Why Vote to "by Trustee Area"

Early last spring Erin Kutnik asked to have an agenda item put forth on the next board meeting. This did not occur, and it actually took two more meetings before it was addressed. This agenda item pertained to changing the way trustee areas were voted. Voting by trustee area was a platform which many of the current trustees ran. But to the surprise of everyone it was voted down. Why was there a change of opinion? Could it be that these trustees don’t believe they can be re-elected if the votes relied on the local constituencies? The Recall Election was won by a 10% vote of the population and most of that was based in North Mission Viejo and Santa Margarita, where the leaders of the Recall committee live. The Recall candidates did not appear at the forum held by the League of Women’s Voters to let their constituencies ask questions and get to know them. Their campaigns were run on lies and misinformation that they sent via mail in the name of both the Democratic and Republican parties.

Therefore, since the CUSD Board of Trustees voted down the agenda item, three of us concerned parents, Erin Kutnik, Kevin Kirwan and myself, took it upon ourselves to take the next step in the process of changing the way the voting should take place. We went to the County Board of Supervisors, received the correct information and documents, and then gathered petitions asking for the change. There was a required 750 signatures to have the petition presented to the County Board. In just 13 short days we gathered over 1200 signatures, which were then verified by the County.

A date was set for a public hearing that needed to be heard at our CUSD district offices. This was held on September 30th. The petitioners were heard first, followed by the CUSD trustees’ lawyer with open comments. (It should be noted that the trustees hired a lawyer to present their side, the cost in July and August amounted to almost $30,000 with the September costs yet unknown and this money came out of our district coffers, money that could have been spent for our children). The County Department for Redistricting passed the petition with an 8:1 vote. This means that the issue of voting by area will appear on the June 2010 ballot.

Trustee Area means that Board Members have specific geographic areas within the District in which they must reside and are elected only by the residents of that area.

Voting by Trustee Area will:

· Enable voters to clearly identify and get to better know their current Trustee and the candidates for the Trustee position representing their geographic area

· Enable the Trustees to establish themselves within their Area as the Trustee who most thoroughly understands the issues of the students and schools within their area

· Facilitate improved communications between all constituents and Trustees

· Provide that the elections of Members of the Board of Trustees are for a truly representative local governing body

· Reduce the cost of campaigns for school board positions by limiting the campaign to smaller geographic areas and numbers of voters

It is my personal opinion that “voting by area” is the only way in which the parents of the children in CUSD have any chance in taking back their district. This is the only way in which we can make trustees accountable to their own constituencies and to keep special interest groups out. Please consider this information in the upcoming election.