ANTI attacks on VUSD, a short history

North County Times, ANTI public education "Plain Truth" blamed the considerable loss of income and benefits suffered by the good teachers in our district on union activity. Ridiculous! Obviously the VTA has been the one thing that has kept this district from slipping into utter disaster. "Plain Truth" is however correct that the teachers of VUSD have lost a lot. He is just wrong has to who caused the problem. Below I have outlined a short history of the ANTI attacks on public education in VUSD that have cost our good students and teachers so much for so long.

A SHORT HISTORY OF ANTI ATTACKS ON PUBLIC EDUCATION IN VUSD

Delays caused by a small group of ANTI public education folks from our district caused the delay of much needed school bonds resulting in escalating land and labor costs. Further delays by the two person ANTI minority on our school board and the ridiculous super majority of four out of five votes needed to acquire land allowed the ANTI board members to waste taxpayer money and escalate costs after a school bond was finally passed. This and the next two posts give a brief history of last two decades in VUSD.

But the reasons have to do with a small but very vocal minority in our district who are ANTI public education. Our ANTI friends managed to "defeat" three needed school bonds which could have built our desperately needed new schools as early as the 1980s for millions in taxpayer's saving over the cost of these same schools that were built in the last five years. There was empty land available and labor and construction costs were cheaper. Our ANTI friends, without conscience, make no apologies for this waste.

Sadly our ANTI friends defeated this bond, Prop K, even though almost 60% of the VUSD electorate voted for it. The ridiculous need for 2/3rd approval in California thwarted the clear will of the majority.

Then the ANTIs "defeated" school bond, Prop L, even though the heroes in our community VUSD community gave it nearly 63% approval. They followed up with a “stealth campaign” and our ANTI friends electing an ANTI board majority in 1992. The 1992 board majority’s antics caused such chaos that VUSD became a NATIONAL laughing stock.

That 1992-94 ANTI board made the front page of New York Times, LATimes and San Francisco Chronicle. The good people of VUSD recalled that board in 1994.

We attempted another bond in 1999 that received the needed 2/3 vote in every single precinct on Election Day but "lost" because of a few hundred ANTI absentee ballots.

The parents of two thousand of our students in the highest performing schools left our district following the 1999 bond defeat.

Finally in March 2002 the good folks of VUSD passed school bond, Prop O allowing the building of new schools. But our ANTI friends were not done with their petty attacks on public education. The two ANTI board members (Gibson and Guffanti) publicly opposed the purchase of cheap, already graded, land at Strawberry Hill for our new high school. Four of five board member votes were needed to purchase the land. Two ANTIs were enough to stop it. Finding and funding the building of the third HS cost the district a delay of five years and tens of millions of dollars for additional costs of land and labor at that site.

The lost of two thousand students and the income they generate by state per pupil spending along with the greatly increased costs of land and labor have drained our district of the resources to better pay our hard working teachers.

Thankfully our ANTI friends are a diminishing minority whose evil influences on our school district have nearly ended.

Only one ANTI board member is left on our district board, Jim Gibson. While Gibson still has the power to create controversy, to mislead the gullible, to waste board time and lengthen meetings, he cannot, without his henchman, Guffanti--defeated last November--, any longer block school construction and waste tens of millions of additional tax payer dollars.

Our VUSD district is back on track. We again focus on educating students instead of fighting political battles with folks who do not believe in public education or "government schools" as they term our good district schools.

Thank God.