{The Sun} School Board Meeting August 20th

Changing election years would cost, not save, Inland Empire school districts money

Stephen Wall, Staff Writer

Posted: 07/30/2009 04:56:21 PM PDT

A growing number of area school districts have looked at moving their elections from even-numbered years to odd-numbered years to defer costs in tough budgetary times.

But postponing elections from 2010 to 2011 would actually cost districts three times as much money, according to an analysis by the county Registrar of Voters.

For the San Bernardino County Board of Education, which will consider the switch on Monday, it would be five times higher.

The estimated cost of the county school board election in November 2010 is $375,000. The same election would cost nearly $2 million in November 2011.

That doesn't include an additional $155,000 to mail change of election notices to more than 490,000 registered voters, according to the registrar.

County school board member Gil Navarro, who recommended the change, said he is "shocked" by the cost and now will "emphatically vote no."

"Why is it so expensive?" Navarro said. "I think it's time we re-evaluate the voting process in regards to the cost factor."

Registrar Kari Verjil said elections cost more in odd years because there are fewer jurisdictions to share the cost for ballots, poll workers, voting booths and other expenses.

This year, only two school districts - Chaffey Community College District and Baker Valley Unified School District - have elections.

The other 44 school districts in the county have even-year elections.

"When it's shared among many, the cost goes down. When it's shared among few, the cost goes up," Verjil said.

In the Rialto Unified School District, which is also considering the switch, the cost would rise from $54,000 in 2010 to $164,000 in 2011, plus another $9,300 to mail change of election notices.

The Colton school board has already approved a resolution moving the election from even to odd years. The cost would increase from $51,000 in 2010 to $155,000 in 2011, plus $8,800 to mail election change notices.

The county Board of Supervisors still has to ratify Colton's request.

Colton board member Robert Armenta Jr., who voted against moving the election, said he will ask his colleagues to switch the election back to 2010. Armenta said he will ask the matter to be placed on the Aug. 20 meeting agenda.

The San Bernardino City Unified School District has officially changed its election cycle from even to odd years starting in 2011. It will spend an estimated $350,000 for the 2011 election, compared to the $107,000 it would have paid for a 2010 election.

Fifteen special districts are conducting elections by mail in August, which Verjil says reduces costs tremendously because the registrar's office doesn't have to pay poll workers and set up polling places.

But the state election code doesn't allow school districts to have vote-by-mail elections, she said.

Navarro said he will propose a resolution at Monday's meeting asking Sacramento lawmakers to change state law to allow local school districts and agencies to conduct elections by mail to save money.

stephen.wall@inlandnewspapers.com, (909) 386-3916

{Very Interesting}

December 11, 2004
By CADONNA PEYTON / The Press-Enterprise

At least one community member has filed a complaint with the San Bernardino City Unified School District claiming one of its assistant superintendents is making racist comments while harassing a trustee of another local school board.
Erica Manos of Lake Elsinore filed her complaint with the district's affirmative action office last week. She, along with Robin Hvidston of Upland and Sharon Higa of Chino Hills, attended the district's board meeting Tuesday to speak against Assistant Superintendent Mel Albiso.

However, the women said they were dissuaded from speaking because officials told them they had to file the appropriate complaint form first.

Albiso has attended two Colton Joint Unified School District board meetings to speak about trustee Marge Mendoza-Ware for statements she made at an Oct. 8 KFI AM 640 radio program. Mendoza-Ware was invited to the "John and Ken Political Human Sacrifice" program because one of their targets was U.S. Rep. Joe Baca Sr., and she was running against his son, Joe Baca Jr., in the 62nd Assembly District election.

At the event, Mendoza-Ware said that illegal immigrants are costing schools, hospitals and other public agencies a lot of money. Albiso, who considers the statement racist, has said he is upset that Mendoza-Ware acknowledged that she was a Colton trustee but did not say that her opinions were not of the entire board.

At the Nov. 4 board meeting, Albiso asked Colton trustees to censure Mendoza-Ware, and if they refused to take action, he promised to make Colton a "very complicated school district to work in."

To do that, Albiso said, he would use the Public Records Act to request all correspondence related to actions the board has taken internally and externally and "make a public issue of them."

At the Nov. 18 meeting, Albiso said, "Don't be fooled. This has nothing to do with immigration. This has to do with brown faces and non-brown."

The statements upset Manos.

"Anytime someone brings up immigration of any form, they are accused of being racist," she said.

Both Manos and Higa, who along with Hvidston planned to mail in her complaint, call Albiso's actions toward the board "blackmail."

"Any person who attempts to subdue freedom of expression and makes inflammatory or racist remarks publicly is not fit to hold a position of authority," Manos said.

Albiso, in charge of classified human resources, declined to comment following Tuesday's San Bernardino board meeting and did not return numerous calls made to his office and cell phone.

{Article from the Press Enterprise}

Colton trustees misstep again

10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, June 30, 2009
CASSIE MACDUFF
If Colton school board members aren't careful, they're going to get a reputation as being arrogant and disrespectful of the people who elect them.
Earlier this year, they named a new high school after a retired Colton trustee instead of the city that will host it. They eventually came around, but only after weeks of protests that threatened to ruin the groundbreaking.
Now, in an even more arrogant gesture, they voted to postpone the next school board election until 2011, giving themselves six-year terms when they were elected to serve four years.
What do they think they are, U.S. senators?
Only two trustees -- Robert Armenta Jr. and Patt Haro -- voted against the change.
The trustees who supported the switcheroo were board President Marge Mendoza-Ware, Vice President Mel Albiso and trustees David Zamora and Frank Ibarra.
Thursday's vote was an about-face. In May 2006, the trustees voted to switch elections from odd-numbered year to even-numbered years, giving themselves one additional year on their four-year terms. The first even-year election was in November 2008.
Now they've voted to switch back to odd-numbered years, adding a second year to their terms.
To justify it, they claimed odd-year elections "tend to draw highly motivated voters ..."
Albiso and Mendoza-Ware also said it saves money and one job for the district, which is facing budget cuts, to put off paying for an election until after November 2011.
But when they voted in 2006 to switch to even-year elections, board members claimed it was "to increase voter participation and reduce the cost of election(s)."
They're talking out of both sides of their mouths.
Registrar of Voters Kari Verjil, who runs the elections, said it costs less to hold your election in even-numbered years with other state and local elections, when you can share the costs.
Those elections also get higher voter turnout.
Armenta issued a strongly worded protest, saying he believes postponing the election is wrong and unethical, and breaks the trust with voters.
If budget problems were a reason for canceling elections, he said, Gov. Schwarzenegger might as well say no further elections until the economy turns around.
He's right. Democracy isn't something you can just cancel whenever the budget's tight.
Well, as Albiso said, "I'm sure we'll find out in 2011 if voters think it was a wise decision."
Speaking of budget cuts, Grand Terrace just eliminated an employee perk that probably was questionable to begin with: giving birthday gifts of $50 to each employee, a practice that started in 1994.
The city has 50 employees, so eliminating the checks will cut the annual budget by $2,500.
That may not be much, but the city also will save administrative time spent tracking birthdays, manually requesting checks and getting the signatures of each council member on each birthday letter, Acting City Manager Steve Berry said.
Grand Terrace employees shouldn't feel too disappointed. They can still chip in for cake, like office workers everywhere else.
Former Assistant Assessor Adam Aleman finally did what I thought he'd do as soon as he was arrested a year ago on felony charges of falsifying evidence to the grand jury.
He pleaded no contest on Tuesday and promised to testify against his former coworkers. About time.