Vote NO! on Measure R from Travis Unified School District on November 5, 2024
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Parents, Children, Neighbors, and Other Honest People Against Cheating, Lying, Corrupt Travis Unified School District Officials

Thank You for Reading the Ballot Argument Against Measure R

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Sponsor

This page is brought to you by the California School Bonds Clearinghouse. Please share this link to the Honest Ballots(sm) Solano County Voter Guide: http://www.bigbadbonds.com/rc.cfm?d=048-24-hbvg&i=bar-048-r-0639630

As much as the corrupt FPPC complains, we are not a "qualified" committee. The FPPC loves to suppress individual free speech, while giving major campaign finance violators slaps on the wrist. To paraphrase a popular slogan, Let's Go FPPC!

Critics

Richard Speaking

Today we received a message from a bond supporter in Monterey County.

We usually don't reply because of the amount of time involved in responding to the propaganda voters have been fed. In general, supporters have been brainwashed or have something to gain from a school bond passing.

The lady who wrote asked us "what have you done in the way of researching a solution for our local schools that desperately need the funding?" (The old "shift the burden" stratagem. How is this our job?) She wanted us "to offer a community-based solution on how to upgrade our local schools." If you're familiar with Newspeak, you'll understand the added adjective preceding "solution." "Desperately" means that the district officials have misspent all their sources of funding in favor of themselves, rather than the "community." By that we mean the superintendent pulls in over $200K, almost all the teachers get well over $100K and even the bus drivers are pulling in $85K. (Remember, teachers work about 185 days a year, not 250 days (5 days x 50 weeks) like us working-class stiffs.) The district has four K-8 schools in a non-wealthy area. Total enrollment has declined about 17% in the last four years.

Our message (about 20 minutes long) was recorded on October 11, 2015. Today is October 11, 2024. We thought it unusually serendipitous and synchronisticly Jungian at the same time. So here it is. Nine years ago we were focused on the constitutional language of Proposition 39. We haven't abandoned that thinking, but we subsequently recognized that voters almost never read the measure and most don't even know that California has a constitution. They do, however, read the ballot label.

To improve the quality of education; modernize outdated classrooms and school facilities; replace leaky roofs; and make safety improvements at drop-off and pickup areas; shall the measure authorizing [school district name] to issue $18,200,000 of bonds at legal rates, generating on average $1.08 million annually as long as bonds are outstanding at approximately $19 per $100,000 assessed value, be adopted, with annual audits, independent citizens' oversight committee, no money for salaries and all money staying local?

We redacted the school district name in part to demonstrate how generic school bond measure ballot labels have become. It's plain and simple cheating -- the government taking sides in the election using tax dollars -- on the ballot. This is a product of the moral relativism driven by constant government and media-entertainment complex propaganda. "It's ok to cheat for a good cause." Sorry, Charlie! It's wrong to cheat working-class voters (the rich ones don't send their kids to government schools) out of their sustenance.

You can see the complete web site on which this recording was posted here.

The rest of the story: The district lost the election by 72 votes.

By the way, every opposition page is set up to display video and audio recordings. Just create one and send us the link to play it on the page.



Introduction

Your Solano County Registrar's office is as corrupt as the day is long. It was sent notices in 2018 and a more specific Stanson Notice in August 2024. Because the County Treasurer's office disburses bond money, it also received a Stanson Notice in August 2024.


This site exists to provide you with all the information that the district and the school bonds cartel doesn't want you to know about. We believe that when you know what's really going on, you may have a different view of school bond measures now and in the future. It's not a pretty picture, despite all the cute photos of children or young college students that you're getting in the mail.

Ballot Label Artwork Collection

When you get your ballot, please scan the section of the ballot with local measure questions before you enter your votes. We know that several registrars are secretly (without public review) adding text to the ballot between the time the public review ends and the printing of the ballots. This is a crime under Elections Code sections 18401 (misdemeanor) and 18002 (felony). We are gathering evidence in preparation for filing criminal complaints with district attorneys and county grand juries. For examples of what we're looking for, see Most Corrupt Registrar Contest. To minimize our workload, please post the image at an Internet location that allows posts to be viewed without having to sign in to see the post.

Then text "ballot label art" and the name of the county followed by the link to the scanned image to 909-378-5401. Example: ballot label art, Solano, http://www.example.com/imagelink.png.

Unlike the Yes-on-Measure Committee that is sponsored by the school bonds cartel, opposition has had little time to organize. The opposition is, after all, working people like you who likely didn't even know there was a tax measure on the ballot until you started seeing professionally produced Astro-Turf signs around the district and carefully written mailers with focus-group-tested claims designed to make you feel guilty for not supporting the measure.

We're providing this forum to make it easier to connect with others like yourself. If we know of even slightly organized opposition, you'll find it here.

The epitome of the school bonds cartel is C.A.S.H. - Coalition for Adequate School Housing. Travis Unified School District is a member of C.A.S.H. and uses your tax dollars to pay it dues and to send its employees to conferences to learn how to exact more taxes from you and to learn how to spend it with other C.A.S.H. members. October 9, 2024 begins a three-day conference where your tax dollars are spent so districts can learn how to cheat.

The buck stops, literally, with you. You are the opposition, if you choose to be. It's not a Mission Impossible. It's doable. You are many; they are few. They rely on Astro-Turf money. They believe they can win by throwing a big enough pile of money at you.

If you're

Travis Unified School District wants you to believe that Measure R was proposed as the result of a lengthy fact-finding process that took months of input from people who live in the district. This is simply not the case.

Yes, the district put on public participation dog-and-pony shows. Yes, people got to voice their opinions. Yes, people were brought to a consensus. None of that matters, however, because the language of the bond promises only two things: One, the district will issue the bonds. And two, it will spend the proceeds. Read the fine print (the long, incoherent paragraphs) and see for yourself.

The Question

First of all, it's not really a question. Yes, it has a question mark at the end of it, but in fact it is a summary of the Travis Unified School District's campaign arguments. Don't believe us? Compare it to the actual argument in favor that was filed. Incredibly, the Solano county registrar doesn't provide the arguments on its web site. You could call the registrar and get the argument in favor or you can read it in your county voter information guide. Or you'll just have to trust us.

Let's look at this "question." Technically it's called a ballot label. Its content is governed by Elections Code section 13119. That's the law.

To repair aging schools, including replacing aging plumbing, electrical, lighting/ HVAC systems; repairing/ adding classrooms for science, technology, engineering, and math instruction; and improving campus security with fencing, cameras and lighting; shall the Travis Unified School District measure be adopted authorizing $65,000,000 in bonds at legal rates, levying 6¢ per $100 of assessed value, averaging $4,700,000 annually while bonds are outstanding, with independent citizen oversight, audits, no funds for administrators, and all funds for Travis Unified School District schools only?

Compare that to what the law says -- "Shall the measure (stating the nature thereof) be adopted?" (The quotation marks are in the statute.)

Because the measure is taking advantage of the 55% voter approval provided by Proposition 39 (2000), the question must provide the following disclosure in accordance with Education Code section 15272: "the board will appoint a citizens' oversight committee and conduct annual independent audits to assure that funds are spent only on school and classroom improvements and for no other purposes." It's mandatory. Why do you suppose it's not in the question? Why do you suppose the registrar let the district get away with that?

As written, the "question" violates both the California and United States constitutions and penal provisions (offenses against the elective franchise) in the Elections Code. Specifically, section 18401 (non-conformity with section 13119 and other sections), section 18002 (willful neglect by elections officials), section 18370 (electioneering), and section 18371 (electioneering).

Because no law authorizes the government to expend public (your) moneys for campaign activities, it also violates Penal Code section 424(b). You can read all about it in a landmark California supreme court decision called Stanson v. Mott (1976) 17 Cal.3d 206

To sum it up, this election is "plainly illegal," just based on the question that the registrar printed on the ballot. If the voters were to approve measure R, it can be vitiated (cancelled, set aside, overturned). The special proceeding designed to set aside an election is called an election contest.

Not to worry, though. This measure on your ballot has lots of company. Here's the list of all 100 school bond measures from the November 8, 2022 election from around the state. Notice a pattern? They are all arguments favoring a yes vote. They also all meticulously avoid the three dirty words (all mandatory by statutes) - tax, maximum interest rate (12%), and duration (the estimated end year from the tax rate statement). Check out the San Diego Unified $7.3 billion tax with the bullets.

What You Need to Know

There are two primary things I've learned over the past 9 years that I think will give you the big picture.

Number 1

I'm going to go out on a limb here and make a categorical statement that none of the Proposition 39 bond measures that have been placed on local ballots around the state over the past 10 years are in accordance with the law. The law, in this case, is the California Constitution, Article XIII-A, Section 1(b)(3)(B).

Not a single one of the 45 Prop 39 bond measures on the June 2016 ballot is a "list of the specific school facilities projects to be funded." Not a single one of the 184 Prop 39 bond measures on the November 2016 ballot is a "list of specific school facilities projects to be funded" either. That language is a mandate in the Constitution that permits an exception from the general rule that school improvement bonds require a two-thirds vote for passage.

The school bonds cartel was behind the passage of Proposition 39. You can read for yourself its unmitigated glee with the results of the primary election in 2002 in its own words, the first election at which Proposition 39 bond measures could be placed on the ballot anywhere in California.

Number 2

There is a massive, organized lobby that operates all over the state whose only goal is to make its members money or gain them prestige or political power or all three. I call it the school bonds cartel. Since Proposition 39 passed in November 2000, the school bonds cartel has persuaded local voters around the state to indebt themselves for nearly $520 BILLION, all secured by their homes.

After a 10-year drought, as the money spigot was about to drip its last dollar, C.A.S.H. took the initiative (pun intended) and placed another $9 BILLION state-wide bond on the ballot for November 2016. That's Proposition 51 sponsored by Yes on Proposition 51 - Californians for Quality Schools, sponsored and funded by Coalition for Adequate School Housing Issues Committee and California Building Industry Association Issues Committee. It's name is so long because, thankfully, it has to disclose that it's not Californians like you and me -- it's just the special interests that will grab every penny of that $9 billion over time, whether or not your children actually benefit. It only cost it about $1.5 MILLION to get it on the ballot. That's an excellent return on investment. While it has passed against Governor Brown's wishes, the school bonds cartel is not happy with Brown's slow-walking the disbursement of money, so they're demanding he speed it up. Greed knows no bounds.

Prop 51 (2016) money was gone in less than a year. The school bonds cartel tried again in 2020 with Proposition 13. The school bonds cartel has no shame, it called this $15 BILLION boondoggle the "Public Preschool, K-12, and College Health and Safety Bond Act of 2020." Luckily voters are beginning to see that school bonds, both state and local, are a bottomless pit that their taxes disappear into with nothing to show for it. Prop 13 (2020) failed. There was a lot "Sturm und Drang" about confusion with Proposition 13 (1978). To appease the sore losers, the legislature banned the use of 13 in any future statewide measure. Clearly, when you've got the money, the corrupt legislature and governor will do your bidding.

I should have had an inkling of this, but I was naive, perhaps because I didn't really know anything about school improvement bonds. When you follow the money, all becomes clear.

What you should take away from these two things is that your local school and college districts have gotten into bed with the school bonds cartel to soak homeowners (mostly) and small business owners for the maximum amount of money that the law allows or that the market will bear, whichever is greater.

The Pension / Salary Scam

Your district makes a big deal about how the bond money will not, by law, be used to pay salaries.

The Big Lie

First, whenever you hear or read the district or proponents use the phrases, "by law,", "mandatory," "strict accountability," and variants, know this -- whatever's being referenced is a bald-faced lie.

Yes, there are mandates. No one enforces those mandates. Your district knows this. It knows that there is no one from the rigged oversight committee, to the governing board, to the county district attorney, to the county treasurer, to the county office of education, to the California Department of Education, to the State Treasurer's Office, to the State Auditor's Office, to the California Attorney General who is out there enforcing any of these laws.

In addition, there is no penalty for violating any one of these mandates. This almost guarantees that private citizens who become aware of the violations will not bring lawsuits against themselves (your district uses your money in its defense) to enforce any of the mandates.

Pension Payments

Pension payment demands from CalSTRS and CalPERS have been soaring for years. They will continue to soar for many years to come. Woe is me! Where does all that extra money come from?

Property tax revenues rise every year by about 4% to 8%. Direct state payments are rising every year too. And so are all those special state taxes that are earmarked for schools. It's never enough when the district satisfies staff and teachers with mo' money, mo' money, mo' money on a regular basis.

How the Scam Works

Money is fungible. One dollar in a pool of dollars can't be distinguished from any other dollar in terms of where it came from or how it is spent.

  1. Use general fund money earmarked for maintenance and repairs for other purposes. (Facilities, unlike teachers, staff, and vendors, can't speak.)
  2. Let facilities rot.
  3. Pay people who stand to gain from facilities work to tell you how bad things are.
  4. Blame someone else -- the governor, the legislature, Proposition 13, the economy, all of the above -- for the rotting facilities.
  5. Pay high-priced public research firms and financial advisors to sell the public on the solution -- bonds.
  6. Take advantage of school tragedies in the news to capitalize on safety concerns.
  7. Lie that the children are exposed to health (lead in water, mold, asbestos) and safety (earthquakes, fires, floods) hazards that the district has let languish for years and years.
  8. Bribe teachers and staff to volunteer to promote the bond measure with promises of more money for them after it passes.
  9. Make lots of promises, but include language in the bond measure that makes the promises meaningless and unenforceable.
  10. Specifically insert language in the bond measure that allegedly authorizes all manner of reimbursements to your district. All reimbursements are illegal, but it gets away with it.
  11. Pay for it all, through reimbursement to or savings from the general fund, with bond money.
  12. Pay off the teachers, staff, and vendors with the bond money now pooled in the general fund.
  13. Repeat.

In a few years, your district will come back asking for more bonds. The measure will make the same promises as before. The excuses for not fixing things will be the same. Fairly soon, the new facilities will be showing their age for lack of upkeep. The cycle is self-perpetuating.

Your district is creating crises for which its solution is always bonds. Until it's ready to float a bond measure, it's not a crisis.

Financial Reports

This is, perhaps, the most disgusting part of a bond measure campaign. Almost as if by design, the campaign financial filings are almost impossible to come by. The county registrar of voters is the only place where you can get the filings. They're on paper, often faxed, and sometimes hand-written. (There is no searchable database in any county in the state.) You have to travel there during business hours to get them. (Some counties have the images of the paper filings on-line in a heavily redacted, nearly useless form.) In a word, it's a Herculean task.

Do you believe in fairies? How about angels? Who gives money to a Yes-on-Measure Committee? The answer to this question raises the specter of all kinds of political favors, waste, and public corruption. The proof is in the pudding, as they say.

For a truly stunning report of how the school bonds cartel operates, see the Los Angeles Times investigative report, Billions to Spend. It would take a full-time team of lawyers and journalists years to report on all the corruption connected with the school bonds cartel around California. Note that the Los Angeles Community College District, the target of that investigation, has no shame either. It tricked the voters into passing a $3.3 BILLION bond measure on the November 2016 ballot. And Los Angeles Times? Under new management and swimming in red ink, it capitulated and actually endorsed the measure.

If you were to believe the Yes-on-Measure Committee, it's a bunch of "grassroots parents, teachers, and community leaders." In fact, the school bonds cartel rears its hydra head again. The donors to the Yes-on-Measure Committee are a who's who of C.A.S.H. go-to firms.

Why is this secret, you might ask? Because it's nearly impossible for average folks like you to get your hands on the reports that the Yes-on-Measure Committee and the major donors must file. The reason that it's so easy to keep this hidden is because of a dysfunctional campaign finance system that splits the responsibility between the Secretary of State and the county registrars and the mish-mash of systems that have sprung up as a result with each county creating its own system ranging from hard-copy paper filings to placing heavily redacted paper filings on line.

By the way, it's not just the Yes-on-Measure Committee. There's a strong correlation between these contributors and many governing board candidates. What would you think if contributors to governing board campaigns and the Yes-on-Measure Committee received contracts with the district, either before or after a bond measure election?

We don't have all the campaign filings for Measure R. Would you be an angel and visit your county registrar's office to get a copy of the filings? Call or text me at 909-378-5401 and I'll walk you through what to expect. It's not difficult, if you can spare the time and small expense, but it's extremely helpful to everyone else who will visit this page. The information will be also be added to our growing database of Yes-on-Measure Committee donors to help connect the dots all over California.

Legal Requirements

How many times can you find references to state statutes or codes or law in the question, in the full text, in the arguments, in the impartial analysis, and in the tax rate statement? Why is it there? The only reason it's put in there is to give you a false sense of comfort.

Let me explain.

If something is required to be done by law, then it's not optional. Adding language that says the district will follow the law adds nothing. Wouldn't one expect that anyway? Then why put it in?

I'm building a library of past bond measures for reference. The earliest one currently in the library is from November 2002. This was the first general election where the brand new Proposition 39 (55%) bonds were on the ballot. Look at how simple it was. Los Angeles County Measure J.

In some cases, the ballot measure goes to great lengths to quote or paraphrase what the law says. In my view, this is dangerous because the paraphrased language is not the law. Will the district follow the paraphrased language or the actual law, if you approve this tax measure? The only way to know is to sue in court, which requires lawyers and a lot of money.

The law hasn't changed since that 2002 measure was placed on the ballot. The only reason for all the legal gobbledygook is that C.A.S.H. members have conducted focus-groups and have determined that putting in all that meaningless legal mumbo-jumbo sells better.

Legal Interest Rates

This is usually right in the question, but can appear elsewhere in the full text. Again, what purpose does it serve, except a false sense of comfort. Did you know that legal interest rates are currently up to 12%? Does that shock you? Would you take a 12% loan on your house? Of course not. Why didn't the consultant who wrote the question put in the maximum 'legal' interest rate? (You didn't think district officials wrote it, did you?) Because "at legal interest rates" sells much better than "at up to 12% interest rates."

It's just part of the sales job.

Accountability

If there's one thing you'll see throughout the sample ballot materials and all the propaganda materials you're receiving in your mail is how much accountability there is. Why do the advisors put so much attention on this? As you'll see, the reason is always the same -- because it sells.

In fact, the sole purpose of the Smaller Classes, Safer Schools and Financial Accountability Act of 2000 was to undermine opposition to the passage of Proposition 39. Like all legislative acts, the title of the act is the sizzle. It looks good. It sounds good. It means nothing. Oftentimes it's actually an oxymoron, meaning it does the exact opposite of what it sounds like it does. This case is no different. There's mention of accountability in the act, but in practice, the trustees control the two groups that are deceptively described as independent.

The independent citizens' bond oversight committee (CBOC) actually serves at the pleasure of the trustees. In practice, the trustees adopt the committee's bylaws, restrict its activities, and manage its meetings where high-level administrators and vendors are always in attendance. If you'd like to learn what really goes on in these meetings, read about the initial meeting of the Torrance Unified School District CBOC -- The Big Switcheroo.

The two so-called independent audits, which are constitutional provisions, are actually anything but. Note that each bond measure must have two audits every year until all the funds have been spent. This is very lucrative business for accounting firms. Would you guess that these accounting firms are members of C.A.S.H.? That should tell you to whole story. The school bonds cartel is like a vertical holding company. It controls every aspect of school facilities projects in California from selling the district officials on a sky-high pile of money (not very hard to do) through to final repayment of indebtedness.

An audit is an opinion that certain financial practices are in place and that nothing appears out-of-line. It's a very conservative thing. It's based on the data provided. It's not looking for trouble. It's looking for the mundane. The district determines what data to provide. It's looking for a good report. Of the thousands of audits performed in California each year, do you know how many didn't report a clean bill of health? Does zero sound reasonable? Like I said, the accounting firms are just doing the job they're paid to do with the data they're provided. These are not forensic audits looking for trouble. These are routine audits looking for the mundane. Did I mention that this audit business is very lucrative?

So why do I say that there's no accountability? Because even the scandals like Sweetwater in San Diego County that led to criminal convictions, passed all the accountability procedures. Grand jury reports like those in Contra Costa, Orange, and Solano counties are routinely rationalized away and ignored.

Are bond funds being wasted and misused? Without a doubt. Guess how many prosecutions have been initiated by county district attorneys for misuse of bond funds under the Smaller Classes, Safer Schools and Financial Accountability Act of 2000? Zero.

The so-called watchdogs are asleep at the wheel. Those few souls who have uncovered the waste and misuse are left to their own resorts. You can bring your own civil suits at your own expense and on your own time. Those stories are seldom told by a disinterested press that's just trying to survive the age of the Internet.

Impartial Analysis

This is really one big joke. It looks all official and all, written by the county counsel, but it's just a fill in the blank form that fulfills a requirement of the legislature.

It basically says: NOTHING IS AS IT APPEARS. BUYER BEWARE!

How many trees have been killed putting this meaningless fine print in millions of sample ballot booklets for all these years?

Bottom Line

Of all the legal mumbo jumbo in the measures and their related documents, there is not a single provision of law that sanctions a district for non-compliance. In other words, the districts can violate the provisions of the law, which they do, with impunity -- without consequence. Sure, you can a file lawsuit at your own expense to attempt to force the district to comply with the laws it's subject to. The best result attainable would be an order for the district to follow the law with absolutely no consequence. Note that the district pays for its defense with your taxes, so it's no skin off its back.

And if you the think in-house counsel and outside lawyers are giving advice that is competent or that explains all the legal possibilities, then all you need do is look at all the lawyers that are part of the school bonds cartel and C.A.S.H.. A retired lawyer in Monterey County who writes extensively about the legalities of the persistent expansion of public employee pensions has even suggested that these yes-man lawyers are violating there own code of professional responsibility. It's become so prevalent that no matter what legal violation you raise, the district will always claim that its counsel has said the district is following the law -- just before it loses in court or on appeal.

Fairness

Do you think it's fair when a district uses public resources to influence an election that it has a direct interest in? An election like a Prop 39 bond measure election, let's say.

Kamala Harris, while she was California's Attorney General, has weighed in on this issue. You can read the official opinion which was published in January 2016.

For our analysis on the Attorney General's opinion, see Attorney General Weighs In.

This is one of our pet peeves. The district says it's simply providing allowable 'information.' Don't buy the lame lawyers' argument that as long as the material doesn't tell the voter how to vote, it's legal. The Attorney General didn't buy it. One look at the fancy, colorful, image-laden, campaign-style mailers and you know in your gut that it's not information -- it's persuasion and it's designed to influence the election. As the Attorney General points out, that violates the law.

What can you do about it? Plenty. Unfortunately, you won't be able to stop it in time to make a difference for the current election. If you want to know the tactics that have worked, then you'll have to join the weekly Wednesday night call here.

There's also the issue of the Yes-on-Measure Committee name. The advisors know that it's a 'sponsored' committee, but it doesn't help the campaign when the committee name that appears on all communications includes a description of the major contributors. So it doesn't. (That's why the campaign finance filings are so important.) The advisors know that even if a complaint is made to the FPPC, a decision will only come months after the election. When you're looking at hundreds of millions of dollars in spending money, even large fines look tiny by comparison. Don't let them get away with it.

Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association ("HJTA") claims that its Foundation's Public Integrity Project, launched in 2020, exists to help you rein in this kind of taxpayer-funded campaign activity. We're not buying it. In the two years since it launched, there is still no menu item or other prominent link on the HTJA web site that directs people to a place to submit complaints. We suppose it's a "secret" weapon. Also, there is no place on its web site that reports on the complaints that HJTA has investigated, nor any results of actions that HJTA has taken. We've heard, verbally in August 2022, that there was a single success with a tiny, unidentified, fire district somewhere in the hinterlands regarding a writ of mandate. That's not a lot to show for a project funded with $750,000 of taxpayer money extracted from the taxpayers of Los Angeles County.

There are, literally, dozens of other ways that cities, counties, school and college districts, and other special districts cheat. For a comprehensive discussion of these, see Election Cheating.

Previous Measures

The district has had previous bond measures. It will carefully select the most impressive facilities improvements that it can find to convince you that it's done a good job. The consultants will have beautiful pictures taken. It'll all be just marketing.

What you won't get is a detailed report of where ALL the money went. You also won't get a report of what the actual cost of any individual project was. Nor will you get a report of the tax payments allocated to the project. Why? Because it's not a pretty picture. C.A.S.H. estimates that, at best, only one-third of the actual taxes that you pay will go toward the actual facilities. At least one-half will be interest payments. The rest will be administration and other ill-defined soft costs, like administrator salaries (yes, despite the yelling on the ballot measure to the contrary) and paperwork.

Previous Measures
  Votes
Year Measure Amount Result Yes % No % Yes No Total
2022 M $64,000,000 Failed 49.9% 0.00% 3,654 3,653 7,307

School Accountability Report Card (SARC)

Is the district painting a truthful picture about the state of the schools? Do they really have "leaky roofs," "deteriorating plumbing," and sweltering classrooms?

If you don't have children in school, you may not be aware that the legislature requires that school districts complete a report card every year. The report card describes, in detail, a whole range of statistics and details about each school in the district. Importantly, for the purpose of considering a bond measure, there is a facilities sub-section, under Section A (Conditions of Learning). The sub-section is called School Facility Conditions and Planned Improvements (Most Recent Year).

SARCs for Travis Unified School District Schools

Let's make a game of this. Find the school that doesn't have a perfect facilities report card. Give up yet? So is the district lying on the report card or on the ballot measure?

Remember, out of public view, the district had been planning for the bond up to three years in advance. Then remember that the district's goal is to deceive you with its sleight of hand. If you find that facilities aren't rated "Good" or "Exemplary" in the current year, check out the prior years. If the facilities have worsened, then you have to ask yourself whether the current year's SARC was contrived to support the district's claim that the schools are in decrepit condition. It's a tried and true tactic for deception.

Remember, the ballot measure is written by the consultants that are mailing you the same propaganda. It's designed to make you feel guilty.

Want to go a step further? Call the district and set up an appointment to inspect a school for yourself. If the district were to let you, which it won't, make sure to bring a video camera so that you can record your report so that others might benefit from your experience.

School Accountability Record Cards
# School Grades Most Recent Prior Year Prior Year
The most recent SARC was published on or before February 1, 2024 for the school year ending in June 2023. The School Facility Conditions sub-section usually begins on page 3 or 4.
1 Travis Community Day 7-12 2022-23 2021-22 2020-21
2 Travis Education Center 9-12 2022-23 2021-22 2020-21
3 Travis Independent Study K-12 2022-23 2021-22 2020-21
4 Vanden High 9-12 2022-23 2021-22 2020-21
5 Golden West Middle 7-8 2022-23 2021-22 2020-21
6 Cambridge Elementary K-6 2022-23 2021-22 2020-21
7 Center Elementary K-6 2022-23 2021-22 2020-21
8 Foxboro Elementary K-6 2022-23 2021-22 2020-21
9 Scandia Elementary K-6 2022-23 2021-22 2020-21
10 Travis Elementary K-6 2022-23 2021-22 2020-21

Can you help?

We really appreciate you clicking that link.

You may not think you can do a lot, but these bond elections are really very close, most winning or losing by only a few hundred votes.

The hardest thing for us is finding like-minded people, so it would be really helpful if you just give us your e-mail address. We're just like you, so we won't be letting it get into the wrong hands.

If you're really mad about the grand theft taking place in the name of children, then sign up here on this site. That will quickly connect you with other committed neighbors.

We're up against TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS from pay-to-play donors and a slick marketing company.

6 7 Easy Ways To Help

Because we're operating on hope and prayer, if you can help, please let us know what you've done so we don't duplicate your good work. Call me at 909-378-5401.

 


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