To prevent waste and abuse,
voter-approved California law requires that local school districts appoint
independent citizen committees to oversee their bond construction programs.
But, as a new county grand
jury report documents, West Contra Costa district officials have undermined the
oversight committee there, stonewalling requests for information, providing
inaccurate data and meddling in the committee's operations.
It's another indicator of how
the district under the leadership of Superintendent Bruce Harter has mismanaged
a $1.6 billion bond program. It's more evidence that Harter must go.
"I would think he would
be coming to the end of his tenure," school board member Randy Enos said
last week. "I respect the work that Bruce has done, but I think probably
it's time to move ahead."
Enos is right. It's time. But
will he follow through? Enos is the swing vote on a five-member board otherwise
split 2-2 on Harter's retention.
The bond program has devolved
because Harter became such a construction booster that he abdicated his
responsibility to mind the public's purse. West Contra Costa property owners
pay the highest school bond tax rates in the East Bay to fund a construction
program larger than in any district except Los Angeles and San Diego.
The district's school
construction costs, measured on a square-foot basis, are three times the state
average, according to the grand jury. Twenty-nine percent of the money spent so
far went for non-construction costs such as program management and
architectural fees.
Change orders, as a percent
of project cost, are twice the state average, according to the grand jury. And
because of indiscriminate spending, the bond program is running out of money
well before all scheduled projects are completed.
This despite assurances in
2010 from Harter and then-Trustee Charles Ramsey that a ballot measure then
would provide sufficient funds to complete the program. They got that one and
even another in 2012.
Meanwhile, recipients of
school construction money have contributed big sums to trustees' political
campaigns and ballot measures asking voters to tax themselves further. And the
FBI and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission have launched
investigations.
It's hard to imagine a
district bond program more in need of an independent oversight committee. It
was only after the federal agencies and the county grand jury launched probes
that district administrators took the committee seriously. Yet, just last week,
Harter was still complaining about the amount of information the committee was
seeking.
He still doesn't get it. He
should have been providing objective, accurate and meaningful information to
the board, oversight committee and the public all along.
June
20, 2015
Contra
Costa Times
Editorial
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