Guffanti's next lie in his Editorial

More lies in Guffanti's editorial in the North County Times, "Dangers of Union Control" found here:

http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/guffanti/article_6a6d3551-d441-5f2d-85ce-a173c0d411e9.html?mode=story

Here is the lie: (VUSD)"fell to the brink of bankruptcy and declined academically..."

Lie five is another deception by leaving out crucial information.

Yes, revenues and student scores did decline temporarily after 1999 (not 1994 when the community based recall happened) so technically Guffanti is correct again. But he knows the teachers had nothing to do with either.

What happened in 1999? The third attempt at passing a school bond to relieve overcrowding in our district "failed" even though EVERY SINGLE precinct in VUSD passed the bond with a two thirds majority on election day. The 1999 bond failed when a few hundred absentee votes from the ANTI public education crowd slightly tipped the total vote to the less than two thirds required majority. The VAST majority of the district voters wanted new schools built, almost 66%, but a tiny minority of ANTI public education folks 'defeated' the bond. Why is that defeat important? Because the discouraged parents of OVER TWO THOUSAND students from our highest performing and most overcrowded schools withdrew their children from our district.

That massive loss of high performing students not only temporarily affected our test scores, it also impacted the finances of our district. School districts are paid per student by the state. Fewer students, less money.

But it was not the teacher's fault that the bond failed. The teachers contributed huge amounts of time and money into trying to get the 1999 bond (Prop LL) passed just as we had for the two previous school bonds, Prop L and Prop K. We spent our time and money for our students not for ourselves knowing opening new schools would lower our salaries for years to come as no bond ever FULLY pays for all the costs of opening new schools.

Guffanti saying the district was on the verge of bankruptcy caused by the teachers union is a out right, bald-faced lie and he knows it. He was on the board in 2000. He knows what happened to our students base and he knows why. The very ANTI education folks who are his most fervent supporters were responsible for the defeat of the 1999 bond that resulted in VUSD student flight, test score declines and financial difficulties.