EDUCATIONALLY SPEAKING

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Well, Steve, I was going to stay out of the bond fray until closer to the

June 5 election. I attend most school board meetings. Like Sid Soffer, I

am often the curmudgeon. I receive many of the school reports. I often

sit during the multi-hour meetings and ask myself what I would do if I

were a board member.

While I am not a Libertarian, I start with a predisposition against

bonds. Many times, I support the cause for which the money is needed and

will be used. But, I don’t refinance my house every time I need to make

home or car repairs. I pay for repairs with today’s dollars. Because

today’s dollars are in the bank, I won’t be paying off the cost of

repairs for the next 25 years, at two or three times the cost of the

original repair. So, if it were up to me, we would have paid more taxes

in the past 20 years, so that we would have had the money necessary to

repair and maintain schools.

I have not been in the majority on my position, and our state has been

adamant about the need to cut property taxes and keep them low. Our

income taxes have been used in large measure to lock people in jail or

prison. That meant that other public services, such as schools,

libraries, public health care facilities, and parks have taken the hit.

Steve, you say the failure to maintain our local schools is the fault of

our school board. If that were the case, why is every other school

district in California facing the same problem? They haven’t all been

victims of embezzlement and bankruptcy. The bankruptcy money has almost

all been recovered. The embezzlement was a drop in the bucket compared to

the cost of repairing the schools.

Steve, I think you should apologize to your kids and the kids in the

district for the state of the schools. I think I should, too. I think

every adult should stand up and take responsibility. How many of you have

gotten up at school board meetings on a monthly basis and asked the board

to do whatever it takes to repair the schools? How many of you have sent

in a $1,000 donation to fix your neighborhood school? We all knew that

the schools have been falling apart, but which one of us was willing to

seek election to the school board on a Fix the School campaign? How many

school districts have been successful in talking their voters into

providing money to fix their local schools in the last 10 years? How many

of you would support the school board cutting out every elective

class and every sports or extracurricular activity to free up funds for

school repair?

The bond that will go before the voters in June has the guarantees you

need to vote for it. The money has to be used for the repairs already

outlined by the architects, which have studied every school, and made

recommendations, which were adopted by the volunteer committee of parents

and business people. Each school will have an oversight committee, and

there will be a districtwide oversight committee made up of parents and

professionals.

There will be one or two annual audits, and the volunteer audit committee

will keep an eye on things, too. The board didn’t get their feelings hurt

about the public’s lack of trust. They figured out whom the public

trusts, and put them in charge of looking after the funds, too.

So, Steve, maybe we need a mass apology day. Every adult needs to

apologize to the kids for the shape of the schools. Even if it takes me

25 years to pay the bill to get the schools fixed, I am ready to pay,

with or without any apologies.

A reminder to those who will be 18 years old by June 5: Register to vote

by sending in a voter registration postcard found at the post office or

City Hall. You’ve lived with the problem.

Now, be part of the solution.

* GAY GEISER-SANDOVAL is a Costa Mesa resident. Her column runs Tuesdays.

She can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] .