Funding Top Issue at Board of Education Forum

The state of the California budget and economy took the forefront of a Monday evening forum for candidates vying for one of three open seats on the Poway Unified School District Board of Education.

Hosted by the Palomar Council PTA and moderated by the League of Women Voters, the forum allowed the eight candidates to answer a series of questions submitted by audience members.

Although the questions varied, most of the answers led back to the top problem facing the school district: funding.

The eight candidates running for the three seats include: incumbents Todd Gutschow and Penny Ranftle, PTA board member Kimberley Beatty, businessman Marc Davis, businessman Tom Giles, district attorney investigator John Gunderson, student housing executive Fred Pierce, and retired engineer and former board member Stan Rodkin.

The candidates were asked eight questions, varying from the types of books that should be banned, to where the district will be in four years, to the most controversial of questions: where cuts will be made if the district is forced to make them again.

This year alone, the five sitting board members were forced to cut $24 million from the budget, dropping it down to $211 million for the 34,000 students the district serves.

With California in the fourth month of a budget impasse and an economy that isn't improving, further cuts are anticipated at schools across the state.

Davis, who has gained the most financial support and is endorsed by board member Jeff Mangum, said he does not want to see further cuts made to extracurricular activities.

"I was ingrained that extracurricular activities are not extracurricular," he said. "It ties a kid into the school, and he does better academically."

Pierce agreed, saying he wants afterschool programs restored but does not want to see them financed "on the back of the parents." Pierce, who touted his fundraising experience, added that he wants to see the district tap into private corporations for sponsorships.

Rodkin agreed with Pierce to say that school officials have been "lobbying in Sacramento for years and years to get more money" to no avail and that other sources of revenue need to be examined.

But Giles, who has the endorsement of Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher (R-San Diego), said he wants to see leaders lobby for a constitutional amendment so that the state would no longer control funding for schools.

Proposition 13, a 1978 amendment to the California Constitution, secured property tax revenues to the state when a portion of the revenue once went directly to local school districts. Some education advocates have blamed the 32-year-old law for the lack of success seen in Golden State schools.

Ranftle, who is running for her fourth term, and Gutschow, who is running for his second term, reiterated their problems with the state government, noting that they need support from constituents and that cuts need to be made to the state bureaucracy in order for schools to receive funding.

Though Gunderson touched on different issues relating to funding, he noted that if cuts need to be made, he would start from the top with the stipends that are given to board members and go from there.

Other issues discussed included: whether the Board of Education should include a parent with a child in the school district, online classes, vocational education and the controversial Pledge of Allegiance amendment.

The hour-and-a-half long forum attracted about 100 attendees, including PUSD parent Debbie Holcomb.

Holcomb, a mother of three students, said that although she benefitted from attending the forum, she was concerned that the candidates supported online classes too much.

"I don't think a lot of children will respond well to taking a class on the computer," she said. "It's a big difference from having the interaction with a teacher in person."

Another parent of two PUSD children, Parth Donke, said she attended the forum "not exactly knowing" who she would vote for, but she had made her decision by the end of the forum.

Though she wouldn't share whom she would vote for, Donke said the budget was her biggest concern, and she would vote for those who would "reaffirm" her beliefs.

Sabrina Butler, president of the Palomar PTA council, said even though all audience-submitted questions weren't addressed, she thought it was great.

"It's important for voters to directly interact with candidates," she said. "The forum did a great job of providing that."