Both had Grand Jury Reports rendered. Both have attempted huge bond measures…

One is in dire financial trouble, replete with unnecessary facilities that were constructed with play-dough and finger-paints.

The Lincoln News-Messenger covered the Grand Jury report about Western Placer Unified School District.

It is ugly. WPUSD has been run as poorly as the state government – only they don’t have the same accounting gimmicks that the legislators in safely-drawn districts have.

Let’s start here: “A report released June 27 by the Placer County grand jury, which was critical of Western Placer Unified, laid much of the blame for the school district’s financial woes on former superintendent Roger Yohe.”

Roger Yohe was the Superintendent of the WPUSD, Kevin Ramirez was the President of Sierra College. Yohe and Ramirez have been friends for years.

Continued:” Many of the district’s problems came to light in 2006 when it was faced with an unexpected budget shortfall, including approximately $189 million in facilities-related debt.”

“Yohe, who was removed from that position that same year, now lives in Georgetown.” (SNIP)

Yohe said he did take exception to the charge laid out in the report that he “influenced the board to follow a fiscally irresponsible path toward his overly ambitious vision” and that he “initiated and approved design and construction of high-end,state-of-the-art facilities with no sound, achievable financing plan in place.”

When the Sierra College Board experienced a seed change in 2004 – the President, Kevin Ramirez started trying his case in the media before the newly elected Sierra College Board could act. The same grand jury sided with Ramirez against the Sierra College Board in a report requested by the board. (AJ Editor Deric Rothe is long-time friends with Ramirez as well)

The Sierra College Board had a vision – in spite of the Grand Jury Report… they negotiated an end to Ramirez’ tenure.

The similarities don’t stop there – Measure “E” a bloated $400 million monstrosity of a bond failed miserably at the ballot box. Measure “E” was Kevin Ramirez’ vision for a massive expansion of Sierra College Facilities – while the College was cutting course offerings and giving out administrative pay raises like Gray Davis did to the unions.

Unlike in 2005, when the Grand Jury made a politically motivated report… in 2008, with the damage done by Ramirez associate Yohe – they rendered a damming report against the district.

Yohe goes on to start spreading the blame: “In hindsight, there are some things I would do differently,” Yohe said. “Absolutely. With Ken, I knew I was taking a chance, but he was diligent … He made a grievous error and I had to terminate him. I probably should have hired someone with more experience – but I didn’t have a Cathy Allen back then.”

Yohe seemed to lay some of the blame on Jay Stewart, the assistant superintendent of business services, who currently works for the Loomis school district.

“I endorsed everything Jay Stewart presented to me,” Yohe said. “He sold me on the projects and the funding mechanisms. In retrospect, it was too much for him.”

So the WPUSD had incompetent people running the show – I wonder what would have happened if the WPUSD board had been something other than Union Moonbats and fired the guy or put the brakes on. I remember Melanie Eustice (that the PCRA helped elect) was the only good vote on that board before she moved.

The Sierra College Board majority canned Ramirez. The Auburn Journal was in the middle of whipping up a frenzy that culminated in the failed recall of two board members. No one seemed to care that Deric “Rampage” Rothe was a long-time associate of Ramirez.

Yohe said he did not believe the allegations of fraud surrounding the district’s architect, NTD (-Edge).

“If the architect allegations are true, I will be shocked,” he said. “Shocked.”

According to Yohe, Jordan Knighton, the principal architect on the projects, spent an inordinate amount of unpaid time working with the district on the District Build process in 1994.

Guess who the Architect would have been if Sierra College Measure E passed? NTD-Edge.

Almost $200 Million of Measure “E” would have gone to Barbara Vineyard’s Taj Majal campus in Lincoln. That campus in retrospect, with declining enrollment everywhere in School Districts would have been a crushing albatross around Sierra College.

When she spoke at the first rally for the Recall of two her fellow Sierra College Board members – Vineyard said, “We’ll never get a bond passed as long as they are there!” Those are words I will never forget…

“Another interested party who did not receive a copy of the grand jury report was Mike Thornbrough, the district’s assistant director of maintenance and facilities. Thornbrough and co-worker Frank Nichols had compiled the initial set of allegations last year that prompted the grand jury investigations.”

Thornbrough recently was terminated by the district and currently is appealing his dismissal. At least WPUSD didn’t have to try and recall him, they just axed the whistle-blower.

Thornbrough went on to say, however, that the grand jury report did not go far enough in investigating allegations about the district’s relationship with its architect and builder, NTD-Edge, contractual irregularities and poor-quality construction. According to the report, those allegations were not investigated because the district had hired a consultant to investigate. That consultant, Bob Aaronson, did not complete his investigation because the district has taken over a lawsuit against NTD and Edge.

The lawsuit is over shoddy construction at Foskett Ranch and Twelve Bridges Elementary Schools.

Leaders take risks, leaders take action… while the new Sierra College Board stumbled out of the blocks in 2005, the insanity that is plaguing other districts here in Placer County is certain vindication of their decisions on the Sierra College Board.

Aaron Klein deserves re-election, Scott Leslie deserves Re-Election, Jerry Simmons should not have retired. They did their job.

So I ask the same question as I did over Rocklin’s City Council… why do we need to Save Sierra College? It seems that we need to save the WPUSD and clean that board out.

Betting on boom left town with huge bill

By Dale Kasler, Jim Wasserman and Phillip Reese SacBee

This is a great article and shows the greed and lengths people will go in order to live the “good life.” It also shows why you should NEVER vote for a school bond. Just K-12 accounts for 50% of the CA budget and then you have those ridiculous Mello Roos bonds on top of that, and these people have the guts to ask for MORE????? And voters are giving them more? What a waste! No wonder so many people moved out of this state and are starting to move out again. These “leaders” should have to pay these bonds back themselves. $190 MILLION in the hole? Are you kidding me? Who was asleep at the wheel while all this spending going on? So the taxpayers are going to be expected to pay for the housing bust and now they’re going to ask us to bail out these worthless government leaders who spent outlandish amounts of money “to keep up with Rocklin and Roseville.” You know what, if you want to be like Roseville and Rocklin so badly than move there! This spending would make the drunken sailors in Washington DC blush. I want answers!!!

“Article:”http://www.sacbee.com/103/story/593143.html

But unlike other communities, Lincoln has an additional bill to pay, and it’s a whopper: nearly $190 million in debt facing its tiny school district, the result of an ambitious construction program undermined by a housing market gone soft. The district, Western Placer Unified, has been forced to postpone additional schools, including an eagerly awaited high school to serve the families that flocked to the Twelve Bridges development.

The Marones have put their house up for sale, too, so they can move to a rural setting in Loomis. They’re braced for a loss: The house cost them $529,000, plus $130,000 on a backyard pond and other upgrades. They’ve listed it for $525,000.

Western Placer is deeply in debt. It owes nearly $190 million, including interest, through 2036. Cash reserves will be sufficient the next few years, but starting in 2011 it will face shortfalls of $3 million to $4 million a year through 2024, said Dominico, the consultant working with the district.

She said the district is mulling a plan to stretch out the debt to 2047. That will reduce each year’s payment enough to get Western Placer through the lean times. But it will cost about $70 million in extra interest over time, she said.

Western Placer spent its money on things like state-of-the-art science and computer labs, art facilities, even skylights.