WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.640 There's a couple of weird political dynamics that are going 2 00:00:02.680 --> 00:00:08.320 on right now with regards to Measure H. Measure H 3 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:15.279 is the largest of the various Fresno area school bond measures. Well, 4 00:00:15.320 --> 00:00:17.280 I guess it's actually the second largest. The largest is 5 00:00:17.320 --> 00:00:22.679 the one for the State Center Community College District State 6 00:00:22.679 --> 00:00:27.199 Center Community College District. It I had not really understood 7 00:00:27.199 --> 00:00:30.239 this necessarily about community colleges, but apparently they're kind of 8 00:00:30.359 --> 00:00:34.159 organized in a way similar to K through twelve public 9 00:00:34.200 --> 00:00:41.320 school districts. So you have basically a district State Center 10 00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:47.039 Community College District that oversees many of the community colleges 11 00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:50.399 in the quote center of the state, hence the name 12 00:00:50.479 --> 00:00:55.840 State Center so Fresno City, Ridley College, Madera College, Closed Community, 13 00:00:55.840 --> 00:01:03.479 et cetera. Nonetheless, what we've got right now is every 14 00:01:03.640 --> 00:01:07.599 local school district in Fresno, the community college district, plus 15 00:01:07.640 --> 00:01:11.400 all the K through twelve school districts have bond measures 16 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:14.200 that are on the ballot for this November. People have 17 00:01:14.359 --> 00:01:18.439 gotten their vote by mail ballots or their drop off 18 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:23.959 ballots already. Okay, those went out on Monday, so people 19 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:31.920 are already starting to vote. Measure H is the largest 20 00:01:31.959 --> 00:01:36.200 of the K through twelve bond measures. This is for 21 00:01:36.280 --> 00:01:41.319 Fresno Unified. It's a five hundred million dollar bond measured 22 00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:46.079 to fund we are now belatedly learning a certain series 23 00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:58.719 of projects for construction throughout Presnoe Unified School District. What 24 00:01:59.239 --> 00:02:03.239 is weird? Now? I've gone on and on and on 25 00:02:03.239 --> 00:02:06.400 on this show about how much I oppose these bond measures. 26 00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:10.039 The only reason all of these school districts are seeking 27 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:12.000 this bond money is because the money is on the 28 00:02:12.039 --> 00:02:17.960 table right now. There's a statewide bond measure, a ten 29 00:02:18.039 --> 00:02:22.719 billion dollars statewide bond measure Proposition two. And basically, if 30 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:28.039 local school districts pass bond measures of their own, they 31 00:02:28.039 --> 00:02:32.599 can get matching funds from the state. So I don't 32 00:02:32.680 --> 00:02:38.000 think any of these bond measures are coming about from 33 00:02:38.120 --> 00:02:40.599 close Unified, President Unified, et cetera. I don't think any 34 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:43.000 of them are coming out due to some exigent, urgent, 35 00:02:43.479 --> 00:02:46.800 genuine need. They just had bond measures that they passed 36 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:52.840 four years ago in twenty twenty. I don't think it's 37 00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:57.840 in response to any genuine need. These bond measures are 38 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:00.360 coming about because the school districts see that they're money 39 00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:03.960 on the table to be gotten, and so they're aggressively 40 00:03:03.960 --> 00:03:07.199 pushing for the voters to pass bond measures. Because voters 41 00:03:07.240 --> 00:03:11.919 like voting for school bond measures. They always do. The 42 00:03:12.199 --> 00:03:16.120 school bond measures always pass, and I think it's because 43 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:19.319 fundamentally people don't understand bond measures. They don't understand that 44 00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:25.400 a bond is a loan to a municipal entity, a 45 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:29.759 loan that you have to repay with interest. That's just 46 00:03:29.800 --> 00:03:35.960 what they are. In the case of Fresne Unified, this 47 00:03:36.039 --> 00:03:39.879 is a five hundred million dollar loan that's going to 48 00:03:39.960 --> 00:03:44.199 have to be paid back over I think it's thirty years, 49 00:03:44.199 --> 00:03:47.120 it might be forty years, thirty or forty years with interest. 50 00:03:47.319 --> 00:03:51.000 The amount that taxpayers within Fresnew Unified are actually going 51 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:53.159 to have to pay is going to wind up being 52 00:03:53.479 --> 00:03:56.800 more than five hundred million, much more with interest payments. 53 00:03:56.840 --> 00:03:59.840 It's going to wind up being closer to the ball 54 00:04:00.280 --> 00:04:06.319 of a billion dollars a billion dollars in taxes to 55 00:04:06.520 --> 00:04:11.319 get five hundred million dollars of benefit. Now there's this bizarre, 56 00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:19.720 this bizarre thing that I am noticing from AFAR. You've 57 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:26.000 got Susan Wittrup on the board of trustees for Fresnan 58 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:28.720 Unified School district. She is the representative for the Bullard 59 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:32.079 High School region, and I guess Fresne Unified's board of 60 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:36.160 trustees they are elected kind of on a regional basis. 61 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:40.160 So you're the representative for Bullard High School, you're the 62 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:43.600 representative for this. Clovis Unified is switching to a similar model, 63 00:04:43.639 --> 00:04:46.560 and you'll you'll be able to see why. I don't 64 00:04:46.600 --> 00:04:50.839 know that that's a great idea in just a second. 65 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:57.439 Susan Wittrup, though, is also in a relationship with Darius Assimi, 66 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:05.319 who's a very wealthy guy owns Granville Holmes and also 67 00:05:05.399 --> 00:05:10.720 owns GV Wire, which is a now becoming more and 68 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:14.560 more prominent news outlet throughout the San Joaquin Valley. I think, 69 00:05:14.600 --> 00:05:20.120 frankly it's becoming I think it's almost as important at 70 00:05:20.120 --> 00:05:22.879 this point. It's almost as important as the Presno B is. 71 00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:24.839 By this point, I think the Fresno Be's influence is 72 00:05:24.879 --> 00:05:29.800 waning and waning as actual readership of the physical newspaper 73 00:05:29.800 --> 00:05:35.079 of the Fresno B is going down and down. So 74 00:05:37.319 --> 00:05:41.519 Darias Sassimi comes out in opposition to measure h on 75 00:05:41.639 --> 00:05:47.079 GV wire, and then they publish in gv wire as 76 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:53.120 a news story twenty four questions from Susan Wittrop and 77 00:05:53.240 --> 00:06:00.600 answers from district's staff on the Fresney Unified website. Wittrop 78 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:09.639 herself is apparently urging a no vote. So this is 79 00:06:09.680 --> 00:06:12.560 this bizarre thing of Witchrop being on the board, but her, 80 00:06:13.600 --> 00:06:16.319 this person she's in a relationship with, runs this major 81 00:06:16.399 --> 00:06:21.120 media outlet that's covering this whole thing, and she's raised 82 00:06:21.160 --> 00:06:25.560 a bunch of questions and I think merit some real answers. 83 00:06:25.879 --> 00:06:30.079 I think apparently what appears to be happening is that 84 00:06:30.519 --> 00:06:36.480 with Measure H, all of a sudden, just this week, 85 00:06:37.240 --> 00:06:41.519 we're starting to get a finalized list of construction projects, 86 00:06:41.879 --> 00:06:46.560 projects towards which the five hundred million dollars in Measure 87 00:06:46.680 --> 00:06:53.439 H funding will be directed. And the purported rationale I 88 00:06:53.480 --> 00:06:55.560 talked about it a little bit earlier this week on 89 00:06:55.600 --> 00:06:57.839 the show. The purported rationale is to look at it 90 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:01.279 on an equity basis. That has to be the liberal 91 00:07:02.279 --> 00:07:06.560 buzzwords speak. But I think what they mean is, Okay, well, 92 00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:11.360 we're going to allocate more money for poorer districts. So 93 00:07:11.560 --> 00:07:16.759 as a result, Bullard High School and its sort of 94 00:07:16.839 --> 00:07:20.879 region is not getting much of the funding. They're getting 95 00:07:21.160 --> 00:07:27.600 a small amount of the funding. A huge amount of 96 00:07:27.639 --> 00:07:29.560 the five hundred million. I think about one hundred million 97 00:07:29.639 --> 00:07:32.199 is going to go to Roosevelt. I think McLain is 98 00:07:32.199 --> 00:07:34.040 the other one that's going to get around one hundred million. 99 00:07:34.120 --> 00:07:36.920 So Fresno High is going to get a lot. So 100 00:07:37.079 --> 00:07:40.720 these poorer parts of the district are going to get 101 00:07:40.759 --> 00:07:42.120 a lot of money. There's going to be a whole 102 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:50.240 rebuild of an elementary school in Calawa. Now Wittrup has 103 00:07:50.439 --> 00:07:54.040 raised these questions, the first and foremost being why is 104 00:07:54.079 --> 00:07:59.000 the project list coming before the board of directors a 105 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:03.240 President Unified for a approval after the ballots already got 106 00:08:03.240 --> 00:08:09.839 to voters. I mean that just seems completely unacceptable. Voters 107 00:08:09.879 --> 00:08:14.639 already got their ballots and the project list wasn't even finalized. 108 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:21.560 The next question she raises, why is the bond measure 109 00:08:21.560 --> 00:08:25.120 coming to voters before a permanent superintendent is hired? This 110 00:08:25.240 --> 00:08:29.879 is another question from Wittrop. Now we know why it's 111 00:08:30.079 --> 00:08:34.120 coming before the voters before a permanent superintendent is hired. 112 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:37.120 For President Unified. So, for those who haven't followed, Bob 113 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:44.000 Nelson was the superintendent of President Unified he retired, rode 114 00:08:44.039 --> 00:08:47.639 off into the sunset to some nice, cushy sinecure position 115 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:52.480 over at Fresno State. There was this big push to 116 00:08:52.600 --> 00:08:59.879 hire Misty her as his replacement. Then there was pushback 117 00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:04.039 on that with the idea of, hey, mister Hurd just 118 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:06.720 happens to be the assistant superintendent. There's no one else 119 00:09:06.799 --> 00:09:09.639 in the country would be better suited as superintendent. Shouldn't 120 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:13.320 we have a larger search. There's all this soul searching 121 00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:15.919 from the board and self flagellation and oh, we're going 122 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:18.399 to go through a board retreat and we're going to 123 00:09:18.440 --> 00:09:20.360 figure out what we have to do as a board, 124 00:09:20.360 --> 00:09:24.320 which was sort of I would imagine for voters within 125 00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:26.960 President Unified, you'd think, why do you Why does the 126 00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:32.159 President Unified board need a consultant and a board retreat 127 00:09:32.519 --> 00:09:36.240 to figure out how to do their jobs? Didn't you're 128 00:09:36.600 --> 00:09:40.879 elected officials, You postured yourself as being ready to do 129 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:46.799 this job. Why do you need extra outside help? Why 130 00:09:46.799 --> 00:09:50.399 do you need an expensive consultant to help you with 131 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:58.440 your job? So the reason why there isn't a permanent 132 00:09:58.480 --> 00:10:02.200 superintendent when Measure H coming out is because obviously Measure 133 00:10:02.440 --> 00:10:06.320 H is out, because Proposition two is on the ballot. 134 00:10:06.519 --> 00:10:11.720 That's the only reason we're doing Measure H right now. Yes, 135 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:14.480 in a reasonable world, you would wait until there's a 136 00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:17.480 permanent superintendent before you go to the voters to ask 137 00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:21.039 them for one hundred five hundred million dollars bond measure 138 00:10:22.279 --> 00:10:25.200 for rebuilding all kinds of things, prioritizing different things within 139 00:10:25.240 --> 00:10:28.159 prisoning Unified, you would wait until you had a permanent 140 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:33.120 superintendent whose vision for development of the district was clear 141 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:36.120 and in place. But they don't have time to wait 142 00:10:36.159 --> 00:10:39.080 for that. The money is on the table now. They 143 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:41.759 want to grab the money. Now, that's the whole point 144 00:10:42.080 --> 00:10:46.080 of this bond measure is to grab the money. The 145 00:10:46.120 --> 00:10:50.559 money from Prop two proposition to the statewide bond measure, 146 00:10:50.600 --> 00:10:55.080 the statewide ten billion dollar bond measure. They can get 147 00:10:55.080 --> 00:11:00.360 that money if they raise local bond funding. So gonna 148 00:11:00.360 --> 00:11:03.000 wait around for a permanent superintendent, because that's that's the 149 00:11:03.080 --> 00:11:06.200 tail wagging the dog nature of all of these bond measures. 150 00:11:06.519 --> 00:11:10.480 They're not coming about close. Unified doesn't need four hundred 151 00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:14.200 million new dollars all of a sudden, they want four 152 00:11:14.279 --> 00:11:20.120 hundred million dollars. They are always gonna say yes to 153 00:11:20.200 --> 00:11:23.759 new money, and they see, well, they're state funding on 154 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:28.000 the table with Prop two. If assuming Prop two passes, 155 00:11:28.279 --> 00:11:30.039 that state money is going to be on the table, 156 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:32.840 and we only get access to it if we raise 157 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:34.600 or we get access to more of it if we 158 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:39.279 raise our own bond funding. So here's Measure A for 159 00:11:39.320 --> 00:11:42.919 Close Unified, Here's Measure H for President Unified. Here's you know, 160 00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:48.519 the equivalent measures for Central Unified and for Sendard Unified. 161 00:11:48.519 --> 00:11:50.200 And all these school districts are doing the same thing. 162 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:54.080 For State Center, Community College District, They're all doing this, 163 00:11:57.600 --> 00:11:59.840 so of course it would make more sense to wait 164 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:02.759 for permanent superintendent, but they don't feel like they have 165 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:04.440 time to wait. This is the tail wagging the dog 166 00:12:04.519 --> 00:12:09.399 nature of all this. Wit Troup asked the question, and 167 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:14.039 clearly she's leading this way. Does asking for this Measure 168 00:12:14.159 --> 00:12:19.639 H bond funding create a public perception that the interim 169 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:24.840 superintendent may be allocating bond funds into certain trustee regions 170 00:12:25.240 --> 00:12:28.759 to secure the permanent superintendent position by catering to a 171 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:35.440 simple majority of the board. So Wittroup is making the 172 00:12:35.559 --> 00:12:39.480 argument here that the allocation of these Measure H funds 173 00:12:40.200 --> 00:12:46.039 it goes district. It basically goes on a high school 174 00:12:46.039 --> 00:12:50.799 by high school regional basis. Within president Unified, the Bullard 175 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:55.200 High School and its region get this much, Sunnyside High 176 00:12:55.240 --> 00:13:00.919 School and its region get that much. Mclayane High School, 177 00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:05.120 Roosevelt High School, Fresno High School and its regions get 178 00:13:05.240 --> 00:13:10.360 this much, this much, and this much, and what Wittrop 179 00:13:10.600 --> 00:13:13.559 And by the way, all of the individual Board of 180 00:13:13.559 --> 00:13:18.159 Trustee members of Fresne Unified are elected on that regional basis. 181 00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:22.000 Wittrop is the representative for Bullard High, this person's the 182 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:25.399 representative for Fresno High, this person's representative for Sunnyside High, 183 00:13:25.399 --> 00:13:28.840 et cetera. And what wit Trop is thinking is, hey, 184 00:13:29.480 --> 00:13:33.639 like you're giving a ton of money to certain districts. 185 00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:36.399 Are you just trying to curry favor with those trustees? 186 00:13:39.679 --> 00:13:43.039 Is that what Misty Hurt, who has clearly wanted the 187 00:13:43.080 --> 00:13:47.879 superintendent job, is she trying to curry favor with those 188 00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:53.519 individual trustee members. This is why, by the way, I 189 00:13:53.559 --> 00:13:56.279 am not crazy about the fact that Clovis Unified is 190 00:13:56.399 --> 00:14:01.720 changing to a regionally based Board of time trustees system, 191 00:14:02.039 --> 00:14:05.639 because this is what happened. Liberals want that for Clovis 192 00:14:05.720 --> 00:14:08.600 Unified because they think it will allow more liberals to 193 00:14:08.600 --> 00:14:12.720 be elected to the Close Unified school Board. What's really 194 00:14:12.759 --> 00:14:16.320 going to happen is this kind of territorial turf war 195 00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:19.879 nonsense is going to start happening right now. All of 196 00:14:19.879 --> 00:14:24.039 the trustees for Clovis High are charged with caring for 197 00:14:24.200 --> 00:14:29.440 all of the schools within Clovis Unified. But if it 198 00:14:29.480 --> 00:14:31.960 turns into regional stuff, which is what's going to happen 199 00:14:31.960 --> 00:14:37.039 for Clos Unified, well, you're the Clovis East regional representative. 200 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:41.159 You don't care about the Clovis West. You don't have 201 00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:46.919 the same inherent need to care about what is good 202 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:49.960 for Clovis West. In fact, if it's a question of 203 00:14:50.039 --> 00:14:53.200 allocating scarce resources, you're going to fight like hell for 204 00:14:53.240 --> 00:14:55.960 Clovis East to the detriment of Clovis West. You don't 205 00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:00.639 care what the Clovis West voters think. You're only you know, 206 00:15:01.039 --> 00:15:04.799 you're answerable to the voters in the Closed East region. 207 00:15:05.799 --> 00:15:08.519 That's how President Unified is set up, and it leads 208 00:15:08.519 --> 00:15:13.799 to these kinds of silly turf war tensions and possibly, 209 00:15:14.039 --> 00:15:20.279 as wit Trip's pointing out, attempts to curry favor one 210 00:15:20.279 --> 00:15:26.000 way or another with attempts to curry favor with one 211 00:15:26.039 --> 00:15:32.279 school board member over another to secure a job. Why 212 00:15:32.399 --> 00:15:35.840 wasn't a community bond committee formed to provide input for 213 00:15:35.879 --> 00:15:40.399 the project list? The answer to that was, ah, we 214 00:15:40.840 --> 00:15:48.240 polled the public. We had board workshops back in May 215 00:15:48.279 --> 00:15:51.879 of twenty twenty three, and then April twenty twenty four, 216 00:15:51.960 --> 00:15:56.120 and at the June board meeting. What was the interim 217 00:15:56.120 --> 00:16:03.679 superintendent's process for prioritizing projects, What was the interim superintendent's 218 00:16:03.720 --> 00:16:06.879 process for revisiting the project list? How many revisions have 219 00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:10.679 been made? So there are a lot of these questions 220 00:16:10.679 --> 00:16:15.159 that I think remain unanswered with measure H. But again, 221 00:16:15.639 --> 00:16:20.399 just the John Girardi basic principle, don't vote for bond measures, 222 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:23.000 just don't do it. More on this when we returned 223 00:16:23.039 --> 00:16:27.720 this is the John Girardi Show on Power Talk. I 224 00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:31.759 want to read some of this piece in GV wire, 225 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:36.440 this opinion piece written by Susan Wittrup, who is the 226 00:16:36.480 --> 00:16:40.559 president of the president Unified Board of Trustees and now 227 00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:42.240 the President of the Board of Trustees. I think it's 228 00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:45.679 more just kind of like a primus enterpars so first 229 00:16:45.679 --> 00:16:51.679 among equals. It's not like she's got more power necessarily 230 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:54.399 than the other members of the Board of Trustees. I 231 00:16:54.440 --> 00:16:58.720 think she just kind of runs the meetings. She represents 232 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:03.200 the Bullard region, and she has a piece that was 233 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:08.960 published in GV Wire urging people to vote no on 234 00:17:09.079 --> 00:17:18.079 Measure H and it highlights a lot of things that 235 00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:21.640 are a little bit more specific than my opposition. I mean, 236 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:28.480 my opposition has been mainly, Look, bond measures are just 237 00:17:28.599 --> 00:17:34.359 bad ideas. It's a bad way of funding public projects. 238 00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:39.039 It's you know, it's whatever is the opposite of delayed gratification, 239 00:17:39.160 --> 00:17:43.119 instant gratification. The school district gets five hundred million dollars 240 00:17:43.359 --> 00:17:47.119 and taxpayers have to pay basically a billion dollars for 241 00:17:47.160 --> 00:17:49.160 that five hundred million dollars worth of benefit over the 242 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:52.799 course of in this case, forty years. Okay, it's a 243 00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:55.799 forty year loan. That's what it is. It's not I 244 00:17:55.839 --> 00:17:57.759 think people have this sort of pie in the sky 245 00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:01.119 idea in their heads. I actually think most voters just 246 00:18:01.240 --> 00:18:04.759 don't know what a bond is. I think they hear bond, 247 00:18:05.079 --> 00:18:08.440 they hear money for schools. They hear sort of positive 248 00:18:08.440 --> 00:18:14.079 sounding things promoted by the school district, read by construction 249 00:18:14.160 --> 00:18:18.640 companies that want the contracts who promote these kinds of 250 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:21.960 bond measures, they hear the positive things. 251 00:18:21.799 --> 00:18:24.559 Oh, we're just out here supporting our students. 252 00:18:24.599 --> 00:18:29.359 So yeah, we're out here supporting our students, and they 253 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:31.519 don't stop to think of what a bond actually is. 254 00:18:31.880 --> 00:18:33.599 Bond is sort of just one of those words that 255 00:18:33.640 --> 00:18:35.400 I think we hear and that we don't actually have 256 00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:38.599 a very clear definition in our heads. A bond is alone, 257 00:18:38.759 --> 00:18:41.079 that's all it is. A bond is a loan to 258 00:18:41.119 --> 00:18:44.799 a governmental entity that the governmental entity has to pay 259 00:18:44.839 --> 00:18:49.160 back with interest. And governmental entities don't generate their own money. 260 00:18:49.359 --> 00:18:52.319 The only money governmental entities get is through taxes, through 261 00:18:52.359 --> 00:18:58.119 taxing you. In the case of school districts, they get 262 00:18:58.160 --> 00:19:02.720 that tax money from property taxes. And if you think, well, 263 00:19:02.759 --> 00:19:05.319 I'm a renter, so I'm not paying property tax, yes 264 00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:08.640 you are. Why do you think your rent keeps going up? 265 00:19:10.039 --> 00:19:12.920 You know your landlord is accounting for what he has 266 00:19:12.960 --> 00:19:16.599 to pay in property taxes. That is baked into what 267 00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:19.240 you pay in rent. And I think that's part of 268 00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:23.400 why these bond measures pass is because one it's a 269 00:19:23.480 --> 00:19:26.640 small increase in percentage, it's sort of buried in your 270 00:19:26.680 --> 00:19:29.119 property tax statement. You're not looking at it all the 271 00:19:29.160 --> 00:19:33.519 time the way that you're looking at you know, honestly, 272 00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:39.640 if if Chevron and gas companies like that really wanted 273 00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:41.759 to stick it to California, you know what they could 274 00:19:41.799 --> 00:19:46.119 do to basically overthrow California stick government immediately. Instead of 275 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:50.359 just the normal dollar, you know how on any gas pump, 276 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:54.319 you've got the amount of gallons of gas and the 277 00:19:54.319 --> 00:19:58.880 amount of dollars. If they set up a third little 278 00:19:58.920 --> 00:20:05.000 window showing the amount of gallons, the costs of the gallons, 279 00:20:05.039 --> 00:20:08.119 and then the amount of taxes. If they did that 280 00:20:08.319 --> 00:20:12.240 and people could see in real time on the screen 281 00:20:12.759 --> 00:20:16.400 how much they were paying just in California state gasoline taxes, 282 00:20:17.279 --> 00:20:20.880 there'd be a third American. There'd be a second American revolution, 283 00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:26.160 or at least a California revolution, let's put it that way. 284 00:20:27.880 --> 00:20:30.640 People don't see their property taxes day in and day 285 00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:32.720 out like that the way they do with you know, 286 00:20:32.839 --> 00:20:34.599 just at least you know, seeing gas at the pump. 287 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:37.519 That's why people get more angry over gas prices rising 288 00:20:37.799 --> 00:20:40.880 than they do over various other kinds of things rising. 289 00:20:40.920 --> 00:20:43.279 I'm convinced it's because you see that, you see the 290 00:20:43.319 --> 00:20:46.279 dollars going way faster than the number of gallons, and 291 00:20:46.319 --> 00:20:48.960 it's the psychological thing that drives people nuts. People used 292 00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:50.839 to be that way with ATM fees all the time 293 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:57.680 because you'd see it right there on the screen. But 294 00:20:57.720 --> 00:21:00.839 people don't really see that with these property tess especially 295 00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:03.599 if you don't pay, especially if you rent and you're 296 00:21:03.640 --> 00:21:08.680 not seeing property tax kind of built into your rent payments. So, 297 00:21:09.079 --> 00:21:11.759 especially in a school district like Presney Unified that has 298 00:21:11.799 --> 00:21:17.319 a lot of voters who are lower income, who don't 299 00:21:17.359 --> 00:21:21.039 own their homes, I think it's a very easy sort 300 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:22.359 of cell. It's very easy pitch. 301 00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:25.359 Oh yeah, this is increasing property tax on your landlord, 302 00:21:25.559 --> 00:21:26.160 not on you. 303 00:21:27.039 --> 00:21:29.880 It's well, yeah, it's on me. It's not like the 304 00:21:29.960 --> 00:21:40.039 landlord just eats it. He has to increase rents now, 305 00:21:40.119 --> 00:21:43.240 Susan Wittrop's p You know what, I've been yammering too long. 306 00:21:44.119 --> 00:21:46.640 In next segment I'm going to go through Susan Wittrop's 307 00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:50.960 piece again. The superintendent Fresney, not superintendent, the head of 308 00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:54.559 the board of trustees for Fresney Unified her arguments against 309 00:21:54.599 --> 00:21:57.359 Measure HS, the bond measure defund her own school district. 310 00:21:57.599 --> 00:22:02.039 So that'll be next on the John Girardi Show. This 311 00:22:02.119 --> 00:22:05.119 is the piece in GV Wire written by Susan Wittrup, 312 00:22:05.160 --> 00:22:07.680 who's the head of the board of trustees for Fresney Unified, 313 00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:12.000 in which she's telling people to vote no on Measure H, 314 00:22:12.279 --> 00:22:16.480 which is the five hundred million dollar Presdney Unified School bond. 315 00:22:17.359 --> 00:22:19.720 And I thought it was kind of fascinating that a 316 00:22:19.720 --> 00:22:22.599 school board member would actually urge a no vote on 317 00:22:22.759 --> 00:22:26.200 a bond. It's a rare thing and frankly something I 318 00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:29.240 actually admire that Susan Witchrup's done. I'll confess I haven't 319 00:22:29.240 --> 00:22:33.839 at various times been very enthusiastic about her, but I'm 320 00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:36.400 pretty impressed by this. So let me go through this 321 00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:38.839 as a school board trustee, She writes, I don't make 322 00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:44.640 the recommendation no lightly because I recognize that our schools 323 00:22:44.680 --> 00:22:47.599 in Fresney Unified are aging and dilapidated, and we will 324 00:22:47.640 --> 00:22:50.640 need a bond measure passed in the near future. However, 325 00:22:50.680 --> 00:22:52.400 the process to put Measure H on the ballot you 326 00:22:52.440 --> 00:22:56.279 received this week was sloppy and deeply flawed. Measure H 327 00:22:56.359 --> 00:23:00.519 simply is not ready your ballot, states quote. The school 328 00:23:00.559 --> 00:23:03.400 board has identified detailed facilities needs of the district and 329 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:06.039 has determined which projects to finance from a local bond. 330 00:23:07.160 --> 00:23:10.599 The most recent revision of the still unapproved construction project 331 00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:14.000 list came out on Friday, so a week ago. Today. 332 00:23:14.680 --> 00:23:17.359 The board will vote to approve the project list with 333 00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:21.079 no public discussion on Wednesday, two days after residents began 334 00:23:21.160 --> 00:23:23.079 voting on Measure H. Since the item is on the 335 00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:26.640 consent agenda, there was no community bond committee formed to 336 00:23:26.680 --> 00:23:28.839 provide input and o resite to the development of the 337 00:23:28.839 --> 00:23:34.480 project list, so the voters got it before there was 338 00:23:34.559 --> 00:23:42.000 actually a detailed list of construction projects actually approved. She 339 00:23:42.119 --> 00:23:45.920 continues with the section called hastily thrown together raises taxes 340 00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:49.400 for forty years. President Unified could take lessons from neighboring 341 00:23:49.400 --> 00:23:52.400 school districts. I've been talking with their trustees about how 342 00:23:52.440 --> 00:23:55.319 their districts prepared for bonds. Both Clovis Unified and Central 343 00:23:55.400 --> 00:23:58.559 Unified have bond measures on the ballot. In Clovis Unified, 344 00:23:58.599 --> 00:24:01.880 the project list was developed by district staff and a 345 00:24:01.880 --> 00:24:05.079 community bond committee based on priorities set by the board 346 00:24:05.240 --> 00:24:12.039 well in advance, without any involvement from board members. That's 347 00:24:12.079 --> 00:24:14.319 the way it's supposed to be to safeguard the project 348 00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:18.440 list from becoming politicized. In Fresnow Unified board members met 349 00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:24.000 directly with facilities staff multiple times and dictated where bond 350 00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:30.160 funds should be allocated for projects. Woh, that's a juicy 351 00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:33.839 bit of info. So okay, So what she's saying is 352 00:24:33.880 --> 00:24:38.839 when Clothes Unified developed its list of things, staff put 353 00:24:38.839 --> 00:24:42.039 together the proposed list, then it was presented to the 354 00:24:42.079 --> 00:24:45.039 Board of Trustees. Then the Board of Trustees voted on 355 00:24:45.240 --> 00:24:48.240 the project list. What Wittrip is saying is that, no, 356 00:24:48.359 --> 00:24:52.039 apparently they met with some board members. Some board members 357 00:24:52.079 --> 00:24:55.440 were dictating what kinds of projects they wanted, So they 358 00:24:55.440 --> 00:25:00.240 were manipulating the process on the front end with staff 359 00:25:01.039 --> 00:25:03.440 and then presenting that to the board. And that's more 360 00:25:03.559 --> 00:25:06.680 egregious I think within Presne Unified, because Fresney Unified trustees 361 00:25:06.720 --> 00:25:10.440 are elected on a regional basis. So I'm from the 362 00:25:10.559 --> 00:25:13.160 Bullard High Region, I'm from the Sunnyside region, I'm from 363 00:25:13.160 --> 00:25:15.279 the Fresnoe High Region, I'm from the McLean region. I'm 364 00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:19.279 from the Roosevelt region. You had what wid Trip seems 365 00:25:19.319 --> 00:25:21.759 to be saying here is that people were trying to, 366 00:25:22.039 --> 00:25:25.599 you know, hog more funding for their region over and 367 00:25:25.640 --> 00:25:32.559 against some other region. She continues, there have been at 368 00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:35.119 least three revisions to the project list since the item 369 00:25:35.240 --> 00:25:37.160 was pulled by staff from the agenda at the last 370 00:25:37.160 --> 00:25:40.079 board meeting. The only public discussion for the original project 371 00:25:40.119 --> 00:25:43.839 list occurred at a board meeting in August. Where is 372 00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:46.160 the list of projects by schools that voters need to 373 00:25:46.200 --> 00:25:48.920 see before they vote? In Close Unified, every school in 374 00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:52.400 the district placed signs with a QR code before voters 375 00:25:52.440 --> 00:25:55.799 received ballots so that the public can easily access information 376 00:25:55.880 --> 00:25:58.960 about improvements planned for the schools in their neighborhoods. For 377 00:25:59.039 --> 00:26:02.599 both Cloes Unified and Central Unified, timing for the bond 378 00:26:02.759 --> 00:26:05.960 was intentional, so there will be no tax rate change. 379 00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:09.359 Their bonds pick up where previous bonds drop off, so 380 00:26:09.400 --> 00:26:13.359 the cost is neutral to taxpayers. I hate that argument. 381 00:26:13.519 --> 00:26:17.920 By the way, I'm not to interject myself into wip's 382 00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:22.599 piece here again, this is Susan Wichrop's piece, the president 383 00:26:22.599 --> 00:26:26.400 of President Unified Board of Trustees. Just to interject here, 384 00:26:26.440 --> 00:26:29.799 I hate that Close Unified does this actually, because what 385 00:26:29.880 --> 00:26:32.200 Close Unified does with their bond measure is say. 386 00:26:32.200 --> 00:26:36.200 Oh, well, well, here's a four hundred million dollars bond measure. 387 00:26:36.240 --> 00:26:39.720 It won't increase your taxes, well, yeah does. 388 00:26:40.960 --> 00:26:46.559 Our taxes would naturally decrease once prior bond measures that 389 00:26:46.599 --> 00:26:49.160 we're still paying for right now, once we finally pay 390 00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:54.279 them off, our taxes should naturally decrease. But what you're 391 00:26:54.279 --> 00:26:59.240 doing is then what Close Unified is doing is basically saying, well, 392 00:26:59.079 --> 00:27:01.720 we'll just contain you to have your taxes be high 393 00:27:01.839 --> 00:27:04.640 forever and pretend that it's not a tax increase. No, 394 00:27:04.759 --> 00:27:08.119 you're still taxing us more. You're preventing a natural tax 395 00:27:08.200 --> 00:27:12.640 decrease from happening. Don't act like you're getting money from nothing. 396 00:27:13.720 --> 00:27:18.359 This word gain Close Unified does is doing with Measure 397 00:27:18.400 --> 00:27:20.079 A that that annoys me, and they've done it with 398 00:27:20.119 --> 00:27:26.519 prior bond measures as well. If it passes, which continues, 399 00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:29.720 Measure H will result in a sharp increase to the 400 00:27:29.759 --> 00:27:33.160 tax rate over the next forty years. While Fresno families 401 00:27:33.160 --> 00:27:35.480