With 100% of precincts counted, Measure O fails.                                        Board of Directors just wasted half a million dollars of taxpayer money on this election.                                        Criminal complaints against the district will continue to be pursued.                                        Criminal and FPPC complaints against the Astro-Turfers will continue to be pursued.                                        Your property taxes based on indebtedness will now go down, as they should.                                        

Proposition 39
Smaller Classes, Safer Schools and Financial Accountability Act

This is the full text of the proposition that the voters adopted at the November 2000 election.

No Oversight

Proposition 39 provides no oversight mechanism for 55% bonds. It does specify four accountability requirements, however. Two requirements must be met to allow a measure on the ballot. One of those two is continuing throughout. Two other requirements must be met, at least annually.

What happens if the requirements are not met?

Apparently, nothing. So are they really requirements at all?

The so-called oversight committee -- the one with no power -- tracks the third and fourth requirements -- independent performance audit and independent financial audit.

Proposition 39: Text of Proposed Law
PROPOSITION 39 This initiative measure is submitted to the people of
California in accordance with the provisions of Section 8 of
Article II of the California Constitution.
This initiative measure amends provisions of the California
Constitution and the Education Code; therefore, existing
provisions proposed to be deleted are printed in strikeout type
and new provisions proposed to be added are printed in italic
type to indicate that they are new.

PROPOSED LAW
SMALLER CLASSES, SAFER SCHOOLS AND
FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY ACT

SECTION ONE. TITLE
This act shall be known as the Smaller Classes, Safer Schools
and Financial Accountability Act.
SECTION TWO. FINDINGS AND DECLARATIONS
The people of the State of California find and declare as
follows:
(a) Investing in education is crucial if we are to prepare our
children for the 21st Century.
(b) We need to make sure our children have access to the
learning tools of the 21st Century like computers and the
Internet, but most California classrooms do not have access to
these technologies.
(c) We need to build new classrooms to facilitate class size
reduction, so our children can learn basic skills like reading and
mathematics in an environment that ensures that California's
commitment to class size reduction does not become an empty
promise.
(d) We need to repair and rebuild our dilapidated schools to
ensure that our children learn in a safe and secure
environment.
(e) Students in public charter schools should be entitled to
reasonable access to a safe and secure learning environment.
(f) We need to give local citizens and local parents the
ability to build those classrooms by a 55 percent vote in local
elections so each community can decide what is best for its
children.
(g) We need to ensure accountability so that funds are
spent prudently and only as directed by citizens of the
community.
SECTION THREE. PURPOSE AND INTENT
In order to prepare our children for the 21st Century, to
implement class size reduction, to ensure that our children
learn in a secure and safe environment, and to ensure that
school districts are accountable for prudent and responsible
spending for school facilities, the people of the State of
California do hereby enact the Smaller Classes, Safer Schools
and Financial Accountability Act. This measure is intended to
accomplish its purposes by amending the California
Constitution and the California Education Code:
(a) To provide an exception to the limitation on ad valorem
property taxes and the two-thirds vote requirement to allow
school districts, community college districts, and county offices
of education to equip our schools for the 21st Century, to
provide our children with smaller classes, and to ensure our
children's safety by repairing, building, furnishing and
equipping school facilities;
(b) To require school district boards, community college
boards, and county offices of education to evaluate safety, class
size reduction, and information technology needs in
developing a list of specific projects to present to the voters;
(c) To ensure that before they vote, voters will be given a list
of specific projects their bond money will be used for;
(d) To require an annual, independent financial audit of the
proceeds from the sale of the school facilities bonds until all of
the proceeds have been expended for the specified school
facilities projects; and
(e) To ensure that the proceeds from the sale of school
facilities bonds are used for specified school facilities projects
only, and not for teacher and administrator salaries and other
school operating expenses, by requiring an annual,
independent performance audit to ensure that the funds have
been expended on specific projects only.
SECTION FOUR
Section 1 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution is
amended to read:
SEC. 1. (a) The maximum amount of any ad valorem tax
on real property shall not exceed One percent (1%) of the full
cash value of such property. The one percent (1%) tax to be
collected by the counties and apportioned according to law to
the districts within the counties.
(b) The limitation provided for in subdivision (a) shall not
apply to ad valorem taxes or special assessments to pay the
interest and redemption charges on (1) any indebtedness of the
following:
(1) Indebtedness approved by the voters prior to July 1,
1978. , or (2) any bonded
(2) Bonded indebtedness for the acquisition or
improvement of real property approved on or after July 1,
1978, by two-thirds of the votes cast by the voters voting on
the proposition.

(3) Bonded indebtedness incurred by a school district,
community college district, or county office of education for the
construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or replacement of
school facilities, including the furnishing and equipping of school
facilities, or the acquisition or lease of real property for school
facilities
, approved by 55 percent of the voters of the district or
county, as appropriate, voting on the proposition on or after the
effective date of the measure adding this paragraph. This
paragraph shall apply only if the proposition approved by the
voters and resulting in the bonded indebtedness includes all of the
following accountability requirements:

(A) A requirement that the proceeds from the sale of the bonds
be used only for the purposes specified in Article XIII A, Section
1(b)(3), and not for any other purpose, including teacher and
administrator salaries and other school operating expenses.
(B) A list of the specific school facilities projects to be funded
and certification that the school district board, community college

Text of Proposed Laws — Continued

board, or county office of education has evaluated safety, class size
reduction, and information technology needs in developing that
list.
(C) A requirement that the school district board, community
college board, or county office of education conduct an annual,
independent performance audit to ensure that the funds have
been expended only on the specific projects listed.
(D) A requirement that the school district board, community
college board, or county office of education conduct an annual,
independent financial audit of the proceeds from the sale of the
bonds until all of those proceeds have been expended for the
school facilities projects.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law or of this
Constitution, school districts, community college districts, and
county offices of education may levy a 55 percent vote ad valorem
tax pursuant to subdivision (b).
SECTION FIVE
Section 18 of Article XVI of the California Constitution is
amended to read:
SEC. 18. (a) No county, city, town, township, board of
education, or school district, shall incur any indebtedness or
liability in any manner or for any purpose exceeding in any year
the income and revenue provided for such year, without the
assent of two-thirds of the qualified electors thereof, voters of
the public entity voting at an election to be held for that
purpose, except that with respect to any such public entity
which is authorized to incur indebtedness for public school
purposes, any proposition for the incurrence of indebtedness in
the form of general obligation bonds for the purpose of
repairing, reconstructing or replacing public school buildings
determined, in the manner prescribed by law, to be structurally
unsafe for school use, shall be adopted upon the approval of a
majority of the qualified electors voters of the public entity
voting on the proposition at such election; nor unless before or
at the time of incurring such indebtedness provision shall be
made for the collection of an annual tax sufficient to pay the
interest on such indebtedness as it falls due, and also provision
to constitute provide for a sinking fund for the payment of the
principal thereof, on or before maturity, which shall not exceed
forty years from the time of contracting the same; provided,
however, anything to the contrary herein notwithstanding,
when indebtedness.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), on or after the effective
date of the measure adding this subdivision, in the case of any
school district, community college district, or county office of
education, any proposition for the incurrence of indebtedness in
the form of general obligation bonds for the construction,
reconstruction, rehabilitation, or replacement of school facilities,
including the furnishing and equipping of school facilities, or the
acquisition or lease of real property for school facilities, shall be
adopted upon the approval of 55 percent of the voters of the
district or county, as appropriate, voting on the proposition at an
election. This subdivision shall apply only to a proposition for the
incurrence of indebtedness in the form of general obligation bonds
for the purposes specified in this subdivision if the proposition
meets all of the accountability requirements of paragraph (3) of
subdivision (b) of Section 1 of Article XIII A.
(c) When two or more propositions for incurring any
indebtedness or liability are submitted at the same election, the
votes cast for and against each proposition shall be counted
separately, and when two-thirds or a majority or 55 percent of
the qualified electors voters, as the case may be, voting on any
one of such those propositions, vote in favor thereof, such the
proposition shall be deemed adopted.
SECTION SIX
Section 47614 of the Education Code is amended to read:
47614. A school district in which a charter school operates
shall permit a charter school to use, at no charge, facilities not
currently being used by the school district for instructional or
administrative purposes, or that have not been historically used
for rental purposes provided the charter school shall be
responsible for reasonable maintenance of those facilities.
(a) The intent of the people in amending Section 47614 is that
public school facilities should be shared fairly among all public
school pupils, including those in charter schools.
(b) Each school district shall make available, to each charter
school operating in the school district, facilities sufficient for the
charter school to accommodate all of the charter school's in-
district students in conditions reasonably equivalent to those in
which the students would be accommodated if they were
attending other public schools of the district. Facilities provided
shall be contiguous, furnished, and equipped, and shall remain the
property of the school district. The school district shall make
reasonable efforts to provide the charter school with facilities near
to where the charter school wishes to locate, and shall not move
the charter school unnecessarily.
(1) The school district may charge the charter school a pro rata
share (based on the ratio of space allocated by the school district
to the charter school divided by the total space of the district) of
those school district facilities costs which the school district pays for
with unrestricted general fund revenues. The charter school shall
not be otherwise charged for use of the facilities. No school district
shall be required to use unrestricted general fund revenues to rent,
buy, or lease facilities for charter school students.
(2) Each year each charter school desiring facilities from a
school district in which it is operating shall provide the school
district with a reasonable projection of the charter school's average
daily classroom attendance by in-district students for the following
year. The district shall allocate facilities to the charter school for
that following year based upon this projection. If the charter
school, during that following year, generates less average daily
classroom attendance by in-district students than it projected, the
charter school shall reimburse the district for the over-allocated
space at rates to be set by the State Board of Education.
(3) Each school district's responsibilities under this section shall
take effect three years from the effective date of the measure which
added this subparagraph, or if the school district passes a school
bond measure prior to that time on the first day of July next
following such passage.
(4) Facilities requests based upon projections of fewer than 80
units of average daily classroom attendance for the year may be
denied by the school district.
(5) The term "operating," as used in this section, shall mean
either currently providing public education to in-district students,
or having identified at least 80 in-district students who are
meaningfully interested in enrolling in the charter school for the
following year.
(6) The State Department of Education shall propose, and the
State Board of Education may adopt, regulations implementing
this subdivision, including but not limited to defining the terms
"average daily classroom attendance," "conditions reasonably
equivalent," "in-district students," "facilities costs," as well as
defining the procedures and establishing timelines for the request
for, reimbursement for, and provision of, facilities.
SECTION SEVEN. CONFORMITY
The Legislature shall conform all applicable laws to this act.
Until the Legislature has done so, any statutes that would be
affected by this act shall be deemed to have been conformed
with the 55 percent vote requirements of this act.
SECTION EIGHT. SEVERABILITY
If any of the provisions of this measure or the applicability of
any provision of this measure to any person or circumstances
shall be found to be unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, such
finding shall not affect the remaining provisions or applications
of this measure to other persons or circumstances, and to that
extent the provisions of this measure are deemed to be
severable.
SECTION NINE. AMENDMENT
Section 6 of this measure may be amended to further its
purpose by a bill passed by a majority of the membership of
both houses of the Legislature and signed by the Governor,
provided that at least 14 days prior to passage in each house,
copies of the bill in final form shall be made available by the
clerk of each house to the public and the news media.
SECTION TEN. LIBERAL CONSTRUCTION
The provisions of this act shall be liberally construed to
effectuate its purposes.
PROPOSITION 39
74 2000 GENERAL

 


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