Vista Teachers ran VUSD into the ground financially, says ANTI blogger, "blob"

Did you know that the Vista Teachers are running and ruining this district? The same teachers who have not had a contract in three years are controlling the VUSD school district and the VUSD school board. The same teachers who are among the lowest paid in San Diego County, actually control the entire VUSD. Wow. Those teachers must be awfully dumb to pay themselves so poorly when they have the financial reins of the school district in their hands.

As far as financially ruining the district, the greatest loss of taxpayer money in history was the 50 million dollars lost because Jim Gibson and Stephen Guffanti stubbornly refused to allow the district to build Mission Vista High School in 2002 at the cheap level Kawano site.

At that time the projected cost of Mission Vista High School was between 50 and 54 million. Construction could have started in 2002 with completion projected for 2005.

Today the cost of Mission Vista High School is 100 million. The start of construction was delayed until spring 2007 with completion projected for the fall of 2010.

Why did this happen? Jim Gibson and Dr. Stephen Guffanti refused to be the state required fourth vote to acquire the cheap level Kawano property.

The cheap level Kawano property was identified as the last best, large parcel left in the district. No other cheap level 50+ acre parcel was available. But Jim Gibson and Dr. Stephen Guffanti refused to allow the district access to this property. In addition they did all they could to delay Mission Vista High School from being built at the second best site, the Melrose parcel owned by David Arnold's company. Dr. Guffanti was chairman of a group that not only opposed the Melrose site, the group SUED our district to stop the construction WHILE GUFFANTI SAT ON THE VUSD SCHOOL BOARD. Talk about your conflict of interests.

Because of Gibson and Guffanti obstructionism the start of construction at MVHS was delayed from summer of 2002 to the spring of 2007--almost five years of delay. The cost increased almost fifty million dollars.

But according to our ANTI friends, it was not Gibson and Guffanti who caused financial difficulties in VUSD. No, our ANTI friends blame our outstanding but long suffering VUSD teachers!

The same Vista Teachers that gave up their own personal time and money to help pass Prop O to relieve overcrowding. The Vista Teachers that returned part of their salaries last year to preserve K-3 class size reduction. The same teachers who supported school bond after school bond knowing that if one were passed that raises would be deferred as new schools always impact the same General Fund that raises come from. Sure enough Vista Teachers have gone from third highest salaries in the county for unified school districts to 32nd out of 37 reporting districts in average salary for San Diego County. (Sacramento Bee)

Read the comments of ANTI public education blogger, Blob here:

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/vista/article_aa64ab84-4b91-5e85-bc19-2affb12386ec.html?mode=comments


At 4:24pm Blob, accuses without providing any evidence, the teacher's union of running VUSD into the ground financially.

This is a ridiculous charge on its face. Current financial problems in all California school districts have to do with reduction in funding from the State of California which on average provides 60% of funds for California school districts.

In some districts even a greater share of district funding comes from the state. In the rural school district where I was the superintendent, the state of California share of our funds was over 90%.

In what universe did the local Vista teachers gain control of the actions of the state legislature that passed budgets with deep deep cuts to statewide K-12 funding. These deep State of California cuts have driven the discussion regarding the need for reductions in employee salary, layoffs, and furlough day at VUSD and at many other statewide and local school districts. VUSD is one of those districts.

Articles in the the North County Times newspaper indicate large prospective fiscal cuts and furlough days in the Poway Unified School District, in Temecula school district, in the Oceanside School District among other local districts. Wow those Vista Teachers really get around. They not only control decisions in Sacramento to cut funding, they control a whole lot of the other local school districts near them as well.

Wow, I am so impressed with Blob's logic. Glad to know how powerful Vista school teachers are.