My View
BY DON SORCHYCH | OCTOBER 1, 2014
CCUSD tries again
We have received two important pamphlets about upcoming elections. The first is about CCUSD once again trying to pick the public pocket. The second is for the Nov. 4 general election.
CCUSD is asking for approval to “repurpose” the use of bonds passed by voters in 2000. That bond has quite a lot of history.
CCUSD apparently assumed growth and a new high school would have required major funding. Not only did the growth not occur, the school lost and continues to lose enrollment. Their first sneaky attempt was to have the legislature approve use of the funds even though they were not for the purpose which the public approved the bond.
So like a good senator, Jim Waring wrote a bill allowing the school board to change the use. CCUSD’s attorney was Fred Rosenfeld, who advised against using the funds. Subsequently, Sen. Nancy Barto wrote a bill allowing the board to change the purpose and the district decided to use the funds. It obviously helped that four of the district’s top administrators were registered lobbyists.
In stepped the Goldwater Institute to defeat CCUSD in court. The school appealed the ruling and once again CCUSD was defeated by Goldwater. Now they are appealing to voters to right their wrong.
All of this is a great lesson to CCUSD students about how political tactics result in loss but that is not what the school teaches.
It gets worse.
We were picketed by a host of school kids, teachers and parents when the district attempted to pass tax increases in 2009. Then school activists went to our advertisers and threatened them with boycotts. They still do. Their actions are illegal! Another way to give students lessons on how to live ....
CCUSD, which has regularly used available funds for various unneeded projects, now complains district schools are desperately in need of repairs.
CCUSD also lists all the school board members as if they had voted for the repurposing and of course somewhere in the shadows is the sinister AEA union. Most of the people who vouched for the passage of this outrageous request profit in one way or another from its passage. There is a lesson for them to learn here and their shifty tactics have earned them a resounding NO!
Then there is a $30 million bond request with brand new taxes for which only three of five board members voted in favor.
There are 15 people pleading for passage of the bond. Some, but not all, list what they do, or who they are. Seven of the 15 are in one way or another involved with or are profiting from association with CCUSD. The others are simply a name so you have no idea why they support this outrageous request.
There is only one listed who opposes the bond and for those who won’t wade through the pamphlet here it is:
“As a citizen and taxpayer in Maricopa County, Town of Cave Creek, I am opposed to the proposed Special Bond election for $30,000,000 dollars for the following reasons.
“1. CCUSD has other revenue resources. State money for public and schools private schools, Federal dollars allocated and the Arizona Lottery dollars designated for schools.
“2. Citizens in Arizona and elsewhere are overburdened with taxes. The estimated $17/100,000 assessed property value would add several hundreds of dollars to what is the highest line item on your tax bill.
“3. The supreme court has ruled that the state owes the school districts $317 million dollars. It is up to the school districts to collect on this shortage.
“4. In an economy that has been limping along for working people since the Great Recession supposedly ended, people can ill afford any additional taxation.
“It does not matter if the request for taxes is in the form of an M&O override or a bond initiative. It still comes down as a tax increase on homeowners. I urge a NO vote of this issue.”
~ John Vannucci
Ditto and amen!
Unfortunately we still have a school board at the feet of an incompetent superintendent. With Susan Clancy on her way out thanks to New Jersey’s finest, Adam Trenk, the hope to have an honest and competent face on the school board, along with Janet Busby is Angelica Peterson.
Vote for her and against the $30 million bond. Neither the school board majority nor the administration has the skill or interest to spend money wisely and we don’t need more taxes.
My two daughters in Florida graduated from parochial schools and there was nothing fancy about the schools. But they and 90 percent of their classmates went to college with an excellent education.
Nov. 4 elections in the next issue
Breaking news!!!
Has Adam Trenk given up for other pastures? He hasn’t attended the last two Thursday Morning Meetings with the Mayor and left the last council meeting early to go to Washington to visit with No Labels Foundation, which is right up his alley since he thinks he is bigger than both parties. What do you bet he won’t show up for next Monday’s council meeting? Or leave early, as is his new habit.
