Sacramento: Ballot measures J and K

Imagine Sacramento City Council election rules that would eliminate representation for a large percentag of residents. Outrage and demands for restoring equal representation would no doubt ensue. Electing city council members at large rather than from small representative districts would likely produce very lopsided results. Council members would be clustered
within the more affl uent areas.

But wait! This undemocratic model is exactly how Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) trustees are elected now! Five of the seven trustees live in the Pocket or Land Park areas. Meanwhile, areas such as midtown, East Sacramento, and Oak Park lack
representation. All public school students and their parents/guardians deserve a school board representative who is elected by, and is accountable to, the constituents living in their
specific trustee area. And this is only possible if one trustee is elected from each trustee area by only the voters who reside within that specific trustee area.

Currently, SCUSD trustee candidates must run costly and exhausting at-large campaigns that cover the entire district. Something is terribly wrong when the campaign area for school board elections is several times larger than city council campaign areas. And something is surely amiss when school board campaigns can cost significantly more than city council or even congressional campaigns.

November Ballot Proposals can eliminate at-large Elections for School Board.
The Sacramento County Office of Education resolved that: “An election on the proposal to establish seven trustee areas and the alternative method of election shall be held on November 7, 2006” (Resolution No. 2005-A, 7/1/2005).

Measures J and K aim to fix current SCUSD trustee election inequities. Measure J seeks to establish seven trustee areas in the SCUSD for election purposes (see trustee area map). Measure K seeks to elect one board member per trustee area by voters within their trustee
area of residence. (This is the same model used to elect city council members, county supervisors, state assembly members and senators, etc.)

Passage of Measures J and K will result in representation for every area of the SCUSD. And hopefully, grass-roots candidates, who truly represent their specific districts, will emerge.
The legacy of the “Serna juggernaut” The current “machine politics” model of electing
SCUSD trustees needs to be understood within the context of the “Serna juggernaut” formed in 1996. Former Sacramento Mayor Serna’s coalition of higher elected officials took control of SCUSD school board elections to ensure political agendas.

For example, on June 17, 2004, SCUSD trustees voted to lease the old district facility at 16th and N Streets to the Capital Unity Center, founded by then Democratic state Assemblyman Steinberg (and others).

This helped to boost his political fortunes. It is worth noting that the annual lease rate for the old district facility is $1.00, according to some sources. However, confirmation of this rental rate was “unavailable” from SCUSD’s legal office.

Why two ballot measures?

When questioned about the necessity of two separate ballot measures, David W. Gordon, Sacramento County school superintendent, stated, “Election law splits the
questions.”

In other words, only one question can be presented in each ballot measure. Measure J addresses the question of establishing trustee areas. And Measure K addresses the question of electing one SCUSD trustee from each trustee area by only the registered voters in that trustee
area.

Gordon cited one criticism of Measures J and K: “They would allow people to become too provincial,” whereby “the seven members would all want what other members have in their districts,” he said in a July 31 phone interview.

“Passage of Measures J and K will result in representation for every area of the SCUSD.”

This criticism rings hollow, however. It ignores the right for all citizen/taxpayers to have equal representation. And it disregards the need to (a) provide equal educational opportunities to all students, (b) eliminate “machine politics” from local school board elections, (c) promote the emergence of grass-roots candidates who truly represent constituents within their specific trustee area, and (d) eliminate expensive, unwieldy, and exhausting school board campaigns.
Passage of Measures J and K is a step in the right direction for managing our local schools more democratically and equitably. Vote “Yes” on Measures J and K.

Dorothy L. Wake is a Sacramento area writer and poet, and author of Mother Jones, Revolutionary Leader of Labor and Social Reform <http://www.xlibris.com> or <http://www.amazon.com>.

This article is reprinted with permission from Because People Matter, a local independent news source.