[quote=earlyretirement] . . . People here in San Diego surprisingly have this totally lackadaisical attitude about getting ripped off with their tax dollars, voting for voter approved tax increases via bond assessments without even having a clear understanding of how the tax dollars will be used for their intended purposes or even worrying IF the tax dollars generated will be used for their intended purposes at all. And also if there will be any oversight of such funds.
That’s a big problem I see here in San Diego. Many people just don’t seem to care. And ultimately that is TRULY pathetic and sad.[/quote]
I think if the press can get it out to the masses using sound bytes (in laymen’s terms), you can get local interested parties to come to school board meetings and complain and also complain to the right bureaucrats at the County Office of Education:
The problem with your elected officials is that they have no jurisdiction over public schools and therefore cannot enforce state public school law (K-12).
The best people to get riled up to write letters, testify before your school board and even lobby the CDE to take action are those like yourself who have or are paying into this sham and rightly so, demand accountability. Also residents who may suffer “damages” at the hands of the prior school board because of possible property value debasement in the future (due to the principle coming due on the Prop C subprime loan fiasco which will likely have the effect of raising their taxes (on a ~40 yr old home) through the roof!
I think a parent complaining to the Board about where the district decides to send their child(ren) to school for any given school year is the wrong approach and is also wasting time and testimony which could be far more persuasive discussing other damages sustained or to be sustained by the speaking taxpayer. It doesn’t matter how much MR parents are paying if their child(ren)’s home school is full. In CA, public school districts have the right to make this decision. They are only obligated to educate each child residing within their district and if a child’s “home school” is impacted or otherwise full, they have the right to transfer children who live within its boundaries to another district school with room for them (and pick up the tab for transportation). As you may already be aware, a single public school (brick-and-mortar location) actually does not legally exist. It is merely a branch of a school district and all employees of that school are employees of a public school district.
The best way to approach this, I think, is to rile up neighbors with biz experience, like yourself, to demand accountability for the 200 bank accts, etc. If you keep your discussions about the business and stay away from attendance areas and student-placement issues (legally, the District’s turf) and familarize yourself with school law as it applies to MR bond income accountability, you will go far.
If PUSD residents paying MR get in the Board’s faces about what a developer’s office told you at the time of your home purchase (who’s likely made all the profit they’re going to and left the county long ago) would be your child(ren)’s “new school” when it was built, you will come off like a bunch of whiners and be shunned. Developers aren’t supposed to be telling tales out of school like that to prospective buyers as they have zero control over the issue.
IMHO, the REASON why your local elementary school is already full (before or at the time of final buildout?) is because too many parents wanted the same thing, hence the “success” of your neighborhood (most of which was originally subdivided and built to appeal to “empty nesters,” acc to its website) :=0
