Board votes down bond measure and approves pay raises

This morning the Board of Trustees voted 4-1 against putting an unpolished bond measure on the November ballot. Thankfully, they also gave final approval to the first teacher and staff salary increase in several years.

With the mid-1990s bond measure still unpaid the Board shifted it position after the staff admitted that, due to the huge expensive time suck that was the defeated charter school petition, they had not had the time to do the necessary background work to adequately prepare the Board to move forward with the $5 million bond. It showed. The Board didn't have an analysis of how well the money from the current bond measure has been spent, how much the District taxpayers still owe, and even how much the $5 million measure being considered would cost over the projected 25-30 years it would take to be repaid.

Trustee Santa Cruz-Bohman went from being in the minority to the majority with a well articulated critique of the bond measure. One of the issues she noted is that the consultants advising the District only make money from the bond measure being approved. Amy Prescott pointed out that they stand to make about $60,000 for each bond sale. It should also be asked if they will also finance the campaign to pass the bond and recruit campaign donations from Wall Street bond investors who stand to profit from their sale as well. A recent investigation by the Denver Post found widespread corruption in school bond sales in Colorado in which consultants were doing just that. If we do put this measure on the ballot the District should prohibit such donations from interest parties.

By my preliminary calculations, it would have been costly. Over 25 years at a 5% interest rate it would have cost the District an extra $1.25 million and at 8% it would be an extra $5 million. As Superintendent Larry Enos noted this morning, local governments are borrowing more to fill in the gaps from state cuts. But the big picture is that it costs far more to borrow in future dollars than it does to tax in today's dollars because taxes are interest free. It is much cheaper and more effective for the District to find a way to generate local tax and fee revenue that would restore the inequity in the share of our local tax burden. This is much preferred over saddling us with repaying Wall Street for loaning us money at exorbitant interest for another generation. Last Fall I wrote on this blog about several ways to do just that and how much we could expect to raise here and here. Some of my ideas would allow us to shift the burden to tourists and those buying homes and property in the Valley rather than existing taxpayers.

The good news is that the most critical repairs to the roof of the Montessori classrooms and the walkway coverings can be funded by existing money the District already has for deferred maintenance. By January 2012 this reserve fund amount is expected to be about $560,000 and is available for just this purpose. Note that this money comes from taxes not borrowing.

The Board also gave its final approval to new contracts for staff, teachers and administrators which includes a tiny but much appreciated raise. Teachers and staff have gone several years without any pay increases which means that with inflation they have seen a pay cut. They will both receive a retroactive 2.35% pay increase for 2011-12 and a 1% increase for the following year and keep their current health benefits.

For those of you who followed the Board election last November you might recall that I made these two issues and teacher and staff lay-offs central to my campaign. Sometimes you can win by losing. I may have lost the election but we've had more success by putting the issues of the bond measure and staff and teacher pay front and center. It should also be noted that no teachers were pink slipped this year. This is another lesson in the power of an organized and articulate community to reverse lay-offs and cutbacks in critical public services.