As reported in the Sacramento Bee a few days ago the teacher’s union in Rocklin has resorted to using Children to advance their cause.

We see behavior like this in third-world countries but why in Rocklin? It is not about the Children – it is about Money.

This issue has now transcended the Rocklin School Board, who these same union thugs helped install in their offices. (Camille Maben is a liberal Democrat activist that used to work for Delaine Eastin. Republicans Paul, Dailey and Lowell each received $6,000 or more from the union)

Apparently, the Teacher’s Union is angry because the Republican Board members are forestalling a demanded 8.8% Pay Increase EVEN THOUGH ENROLLMENT IS STAGNANT AND PROPERTY TAX REVENUE ARE DECLINING.

STEP AND COLUMN

The Union tells you that the Teachers have not gotten a raise in the last two years. What is the “Step and Column” system anyway? This is a Union negotiated system of AUTOMATIC PAY RAISES – 70% of the teachers get them every year. (The other 30% are maxed out, cut hours, transfer etc…) These raises have been 1.65% each of the last two years while many in the private sector have lost jobs or seen their income go down.

Only in Government jobs are raises automatic and guaranteed – they can’t use the, “we get paid less” argument either. (Have you seen the salaries they are paid?)

ROCKLIN TEACHERS ONLY WORK 186 DAYS A YEAR

That would make the French blush. That equals 37.2 5-day weeks out of a 52 week year. This gives the average Rocklin teacher 14.8 weeks per year off!!!

At retirement, Teachers get a GUARANTEED PENSION FOR LIFE. Have you figured out why the State of CA is broke every year? Have you figured out why School Districts have to go to bonds to build new facilities? There is no money left due to the sweetheart deals they got at the state level.

Benefit mandates are unfunded and forced on School Districts meaning that 85% of their money is spent before they take their seats on the School Board.

All this and the Teacher’s Union is now using Children to spread the disinformation of how mistreated they are by the Rocklin USD School Board. Friends of mine have reported getting flyers on their windshields distributed by children as young as Sixth grade!

IF IT WAS ABOUT THE CHILDREN…

Then why have teachers refused to staff clubs? They did not have to quit doing club staffing – they chose to in order to get students upset for leverage. (This is the same tactic used in Sacramento during budget negotiations – the Dems refuse to pass emergency appropriations deliberately to hurt people and apply pressure to Republicans)

Then why have teachers refused to staff after-school help? I have received several reports that teachers are leaving campus as quickly as possible – deliberately harming children’s education to assist their cause in trying to get more money.

UNION THUGS

On August 21st – armed with Helium Baloons – teachers disrupted the meeting, Shouting down board members.

For five hours, the Baloons hovered at the ceiling.

In that same meeting for 1 1/2 hours, one angry tirade after another at the podium to make demands. When the superintendent, Kevin Brown tried to answer – guess what, they shouted him down. (I am no fan of Kevin Brown – but he deserves to be treated better than this)

THE UNION “BELIEVES” THE DISTRICT HAS THE MONEY

In the end, the Union leader said in the Placer Herald on August 28th that she “believes” that the District has the money.

You have got to be kidding me. Why hasn’t the Union opened the books – the district’s finances are a matter of public record.

The stagnant enrollment is public record. The declining tax revenue is public record. The effects of Union Backed mandates are public record. (Like being forced to replace school buses at the cost of $150,000 each every five years or only being able to use union labor for maintenance with no competitive bidding allowed.)

Congratulations to the Rocklin teacher’s union – you have single-handedly taken one of the best cities to live in and thrown its’ school system into chaos because of your greed.

Take a good, long look at those students you supposedly care about – you’re holding them hostage over 8.8%, the Rocklin equivalent of 30 pieces of Silver.

This was posted by PCRA Member Mark Klang on his own blog and is re-posted here.

Conservative Betrayed Blog

Lets set the players:

Senator Barack Obama – Liberal Democrat and the Democratic Presidential Nominee.

Rocklin School Board

Greg Daley – Registered Republican but votes as a Democrat.

Steve Paul – Registered Republican but votes as a Democrat.

Todd Lowell – Registered Republican but votes as a Democrat.

Wendy Lang – Registered Decline to State but votes as a Democrat.

Camille Maben – Registered Democrat and votes as a liberal Democrat.

The Rocklin School Board has a majority of registered Republicans but they have more in common with Senator Obama on education.

Senator Obama does not believe in school choice. He does not support charter schools. The teacher’s union supports him. Senator Obama believes that the teacher’s union knows what is best for your children. Obama and the teacher’s union believe they are smarter than you when it comes to educating your children. This is exactly how the Rocklin School Board thinks. The President of the Rocklin School Board, the uneducated Steve Paul, will tell you he knows what is best for your children. He thinks he is smarter than every parent in Rocklin. Over the last 2 elections, the teacher’s union has donated over $20,000 to the current members of the Rocklin School Board. The teacher’s union does not donate money to school boards to represent your children. They donate money to school boards to push their liberal agenda.

While most of RUSD schools do a good job, some parents still want the choice of which school they want their children to attend. Some parents prefer to send their children to a school outside of Rocklin. If a parent wants to send their child to a school outside Rocklin, they must get permission from the Rocklin School Board. That is called an inter-district transfer. Approximately 2 years ago I attended a school board meeting when a mother got up in front of the Rocklin School Board requesting that her daughter be able to attend a school in Roseville. The mother was nearly in tears because that night the Rocklin School Board did not approve her transfer. Greg Daley told the mother “we are bound by our own rules.” I would like to inform Mr. Daley that he and the other board members came up with those rules. How does Mr. Daley and the other board members know which school was better for that mother’s daughter? THEY DO NOT.

Today, the RUSD conducts inter-district transfer appeals in closed session. They are afraid to let the public know what is really going on. During their July 16th meeting they turned down an inter-district transfer request. We will never know why because they are hiding behind their closed session policies. I would assume they told the parents, do not worry, we know what is best for your children.

The Rocklin School Board does not support charter schools. Their comments at the public hearing last month, regarding the Western Sierra Collegiate Academy’s second attempt for a charter, demonstrated that they think they are smarter than you when it comes to educating your children. Support for the charter comes from both Republican and Democratic leaders. Congressional candidates Tom McClintock and Charlie Brown support the charter. Assemblyman Ted Gaines supports the charter. It is a shame the Rocklin School Board and the Rocklin City Council opposes school choice. Not one member of the Rocklin City Council would stand up for school choice. Let’s not forget that Councilman Scott Yuill is an advisor to the Western Sierra Collegiate Academy. If you ever wanted to see an example of an empty suit, Mr. Yuill is it. How could anyone with any type of character volunteer to be an advisor to the charter but never speak up in public to show his support?

Note to the Western Sierra Collegiate Academy, you are losing credibility by keeping Mr. Yuill on your advisory committee. I would like to see the Western Sierra Collegiate Academy show some backbone and dump this resume builder.

Camille Maben, and Greg Daley have pulled their papers to run for re-election this November. I recommend you attend a school board meeting between before November. Ask these 2 board members if they know the names of your children. One must assume they would know their names because they will tell you they know what is best for them. During the 2006 election these 2 board members accepted money from the teacher’s union. Ask them if they support the union, or support your children. By their votes on the board, they march to the tune of the teacher’s union.

Mark Klang
Conservative Republican

First off – Mark Klang blasted a new e-mail to throngs of people…

Tonight at 7:00 pm at the Rocklin Unified School District offices, both Congressional candidates Tom McClintock and Charlie Brown will take on the teacher’s union controlled Rocklin school board over the denial of the Western Sierra Collegiate Academy (www.wscacademy.org) charter. Newspapers and TV stations will be there to record the action, shouldn’t you?

All elected officials in Rocklin support the WSCA charter, except the teacher’s union dominated school board led by the incompetent Steve Paul (took $6,000 from union in last election and is paying it back with WSCA denial). The Rocklin City Council support is led by Councilman Scott Yuill who is on the WSCA advisory board. State Assemblyman Ted Gaines is a strong supported who will also speak tonight at the meeting. Congressman John Doolittle has been a supporter from the beginning of the WSCA effort but is unable to attend.

Steve Paul responded with the following retort -

Good Morning Boys,
Hope you’re both doing great this morning.
Just wanted to give you an update about last night.
Didn’t see any TV Stations or Newspapers. Sorry Rocket Doc- Guess you don’t have the Juice you think you do.

Oh Mark, your new pal Charlie Brown didn’t make it either. Oh well.

Rocket Doc, I’m assuming when you say that all elected’s in Rocklin support WSCA, you’re talking about the City Council. I didn’t know you were in so tight with those guys. Last time I checked they think both of you are ding dongs.

You two make it a great day ok?
Steve
Oh by the way…..How’s the recall coming along?

Mr. Paul – what the hell are you doing!?

With all due respect to my friends Mark and others – any idea I may have had about Council Change was lost with this article in the Sacramento Bee and how it correlates to a column written in the Auburn Sentinel by one of their leaders Duane Wilson: LINK

In Duane’s article – he enumerates that his primary issue with the Rocklin City Council is their planning which is Wilson’s Words – “This despite recommendations by the Sacramento Area Council on Governments (SACOG) urging local communities to incorporate planning that emphasizes clustering places where people live close to businesses where they can work and stores were they can shop.”

SACOG’s recommendations are eerily similar to the big
government measure by soon-to-be Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg, SB 375. Basically, SB 375 would create a California Coastal Commission like board to throttle development in the Sacramento Area – giving them dictatorial powers to rip funding away from municipalities that aren’t green enough.

We didn’t learn from the days of Jerry Brown – who is the architect of our current traffic problems. In the 1970’s he deep-sixed freeway construction and now improvements are costing as much as $1 Billion per mile to our freeways.

Am I taking a reach? Look at this Sacramento Bee Article

The primary quote in this article has very similar roots to what Duane Wilson wrote:Describing SB 375 as controversial would be the understatement of the year. By directing the state Transportation Commission to use billions of dollars in transportation funds to change land use patterns throughout the state, moving toward a “sustainable communities strategy … designed to achieve certain goals for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions,” the measure touches some very sensitive political nerves.

Let me quote Tom McClintock later in the article:

Finally, there are a lot of folks who simply don’t like the notion of having land use policy dictated from Sacramento, as Republican Sen. Tom McClintock told Steinberg when the bill was on the Senate floor last year.

McClintock accused Steinberg, in a series of questions beginning with “who the hell are you to … ,” of wanting to dictate how Californians lead their lives. That criticism mirrors the decades-long angst engendered by two state-created bodies that already wield tight land use controls, the state Coastal Commission and the Tahoe Regional Planning Commission.

If this is not enough of a reason to dismiss the Rocklin Citizens for Council Change over their NIMBY, Anti-Growth motives… take a look at the end of the Bee’s Article -

Steinberg, not surprisingly, enjoys universal support from environmental groups. More than likely he can move his bill to Schwarzenegger’s desk. But whether the governor will sign it, his oft-stated passion for curbing global warming notwithstanding, is uncertain.

While Schwarzenegger touts reducing greenhouse gases on one hand, he also crows about spending billions of dollars to expand the state’s highway network to reduce congestion – exactly the opposite of the mass transit-oriented scenario the Steinberg bill envisions.

The message from Rocklin Citizens for Council Change is clear – get out of your cars, and we are going to fight measure H (and anything else resembling growth) all over again.

Please re-elect Storey, Magnusen and Hill – good Lord, the whole thing has gone berzerk!

Come get some of this blog and tell me why the incumbents deserve to be overthrown.

I saw the column in the Auburn Sentinel by my fellow Republican Duane Wilson. Link Here

Four years ago a group of local citizens organized and ran a slate of candidates for city council who supported “smart growth.” The incumbents, riding a flood of developer money, narrowly defeated the locally supported candidates. The result was more sprawl in housing, a continued emphasis on automobile travel and numerous strip malls (most are more than half empty – make your own tally of the vacancies in Rocklin’s retail centers to verify). This despite recommendations by the Sacramento Area Council on Governments (SACOG) urging local communities to incorporate planning that emphasizes clustering places where people live close to businesses where they can work and stores were they can shop. The information was there but it required leadership, commitment and action by local government – features sorely lacking in Rocklin. Today, we still have a barren city core, as well as a glut of for sale and bank-owned suburban homes.

1. Everytime I see “Smart Growth”, I think No Growth – that has been the NIMBY buzzword for years.

2. The Incumbents were re-elected by a margin that was more than narrow. Their opponents included Democrat activists and the Placer CRA mailed on behalf of the incumbents.

3.Emphasis on Automible travel – this is consistent with California Culture. People in California hate public transit, which is a money-loser most everywhere it is forced on people.

4. Yes, SACOG advocated social engineering in planning communities – God bless the Rocklin Council for advocating self-determination.

5. Blaming the Council for the Greed of lenders, politically correct loans forced by congress and the economy is absurd.

Duane – the overriding theme of your posting is that the town of Rocklin is based on the Automobile. IT SHOULD BE – ROCKLIN is a SUBURB OF SACRAMENTO. I have tons of friends that work in the capitol!

What is the plan of Citizens for Council Change!? The August issue of Family Circle magazine rated Rocklin the 5th best place to raise a family in America! AND THEY ARE VERY GREEN – obviously, they did not have a problem with Rocklin’s emphasis on the evil SUV!?

Help me out here – enlighten me. What did they do wrong, other than hold office for a combined 70 years (Yuill excluded)?

How do you respond to my opinion that you are anti-growth? It seems like we are fighting Measure H all over again – make ‘em live somewhere else, we have ours!

The Placer County Republican Central Committee is requesting that the Rocklin Unified School District Board of Trustees approve the revised charter school petition for the creation of the Western Sierra Collegiate Academy (WSCA).

Rocklin and the entire south Placer County area will benefit from a public school that will provide challenging and focused college preparatory education in a small school setting. We support providing parents with school choices so they are able to choose the school that best meets the needs of their children, be they comprehensive high schools or small schools such as WSCA. We support schools that add to the economic viability of our county by preparing graduates for the best public and private colleges. Schools such as WSCA are also important as businesses seek to attract and retain high quality/high skill employees. Rocklin Academy, with its seven year history as an outstanding K-6 school, is a strong foundation to create WSCA.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Attend the Rocklin Unified School District Board of Trustees Meeting on 7/16/08 at 7:00 p.m. A strong show of support is important to show that our community values choice and wants the opportunities WSCA will offer.

E-mail and call each RUSD Board member and urge them to approve the WSCA Charter petition. (Please be respectful and positive.) Please send a cc of your e-mails to dpatterson@rocklinacademy.org. Here are their e-mail addresses and phone numbers:

• Greg Daley – 916-435-0593 – gdaley@rocklin.k12.ca.us
• Wendy Lang – 916-435-4286 – wlang@rocklin.k12.ca.us
• Todd Lowell – 916-630-3304 – tlowell@rocklin.k12.ca.us
• Camille Maben – 916-624-0479 – cmaben@rocklin.k12.ca.us
• Steve Paul – 916-632-0453 – smpaul2004@yahoo.com

Western Sierra Collegiate Academy (WSCA) will provide students with a challenging and comprehensive college preparatory education in a small public school setting.

WSCA will be a college preparatory charter public school serving students in grades seven through twelve. WSCA will provide an engaging and rigorous academic curriculum, focusing on math, science, social studies, and the arts. All students will be enrolled in the courses needed to attend the University of California, California State Universities, and the most selective private universities.

Thank you for your help for this important community initiative.

Bill George
Placer County Republican Party

Check this Out -

Parents Magazine Ranks Rocklin #5 in USA

The schools are outstanding – 9 of 13 have been named California Distinguished Schools – and the streets are safe. Brian boasts about Rocklin’s three B’s: barbecue, ball games and, referring to the panoramic view of the Sierra Nevada mountains, beauty. “The weather’s great, the people friendly,” he says. “All the good things you think about in a town you’ll find right here.”

While there is absolutely no excuse for the Teacher’s Union Moonbats on the Rocklin School Board to torp the charter of the Rocklin Academy… look at the rest of this article.

The $8000 a year they refer to is for Placer Legacy payments – a measure approved by a huge majority of the voters.

Why do we need to change the City Council when they are getting noticed nationally for how good a Place to live that Rocklin is?

I have just decided that my wife and I are buying a house in Rocklin. It looks like there are plenty of trails to walk the pet rat on.

I think that the folks that want to unseat the incumbent members of the Rocklin City Council are going to have a hard time making their case.

If you ask this blogger – I think we are looking at fighting Measure H all over again in November. Those opposing are going to have to justify NIMBY-ism and why people should vote against growth… There won’t be a split primary to depress turnout either.

My prediction is that Storey, Magnusen and Hill we be re-elected. This story has effectively ended that campaign.

The Sacramento Bee Story is posted in its’ entirety…

The Link to the Story

ROCKLIN – Expecting a slow economic recovery, city officials have sliced away at the 2008-09 budget, freezing vacant positions and cutting expenses.

On Monday, staff members presented the City Council with proposed amendments to the $61.3 million spending plan approved last year as part of a two-year budget.

Chief Financial Officer Kim Sarkovich said community development revenue was projected to take a $1.8 million hit this year. In addition, property taxes are projected to drop by $326,000, while sales tax revenue is expected to fall by $889,000.

Although the approved budget reflected a slowdown in construction and consumer spending, officials had not anticipated such a dramatic, broad economic decline.

The council probably will consider the proposed amendments at its Aug. 12 meeting.

– Jennifer K. Morita

Now if only the nimrods in the State Legislature would do the same… we’d have a state budget completed.

First off he tells us why we should toss the incumbents out of the Rocklin City Council

An excerpt caught my attention: For the record, Councilman Scott Yuill is an advisor for the WSCA. He would not even voice his support for the school when the WSCA leadership team presented their charter to the Rocklin School Board. Why bother to be an advisor when you will not support the cause? Is Mr. Yuill trying to build his resume for a higher office? Mr. Yuill has been on the council for less than 2 years and he is already out of touch with people of Rocklin.

The Rocklin school board shot down a charter from the organization that is running the best-performing school in Placer County. Scott Yuill, the newest Rocklin City Councilmember did nothing, even though he is an advisor to the WSCA – the charter that got derailed.

Given that Yuill endorsed Ose after refusing to support Doolittle – could Yuill’s desire to play both sides be catching up to him quickly after less than 2 years in office?

Then Klang follows up on the ‘Good Ol Boy’s Network’ theme.

For the record – this blogger counts Kathy Lund as a personal friend. While Lund is not up for re-election this time around, I can see no reason why she deserves the same scorn that Yuill and Brett Storey (both actively campaigned for Ose) deserve.

Of note – George Magnussen (sp?) was a leader in the failed recall of Klein and Simmons.

File this under the category of small world – Lund, Klein and Simmons have all been PCRA endorsed in the past.

Finally – with all due respect to Mark Klang (also a friend) given that the opponents to the incumbents appear to be a bunch of disgruntled Democrats that tried to stop Clover Valley’s development (that was approved years ago)...

Someone had better come up with some good candidates and reasons before they will get serious consideration for their bid to unseat “the good old boys”.

I am sure we have not heard the end – be sure to keep an eye on Better Rocklin

They’re baaaaaack…

In 2004 – the Placer CRA mailed in local elections, assisting the election of several local Conservatives to local office.

If particular note is the group calling themselves – Rocklin Citizens for Council Change. www.betterrocklin.org

The folks behind this group are a bunch of Democrats looking to choke off Rocklin’s growth, and they are relying on the fact that the entire Rocklin City Council endorsed Doug Ose in hopes that supporters of McClintock will vote them off, too.

The group’s leader is Tony Rackoja who is a registered DTS – but like most DTS in Placer is a Democrat in hiding. On the slate with Rackoja in 2004 were Linda Hall and (can’t remember) DaFoe.

Linda Hall is a past Dem Central Committee chair.

Also of interest is another blog by a Michael Patrick Murphy. This looks like another in the team of folks trying to move Rocklin back into the stone age… Friends of Rocklin

Murphy made some nice comments about Terbolizard, but misspelled his name. His disdain for Ose is evident – so he can’t be all bad ;-).

I start by pointing out the hyperbolae in the e-mail sent by the No on H supporter.

Dear Sir,

You do not represent the Republican voters in Rocklin in regards to measure H. I have worked with the Republicans & Democrats on this measure here in Rocklin. I have walked precincts. The majority of the Republican people here in Rocklin are voting NO on H. The signs that says ‘yes’ are on empty lots (do your own research), and the signs that say ‘no’ are on the average home in Rocklin – Republican & Democrats working together for a common goal. To think you would be a part of the funding by MASSIE & COMPANY, AND THE UNITED AUBURN INDIAN COMMUNITY OF THE AUBURN RANCHERIA, who can’t vote on this issue unless they live in Rocklin, is very disturbing. I realize the United Auburn Indian Community is concerned about money & the further expansion of the Thunder Valley Casino, I only hoped that the Placer County Republican Party chairman would do more homework, & find out for yourself what the people in Rocklin are really concerned about. Please ask the people. The regular people; Republican & Democrat, are concerned about the over population, the traffic, and the preservation of Clover Valley. As a Republican, I’m very disappointed in the latest flyer from the Rocklin Alliance for Open Space??, Yes on Measure H, with major funding by Massie & Company & the United Auburn Indian Community of the Auburn Rancheria.

Now Tom’s Response – Emphasis added where needed…

Thanks for taking the time to write.

As you might expect, the Placer County Republican Party tends to look to elected Republican leaders and Central Committee members from Rocklin when it comes to local ballot measures like Measure H. All of those people are supporting Measure H, so my views on the subject are somewhat irrelevant.

Our local Party is almost always at odds with the bogus Thunder Valley “tribe” and we have never had any direct or indirect support from Mr. Massie (as far as I know), so their support for Measure H was not very persuasive to anyone I know. What we found persuasive were the property rights and taxpayer protection arguments.

As a Republican, I support private property rights and I do not believe property owners should have to win an expensive election in order to use their own property productively. More than three-fifths of the land in Placer County is owned and operated by government; another one-fifth is directly controlled by government through agricultural conservation easements, Williamson Act contracts, Placer Legacy easements, and other means. Only one-fifth of the land is owned and controlled by private owners and much of that is already off-limits to development due to zoning laws and other government rules. I tend to think that government should do a better job of managing the four-fifths of the land that they own or control—and stop spending so much of their time and energy trying to control the tiny fraction of privately-owned that is available for development.

Furthermore, as a statewide leader in the California Taxpayer Protection Committee, I am concerned about what will almost certainly happen to Rocklin if the private owners of Clover Valley are not permitted to use their own land. Recently, the small City of Half Moon Bay was ordered to pay $40 million to a land owner who was not permitted to develop his land. The whole city budget is only about $10 million, so this has been a catastrophic blow to the city it may take them a generation to recover, even if the debt is restructured through municipal bankruptcy.Those facts are very similar to the Rocklin situation. Either the private land owners will be allowed to use their private land, or the taxpayers will be forced to pay for it. If Measure H fails, city leaders have no way to pay for the entire Clover Valley, so they will undoubtedly approve a new development plan—with 992 houses or more, rather than the 400 or so that are included in the current deal.

I have not taken a poll, but I suspect that you may be right that many Republicans in Rocklin will vote No on Measure H. Referendum campaigns can be very confusing and many people may not understand the legal effect of their votes. I am told that the current proposal sets aside 62% of the land as open space, which is something that the city has no ability to require. Many voters may assume that if Measure H is defeated, the city (or the courts) will require even more open space in the next proposal; they may not realize that such an outcome is extremely unlikely. Part of the mission of the Republican Central Committee is to investigate such matters and educate Republican voters.

We may not agree about this ballot measure, but I hope we will be able to work together on future ballot measures and campaigns. You are absolutely right that we need to do something about traffic in Placer County . The answer is not higher taxes or the abolition of private property rights; the answer is new roads and freeways. Our county budget has tripled in the last few years, but somehow they can’t find a penny for new highways. Your city budget has doubled in the last five years, but again, very little has been done to address traffic problems. We need to unite and tell our elected leaders that new roads and freeways are a priority for the voters.

Thanks again for your note.

Tom Hudson
Chairman, Placer County Republican Party

Apparently, measures involving development bring out the best in people. Measure H in rocklin is no different.

The NIMBY crowd first resorted to hyperbolae about trees and Indian burial grounds. Then the tribe signed onto the measure…

Now that the Tribe has eliminated the absurd sacred land argument – the NIMBY/ENVIRO crowd are destroying yes on H signs.

Look for a nice mailer bearing the signature of our club president coming soon in support of Yes on H.

Meanwhile, the Rocklin school board has decided that they wanted to make the “How to win friends and influence people” top 10 list. They callously and arrogantly shot down a charter school on absurd technicalities at the behest of the Teacher’s Union.

Look forward to more fireworks in Rocklin.

Yesterday’s post about the draft report from the Education monopoly in Rocklin was an apt harbinger.

Steve Paul allowed legal counsel to rail on the WSCA charter proposal for an hour in the meeting last night. He then refused to allow the WSCA folks a rebuttal.

The entire Rocklin Unified School board voted 5-0 against the charter.

They hid behind the report as expected citing defeciencies in the WSCA charter.

State law requires a 60 page report, the WSCA’s report was 700 pages.

Look for some fireworks as those who want school choice are not going to take this affront laying down.

The listed reasons are:

A. The Charter School does not have a facility in which to operate.

(sounds like a Catch-22, but the school is not legally required to have a building – however, the educrats are saying you have to have a building to get a Charter.)

B. The proposed charter school presents an unsound educational program for the pupils to be enrolled in the charter school

(This is establishment jargon that relates to the red herring questions the board members asked when the charter was presented.)

This document I received is full of lawyer speak and is intended as a basis behind which the Rocklin School Board members can hide.

They mention an unviable budget in addition – I think we need to open the district’s budget up to the same hair-splitting scrutiny as in this report.

The level of detail in this 20 page report released by Kevin Brown’s staff should outrage anyone who has followed government waste. Districts in the area have missing money they don’t know the disposition of – but when someone wants to bring in educational choice, the audit is amazingly detailed.

I have read the financial issues brought up in this report and have found that the establishment officials are using their own set of assumptions designed to get the desired result.

This is absurd. The school board need to be held accountable for what they are about to do tonight.

E-mail vicepresident@placer-cra.org for a copy of the report.

This was in the local media the other day -

Measure H is the Clover Valley Development referrendum.

United Auburn Indian Community to Buy Sacred Sites, Increase Open Space If Measure H Passes

The United Auburn Indian Community has announced plans to purchase land encompassing culturally sensitive sites held sacred to the Tribe in Clover Valley, contingent upon a “yes” vote on Measure H and the approval of the Rocklin City Council.

The Tribe’s purchase, combined with Measure H, would protect much of Clover Valley as open space from the threat of urban sprawl and reduce the number of homes that Clover Valley owners proposed to build from 558 to 404. Measure H also calls for 366 acres of open space, but that total would increase to 406 acres with the Tribe’s purchase.

ARTICLE POSTED HERE

Mark this one as unbelievable – informed sources in Rocklin have called and e-mailed this blogger.

Recently, Ted Gaines and others attended a School Board meeting over a Charter for a new High School in Rocklin. Gaines, Doolittle and Chalie Brown(!) (the Tin Soldier) all have publicly endorsed a Charter for the 7-12 Western Sierra Collegiate Academy.

The amazing part is that a new Charter School would bring jobs to Rocklin. It would not impact current facilities.

At the previous school board meeting, the questions asked by the school board were amazing – one about low achievers by Camille Maben (a liberal Democrat who works for the CA Dept of Education for a day job) and English as a Second Language Education by Greg Dailey.

It appears to this blogger that the school board was grasping for Red Herrings to deny a charter to the school. Rocklin is 99% white or something like it and has almost no need at all for ESL… low achieving students have a variety of special options (way more than average students do) and it is a standard teacher’s union attack against Charter Schools to bring that issue up.

In the past, the Rocklin School board has made life difficult for the Rocklin Academy – including forcing the Academy onto two separate campuses (to drive costs up?) and limiting access to Rocklin Academy by opposing expansion and mandating that 20% of the students come from outside of Rocklin.

The 20% mandate effectively limits the size of the academy because most kids want to go to school in their own neighborhood – and, Rocklin taxpayers paid for a facility their own children are precluded from using.

The dramatic irony here is my sources have told me that at this time the board is expected to vote on the Charter for WSCA as follows:

Democrat Camille Maben: Yes
Democrat Wendy Lang: Yes
Republican Greg Dailey: No
Republican Todd Lowell: No
Republican Steve Paul: No

The Placer GOP endorsed all three Republican members at one time due in no small part to their professed support of Charter Schools. As you see from the above, the Republicans are going to be on the wrong side of the issue!

I am in possession of their candidate questionnaires from 2006 and they paint a very different picture than what is about to occur on Wednesday.

Please come and make sure they see you when they vote – This meeting will start at 7:00 pm at the Rocklin School Board District Office (2615 Sierra Meadows Drive, Rocklin) on Wednesday Jan 16th.

Measure E – Dry Creek School Bond – NO
This is a fiscally-irresponsible $67.3 million school bond for the Dry Creek Joint Elementary School District in the Roseville area. This District has adequate funding and their revenues are growing rapidly, so they have no business asking taxpayers take on additional debt.

Measure F – South Placer Fire “Tax” – NO
UPDATED 1/3/2008
Measure F – Spending Limit Exemption for the South Placer Fire Protection District – NO
This ballot measure would exempt the South Placer Fire Protection District from the Gann Spending Limit. District officials insist that this measure will not lead to future parcel tax increases or benefit assessments, and no such taxes and fees have been proposed by staff or by the District’s Board of Directors. However, this measure would allow the District to continue to spend more than the California Constitution would otherwise allow and we oppose it on that basis.

Measure G – Loomis School Bond – NO
This is a fiscally-irresponsible $17.7 million school bond for the Loomis Union School District . This well-funded District needs to prioritize its spending, rather than demanding higher taxes every year.

Measure H -Clover Valley Development in Rocklin YESFor many years, environmental wackos and “no-growthers” have opposed every plan to develop the privately-owned land in Clover Valley, which has been slated for development for a generation. The Rocklin City Council finally approved a dramatically scaled-back development plan, with widespread community support, but leftist radicals gathered signatures to force it onto the ballot. If this measure fails, the land owners will either demand full payment for the private land that they have not be allowed to development (which would be astronomically expensive and un-affordable for a small city like Rocklin) OR they will take back all the compromises and build a much larger development that the environmental wackos will hate even more. For the sake of private property rights, voters need to support Measure H.

Measure J – Rocklin Park Tax Increase – No
This is an unnecessary and unfair parcel tax that the proponents have tried to disguise as the mere continuation of an existing tax that was about to expire. In fact, this measure would increase the expiring tax by 50% from $30 per parcel to $45 per parcel (regardless of size, value, or benefits received), then increase the tax every single year to adjust for inflation. In a small city whose budget has doubled in five years, the proponents are pretending that the only way they can fund parks is to increase taxes, despite the fact that most city residents already pay enormous Mello-Roos bonds and developer fees to pay for these same parks.