a whole approved the decision as the first bond was approved by 72% and second by 56%.

How does the district make its decisions on its future?

In 1999 and again in 2005 the school district formed committees that included community members to form a strategic plan for the next five years. The school district takes this plan so seriously that it aligns its budget to meet the goals. The second plan involved 140 people to form it.

What innovative programs have been implemented in the past few years?

Sixteen programs are listed, more are available. They include: Middle College High School; Early College High School; online classes; implementation of preschool programs at Harper Center, Whittier, Wilson and Pomona schools, Eastbluff, and College Park; Safe Schools Health Student Initiative (Project ASK) grant for $8.2 million; READ 180 program; J.A.D.E. program to give students a second chance; student resource officers; the district’s arts commission, Family Friendly Schools program; Puente Program; small learning communities; redesign of secondary schools for the 21st century; and science classrooms at each elementary site is underway. Due to the leadership and influence of a long-serving board member, the teachers for all science classrooms will be paid for by the Irvine Co.

Why does the board “rubber stamp” everything that comes before it?

Through the use of the strategic plan and highly qualified staff, with guidance from the board members, the staff brings well-thought-out reports that cover most of the questions that need to be answered. If not, more questions are formulated before an approval or a rewrite is performed. The collegiate ability to perform the district’s business in public is not a rubber stamp, but an effective method of getting the best programs approved.

Why doesn’t the school board work to change the education system at the state level?

Board member Martha Fluor is a regional director for California School Boards Assn., and member Judy Franco is an Orange County delegate for the same group. The school boards association is the premier lobbying group for educational change in Sacramento. It takes years of experience and influence to be selected for these positions. We are fortunate to have both members from the same board represent our interests.

Since not every student is going to college or university, why doesn’t the district offer vocational classes to its students?

Through the Coastline Regional Occupational Program we offer scores of vocational classes; many are on our high school campuses.

Since you consider the teachers to be so well qualified and doing a good job, why shouldn’t they be paid more?

We would love to pay the teachers and classified workers more; however, we are responsible for the finances of the entire district. To increase their total compensation over the 90% of the budget they currently receive, we would have to do away with class size reduction and increase all classes to 36 to 40-plus students. This means not renewing contracts with many qualified teachers. Surrounding school districts that pay more are a source of many of our new hires when they remove excellent teachers from their payrolls.

This school board is very active in bringing quality programs to the students of our communities.

Although the decision on the charter school appeared to be a negative, it would have been a $5-million disaster to approve the petition that was presented.

The two school improvement bonds were necessary due to the age of the schools, state propositions, and court rulings that changed funding sources since most of us attended public schools.

The strategic plan that this community twice developed and the school district uses as a living document, to the extent of aligning its budget to accomplish, is an effective method to bring progressively better education to our students.

The staff that is hired by the superintendent works as a collegial unit to provide the quality reports and programs so they can be approved by the school board.

Experience and the use of long term relationships pays dividends for this board by giving them input into decisions that are made at the state level. This is also true when board members have the knowledge, relationships, and influence to tap local funding sources. Short term school board members do not have this ability.

Although the emphasis of our curriculum is to prepare students for the best university and colleges in the country, we recognize that not all students will attend post secondary institutions and make available vocational and career training classes.

Our teachers and staff are second to none, so we provide 90% of our budget to their wages and benefits.