Steve Smith -- Con

We are the folks in the black hats, the wet blankets, the rain on the

school board’s parade. We are not against a bond to repair the schools,

we cry in vain, we are simply against this particular bond as the means

by which to do so.

Still, we press on.

This is the language straight from a flier distributed by the Citizens

to Rebuild Our Schools: “Measure A will fund only the specific repairs

and renovations needed at each of our 29 neighborhood schools to met a

basic standard for a safe and healthy learning environment.”

And on the bond measure itself, you will read: “To improve health and

safety conditions in neighborhood schools by rehabilitating aging school

facilities, replacing deteriorated roofs and plumbing, upgrading

electrical service to safely accommodate technology, renovating

inadequate classrooms, science labs, and restrooms, and upgrading fire

alarms.”

Nowhere in the literature distributed by the Citizens to Rebuild Our

Schools or in the bond wording on the ballot does it state that more than

$1 million of the tax dollars to be raised from the bond on June 6 will

be used to improve the football field at Newport Harbor High School,

which includes money for new ticket booths.

Nor will you read in the committee fliers or in the bond wording that

money is to be spent at both Newport Harbor High and Corona del Mar High

for upgrades and repairs to the tennis courts. There is no mention of

money for an electronic marquee for TeWinkle Intermediate or for new

lighting, sound system and drapes for Newport Harbor High’s auditorium.

That “safe and healthy learning environment” also includes about $5

million to air condition schools that do not already have it and have

gotten along fine without it.

The refreshingly frank discussion of air conditioning in the

Facilities Report includes a mention that some committee members wanted

the cooling system installed for reasons of “parity.” Parity means that

because some schools have it and others don’t, all should have it, even

if they don’t need it. Parity-funding is a Pandora’s box that is best

left unopened.

The tennis court pork and the ticket booth fat are only two more items

in a long list that has not been presented to voters in an aboveboard

manner.

Regardless of one’s opinion of this bond, one must agree that even a

great stretch of the imagination could not manage to fit drapes, tennis

courts, ticket booths or an electronic marquee into any of the written

categories being touted by bond proponents.

Our school board has shown poor judgment by waiting too long to float

a bond to repair our schools. Only now, after the schools have passed the

fail-safe point has the board decided to ask us for more money -- money

it should have requested years ago when it could have saved taxpayers

millions.

The delay in floating this bond is another in a string of financial

missteps from which we conclude that it has not demonstrated the

responsibility required to administrate this much money.

I’ve stated before that almost anyone reading this would have to prove

a more sound financial background to get a car loan than this board has

had to demonstrate to get $110 million in bond money.

We will not vote for a bond that will be administrated by people who

have not demonstrated the financial acumen required to handle $163

million dollars or who refuse to produce even one board member who will

stand up and take some measure of responsibility for the sorry state of

our schools.

And we will not vote for a bond that is sponsored by seven people who

have held their collective tongues for months while others make their

case for them in this newspaper. We may be in a presidential election

year, but the board headquarters is not the White House. Local taxpayers

deserve more than a Rose Garden strategy for their money.

Those of us who oppose this particular bond refuse to cave into the

pleas that this bond is “for the kids.”

We’re basing our decision on the facts, not on emotion, and we’re not

panicking that the sky will fall if this bond is not passed. Those of us

who oppose this particular bond have set our sights much higher than

simply opening the checkbook to hand out more money.

For the kids, we want to repair our schools AND provide taxpayers with

a legacy of financial responsibility and public accountability with a

leaner, more responsible bond.

* STEVE SMITH writes a weekly column for the Daily Pilot.