TEAM UNRULY ENCOURAGES YOU TO SUPPORT MEASURE K

If you've been reading this site, you're probably wondering how on earth you can support giving more money to a district with a serious financial management problem. You're absolutely right to be skeptical. There's the questionable expenditures that led to the credit card scandals, the 400k 2% home loan to an unpopular superintendent, the 13 million dollar oops that gave us a new high school seriously bereft of classroom space, not to mention the monthly payments for Dr. Z's plethora of media appearances. Then there's the money saving, belt-tightening proposals that always put students last: increased class sizes, eliminating school librarians and career center technicians, circumventing contracts to eliminate school advisiors, and let's not forget the cuts to janitors and school secretarial staff.

In spite of it all, the fact remains that California is still facing a budget crisis that has left public schools throughout the state severely underfunded. ESUHSD is one of the only districts in the Valley that doesn't get some assistance from parcel taxes. If the parcel tax doesn't pass, the aforementioned money-saving ideas that directly impact the classroom will take place. Consider these three points about passing the parcel tax:

1. ESUHSD NEEDS TO REMAIN A COMPETITIVE EMPLOYER: Did you know 10% of East Side's workforce commutes from San Benito and other Central Valley locations? Did you know about 60% of the district's employees rent? What keeps these people working in the East Side? The East Side has always seemed to offer competitive salaries and benefits. However, many of our neighboring districts have passed parcel taxes that go directly to teacher's salaries. If the East Side fails to maintain a competitive level of employee compensation, highly qualified teachers will leave the district for greener pastures, exacerbating an already difficult problem with teacher retention.
   
   
2. PARCEL TAXES GO DIRECTLY TO ACADEMIC PROGRAMS: Sure, you've driven by your local high school and noticed some construction taking place. You probabaly think to yourself, "if the East Side needs money, how can they be doing all this construction?" These projects taking place throughout the district get funding from the local Measure G bond that was passed two years ago, and a similar state-level construction bond passed around the same time. Those monies can only be used to pay for school renovation and construction. If the parcel tax doesn't pass, the district will be nearly 30 million dollars in the hole. Of course, the board members partly responsible for this mess love to blame Joe Coto for their woes. Funny how they never seem to mention that they were the ones responsible for approving all those expenditures.
   
   If you like the magnet programs your school offers, the sports and after-school programs your children partake of, the intervention programs that have helped students of all types achieve success districtwide, you need to make sure the funding will be there to keep those programs going.
   
   
3. YOU HAVE THE POWER TO PUT TRUSTWORTHY BOARD MEMBERS INTO OFFICE: Don't give money to people who can't balance a budget. All you have to do on November 2nd is vote for one of the three viable candidates (Nguyen, Campos, or Lawson) and steer clear of the incumbents. Worried that we'll just get four more years of the same BS? Never fear. Team Unruly will keep rattlin' cages to make sure these board members do the job they were elected to perform. Remember, these candidates need the tools to clean up Mann and Ramirez's mess. Put some new faces on the board and give them the resources to get the job done right!