Sunday, August 24, 2014

(Orange County) Resident response to Cypress School District


August 23, 2014
Orange County Breeze

There is one thing I fully agree with the Cypress School District Administration on and that’s “Let’s remain focused and keep to the facts.”
The District implies that I am the chief critic of the bonds sold but they don’t mention the OC Grand Jury’s June 25, 2014 report that is very critical of the bonds sold. The District doesn’t reference what California State Treasurer Bill Lockyer said about the types of bonds school districts have sold. In 2013, State Treasurer Bill Lockyer made the following statements about the bonds: “The people running school districts are educators and not generally finance experts,” Lockyer said. “I don’t think they knew what they were getting themselves into.” “It’s another method of pushing debt to future generations,” said State Treasurer Bill Lockyer.
The District says ‘nothing could be further from the truth” as it pertains to their trying to circumvent Measure D. The fact is the District sued the City of Cypress in Superior Court arguing Measure D doesn’t apply to them. The District finally settled with the City and agreed to take the matter to the voters with the City Council agreeing to help them with the process. The OC Superior Court case number is 30- 2011- 00522871.
The recommendation to consider unifying with other districts is in the June 25, 2014 OC Grand Jury’s report titled “School Districts Dire Financial Condition”. The Grand Jury recommends that the OC Department of Education conduct a comprehensive study to determine if the unification of non-unified high school districts with respective elementary school districts would result in cost savings. The report also states “The Grand Jury understands the conflict of interest for school boards and superintendents to inform the public of the potential financial benefits to unification. For administrators and trustees, unification would likely do away with their positions and status.”
Whether Cypress merges with Savannah, Magnolia, and Centralia Elementary Districts or if a different merger configuration is achieved, millions of dollars could be saved in administrative costs since many District positions would be duplicative. The Cypress School District has reported that salaries and benefits of the staff working in the District Office exceed $2.6 million annually. If the other 3 Districts have similar District administration costs, as much as $6 to $7 million could be saved annually and invested directly into our children’s education. Since only one District office would be needed, the other three District office sites could be sold with the proceeds being used to help pay down the debt of the merged Districts. In Orange County, there are 12 Unified School Districts and only 3 Non-Unified School Districts.
The District has stated that there is a mechanism to start paying the bonds off in 2021. The District should inform the public what the savings could be if the bonds were paid back at the earliest possible date. Of the $41 million in bonds, one of the bonds is $20 million and will cost taxpayers $170 million to repay by the time it matures in 2050. It would make sense that millions could be saved if an early payback of the bonds started 29 years before maturity. Developing the Mackay and Dickerson school sites is a good idea, however, the property should be sold rather than exchanged for revenue generating property. A sale could generate as much $30 million for the purposes of debt retirement.
Any consideration of the District Office site development should minimally be delayed until a full assessment is made related to the pros and cons of unification. A new office building may not be needed which is what the District is proposing to exchange the existing site for. Besides, if renovated 50 year old buildings are good enough for our children and teachers, why wouldn’t a renovated 50 year old District Office be sufficient for the administration?
The article above was submitted by Cypress resident George Pardon.

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