By Jill Escher
It’s time for SJUSD to right its wrongs. The District was found guilty of unconstitutional backdoor taxation when, in early 2006, it secretly refinanced 1997 Measure C bonds to artificially raise tax rates to repay $22 million of new bond debt. This week, Attorney General Jerry Brown handed down his much-anticipated opinion that such double dipping violates the state constitution and is illegal.
The District had disbanded the Measure C Citizens Bond Oversight Committee prior to the cash-out, excluded any information about the cash-out from Board minutes and the website, made no public announcements about it, and discussed it at no public forums. It was not until the spring of 2007, after a small group of taxpayers began making Public Record Act requests of SJUSD, that the scheme came to light and to the attention of any members of the remaining Citizens Bond Oversight Committee, the Measure F CBOC.
The last thing we need in this current economic climate is backroom dealings by pubic entities which fleece taxpayers. But it’s not just about the money; more disturbing was SJUSD’s violation of fundamental democratic principles and its clandestine abuse of taxpayer trust.
As a result, we call on San Jose Unified’s Board to start the hard work of regaining taxpayers’ respect as follows:
—Immediate cessation of expenditure of any funds that could be traced to the cash-out refinancing of Measure C;
—A full accounting of all Measure C funds from the beginning of 2006 to the present, to be published within a month on the District website; and
—A plan, coordinated with the Santa Clara County Treasurer’s office, for maximum possible repayment to SJUSD property taxpayers.
Jill Escher is a mamber of Citizens for School Bond Accountability.
It’s situations like this that make me back up to a wall and grab my wallet. School district administrators cannot be trusted anymore than a used car salesman.
I wonder if Joseph DiSalvo, one of the SJI columnists, could help shake this one loose.
If I recall correctly, when Jill E. first brought up this issue over a year ago, SJ Unified attempted to dismiss her and her arguments with a variety of bullying smear tactics. Now that Jerry Brown has categorically rejected SJ Unified’s lame arguments for why they can steal taxpayer money, I find it amusing that SJU, in today’s Merc, is complaining that the AG is taking away a funding source. Boo Hoo! We can’t steal anymore! How unfair!
If SU Unified was a serious organization, they would apologize to taxpayers for illegally taking their money, and transparently institute Bond Reforms.
If the SJ Unified Board was anything than a rubberstamp, they’d demand the reforms and a full accounting.
Sadly, we can predict neither will happen. So we all have Jill E. and Jerry Brown to thank for calling the whistle on these institutional cheaters.
Only one question Jill: how do i get my money back?
Jon on hester