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  • Tuesday, January 15, 2019

     

    OUSD to vote on tax re-do and Lebsack takes the lead on Health Ed

    ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
    Independent insight into OUSD      
    a news service of
     Orange Net News /O/N/N/



    OUSD February 2018 tax "typo" requires re-vote on developer tax
    The Orange Unified School Board will vote to fix a 12 cent per square foot tax mistake made 11 months ago. 

    In January of 2018, the State Allocation Board authorized a bi-annual "adjustment" in the tax. After tax increases are authorized by the SAB, state law then requires school districts who want to increases taxes locally to vote to increase the tax.   The new increase becomes effective 60 days after a school board approves the new tax rate. 

    With the 2018 SAB authorization the OUSD Board voted to hike the residential development tax 8.78%* to $3.79 per square foot of residential buildings and $0.61 per square foot for commercial/industrial buildings.  The new tax rate calculates to $ 610 per 1000 square feet for Hotel/Motel developments ( a new 10,000 square foot industrial building would have a tax of $ 6,100).

    OUSD Agenda Item 12 C (page 34)  for the February 15th meeting includes the resolution to "INCREASE THE STATUTORY SCHOOL FEES" (taxes).  The Tax Resolution, by law, must lay out the justifications for the tax increase. 

    The OUSD Tax Resolutions allow for 3% of all taxes collected to go to "administrative costs" caused by the collection of the tax.

    Once a "tomboy" and still "not a prissy girl"...
    Trustee Brenda Lebsack becomes state-wide leader against new mandated Health Education framework
    OUSD Trustee Brenda Lebsack has become a state-wide leader against the new California mandated Health Education framework since OUSD's turbulent roll-out of its Health Education framework last year. (For more information click on OUSD HEALTH ED)

    Lebsack's leaped from an Orange County platform with an op-ed in the Orange County Register  to a state-wide platform with an opinion piece in the highly respected and influential mulit-media education platform  EdSource.

    Her December 2018 commentary titled  Parents,educators should scrutinize concepts of gender and sexual identity in state's health education framework is aimed at getting readers to comment on the Health Ed Framework before the January 11, 2019 input deadline.

    Writing that "The draft includes controversial teaching about sexual relations, sexual orientation and gender",   Lebsack directly quotes controversial passages from the 1,000 page draft as well as taking the process to task for not making a Spanish language version of the draft available.

    However, the most powerful writing Lebsack does is her vigilant replies to the online comments about her article. Lebsack monitored the comments for weeks, often responding with gracious rebuttal comments and poignant questions:

    Brenda Lebsack 3 weeks ago

    Alexander, I don’t mind if you disagree, this is America where free thought and free speech still exists. We are so fortunate to have these freedoms. Do you think parents should have the freedom to raise their children according to their cultural and religious values? Do you think “unlimited gender choices” should be taught to young children without parental notice and without the parent being given the right to “opt out” of this teaching? Do you believe the state’s authority over-rides parental authority? Just curious …

    In another response to a commenter, Lebsack also provides a link to a letter the ACLU ( a sponsor of the Legislation that created the California Health Framework) sent to Orange Unified when it voted to delay the implementation of the new framework last year:
    Brenda Lebsack 2 weeks ago
    Mr Rodriguez, As an educator and parent myself, I agree with you that Parents are the most important educator in a child’s life when it comes to teaching values, however the ACLU and many other powerful organizations do not agree. When my district halted a curriculum pilot for Middle School students that included many of these teachings, the ACLU sent our district a letter that stated:
    Parents do not have the right to dictate what curriculum is used or what information is provided to students in public schools. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that parents do not have any constitutional right “to prevent a public school from providing its students with whatever information it wishes to provide, sexual or otherwise, when and as the school determines that it is appropriate to do so.” Here is the full ACLU letter.

     (For more information click on ACLU OUSD WARNING )

    However, the last answer ( as of this posting) is a powerful self-revealing admission about growing up as a "tomboy" and being "kicked out of the girl's restroom" and her powerful self-awareness assertion  "I’m still not a prissy girl, but that does not make me any less female".   That early childhood experience leads her to reflect that the current Health Education Framework "would have caused me psychological damage and major confusion" :

    Brenda Lebsack 1 week ago

    Andy, I can only speak for myself. When I was a child I was a tomboy. Instead of playing with barbies, I played pirates and cops and robbers. I went through a phase when I just wore motorcycle t-shirts. My parents did not make a big deal about it. I never doubted I was a girl, but deep inside I wished I was a boy, because I thought boys had more fun. I looked and acted so much like a boy sometimes, that if I was in an unfamiliar environment, I would get kicked out of the girl’s bathroom. As I grew up, I changed.

    I’m still not a prissy girl, but that does not make me any less female. All I can say is, speaking for myself, these teachings would have caused me psychological damage and major confusion. As a 9 year old when I heard about female menstruation for the first time, I freaked out. It sounded like the most horrific thing in the world (and sometimes it is, LOL!).
    But as a child with an immature perception, I would have thought…”If there’s a way to get out of this, then I want it! Puberty blockers or whatever it takes.” This is just me, because I know how I thought as a kid.

    I’m grateful my parents just accepted me for who I was and did not put a label on me. I’m glad they did not use gender stereotypes to define me. Although I am now a wife and a mom, I still don’t fit in many of those feminine stereotypical roles, but isn’t that what accepting a person for who they are all about?

    Whether agreeing or disagreeing with her position on the California Health Education Framework,  Lebsack's tone and presentation of her case is an approach many elected officials  across the county can learn from. 

    To read the article CLICK on : Lebsack Ed Source commentary 

    INSIDE the OUSD Agenda

    OUSD Public Relations costs
    In February 2018 OUSD Trustees voted $219,424 for a Public Relations contract (Click on):
     OUSD VOTES $219,400 for PR

    Here is what spending $219,424 of educational tax dollars on PR buys (For the latest in OUSD News on the web Click on): 
    OUSD in the NEWS

    NEXT OUSD BOARD MEETING January 17, 2019
    Next OUSD Board Meeting -OUSD BOARD ROOM
    CLOSED SESSION-  5:00 pm
    OUSD Regular Session: 7:00 pm Board Room
    For AGENDA-CLICK ON: OUSD AGENDA


    For more information call the OUSD Superintendent’s office at 714-628-4040
    For budgeting questions call Business Services at 714-628-4015

    ARCHIVAL Information and direct news can be found at:
    the Greater Orange News Service http://greaterorange.blogspot.com/
    ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
    and the
    Greater Orange News Service
    are independent news services of /O/N/N/
    Orange Net News


     

    OUSD to vote on tax re-do and Lebsack takes the lead on Health Ed

    ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
    Independent insight into OUSD      
    a news service of
     Orange Net News /O/N/N/

    OUSD February 2018  "typo" requires a re-vote on developer tax increase

    The Orange Unified School Board will be voting to fix a 12 cent per square foot tax mistake it made 11 months ago.


    The February 17, 2019 OUSD Agenda Item 12 C ( page 48) has the OUSD Board fixing the Hotel/Motel tax increase it had approved in February of 2018. Item 12C on the February 15, 2018 OUSD Agenda was suppose to raise the tax rate to 61 cents per square foot for developments including the Hotel/Motel category.  This week's agenda states that a "typo" in 2018 listed the tax rate approved as 49 cents.

     

    In January of 2018, the State Allocation Board authorized a bi-annual "adjustment" in the tax. After tax increases are authorized by the SAB, state law then requires school districts who want to increases taxes locally to vote to increase the tax.   The new increase becomes effective 60 days after a school board approves the new tax rate. 

    With the 2018 SAB authorization the OUSD Board voted to hike the residential development tax 8.78%* to $3.79 per square foot of residential buildings and $0.61 per square foot for commercial/industrial buildings.  The new tax rate calculates to $ 610 per 1000 square feet for Hotel/Motel developments ( a new 10,000 square foot industrial building would have a tax of $ 6,100).

    OUSD Agenda Item 12 C (page 34)  for the February 15th meeting includes the resolution to "INCREASE THE STATUTORY SCHOOL FEES" (taxes).  The Tax Resolution, by law, must lay out the justifications for the tax increase. 

    The OUSD Tax Resolutions allow for 3% of all taxes collected to go to "administrative costs" caused by the collection of the tax.

    Once a "tomboy" and still "not a prissy girl"...
    Trustee Brenda Lebsack becomes state-wide leader against new mandated Health Education framework
    OUSD Trustee Brenda Lebsack has become a state-wide leader against the new California mandated Health Education framework since OUSD's turbulent roll-out of its Health Education framework last year. (For more information click on OUSD HEALTH ED)

    Lebsack's leaped from an Orange County platform with an op-ed in the Orange County Register  to a state-wide platform with an opinion piece in the highly respected and influential mulit-media education platform  EdSource.

    Her December 2018 commentary titled  Parents,educators should scrutinize concepts of gender and sexual identity in state's health education framework is aimed at getting readers to comment on the Health Ed Framework before the January 11, 2019 input deadline.

    Writing that "The draft includes controversial teaching about sexual relations, sexual orientation and gender",   Lebsack directly quotes controversial passages from the 1,000 page draft as well as taking the process to task for not making a Spanish language version of the draft available.

    However, the most powerful writing Lebsack does is her vigilant replies to the online comments about her article. Lebsack monitored the comments for weeks, often responding with gracious rebuttal comments and poignant questions:

    Brenda Lebsack 3 weeks ago

    Alexander, I don’t mind if you disagree, this is America where free thought and free speech still exists. We are so fortunate to have these freedoms. Do you think parents should have the freedom to raise their children according to their cultural and religious values? Do you think “unlimited gender choices” should be taught to young children without parental notice and without the parent being given the right to “opt out” of this teaching? Do you believe the state’s authority over-rides parental authority? Just curious …

    In another response to a commenter, Lebsack also provides a link to a letter the ACLU ( a sponsor of the Legislation that created the California Health Framework) sent to Orange Unified when it voted to delay the implementation of the new framework last year:
    Brenda Lebsack 2 weeks ago
    Mr Rodriguez, As an educator and parent myself, I agree with you that Parents are the most important educator in a child’s life when it comes to teaching values, however the ACLU and many other powerful organizations do not agree. When my district halted a curriculum pilot for Middle School students that included many of these teachings, the ACLU sent our district a letter that stated:
    Parents do not have the right to dictate what curriculum is used or what information is provided to students in public schools. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that parents do not have any constitutional right “to prevent a public school from providing its students with whatever information it wishes to provide, sexual or otherwise, when and as the school determines that it is appropriate to do so.” Here is the full ACLU letter.

     (For more information click on ACLU OUSD WARNING )

    However, the last answer ( as of this posting) is a powerful self-revealing admission about growing up as a "tomboy" and being "kicked out of the girl's restroom" and her powerful self-awareness assertion  "I’m still not a prissy girl, but that does not make me any less female".   That early childhood experience leads her to reflect that the current Health Education Framework "would have caused me psychological damage and major confusion" :

    Brenda Lebsack 1 week ago

    Andy, I can only speak for myself. When I was a child I was a tomboy. Instead of playing with barbies, I played pirates and cops and robbers. I went through a phase when I just wore motorcycle t-shirts. My parents did not make a big deal about it. I never doubted I was a girl, but deep inside I wished I was a boy, because I thought boys had more fun. I looked and acted so much like a boy sometimes, that if I was in an unfamiliar environment, I would get kicked out of the girl’s bathroom. As I grew up, I changed.

    I’m still not a prissy girl, but that does not make me any less female. All I can say is, speaking for myself, these teachings would have caused me psychological damage and major confusion. As a 9 year old when I heard about female menstruation for the first time, I freaked out. It sounded like the most horrific thing in the world (and sometimes it is, LOL!).
    But as a child with an immature perception, I would have thought…”If there’s a way to get out of this, then I want it! Puberty blockers or whatever it takes.” This is just me, because I know how I thought as a kid.

    I’m grateful my parents just accepted me for who I was and did not put a label on me. I’m glad they did not use gender stereotypes to define me. Although I am now a wife and a mom, I still don’t fit in many of those feminine stereotypical roles, but isn’t that what accepting a person for who they are all about?

    Whether agreeing or disagreeing with her position on the California Health Education Framework,  Lebsack's tone and presentation of her case is an approach many elected officials  across the county can learn from. 

    To read the article CLICK on : Lebsack Ed Source commentary 

    INSIDE the OUSD Agenda

    OUSD Public Relations costs
    In February 2018 OUSD Trustees voted $219,424 for a Public Relations contract (Click on):
     OUSD VOTES $219,400 for PR

    Here is what spending $219,424 of educational tax dollars on PR buys (For the latest in OUSD News on the web Click on): 
    OUSD in the NEWS

    NEXT OUSD BOARD MEETING January 17, 2019
    Next OUSD Board Meeting -OUSD BOARD ROOM
    CLOSED SESSION-  5:00 pm
    OUSD Regular Session: 7:00 pm Board Room
    For AGENDA-CLICK ON: OUSD AGENDA


    For more information call the OUSD Superintendent’s office at 714-628-4040
    For budgeting questions call Business Services at 714-628-4015

    ARCHIVAL Information and direct news can be found at:
    the Greater Orange News Service http://greaterorange.blogspot.com/
    ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
    and the
    Greater Orange News Service
    are independent news services of /O/N/N/
    Orange Net News


     

    OUSD re-do on tax increase and Lebsack's lead role


    Every two years, the State Allocation Board (SAB) recalculates "school fee"  taxes that school districts are allowed to level on new construction. A district's Board of Education must vote to implement the tax increase. The taxes are maintained in a special account to use for building new schools or improvements to current schools. The school taxes are often called "development fees" or the "development tax".

    In January of 2018, the State Allocation Board authorized a bi-annual "adjustment" in the tax. After tax increases are authorized by the SAB, state law then requires school districts who want to increases taxes locally to vote to increase the tax.   The new increase becomes effective 60 days after a school board approves the new tax rate. 

    With the 2018 SAB authorization the OUSD Board voted to hike the residential development tax 8.78%* to $3.79 per square foot of residential buildings and $0.61 per square foot for commercial/industrial buildings.  The new tax rate calculates to $ 610 per 1000 square feet for Hotel/Motel developments ( a new 10,000 square foot industrial building would have a tax of $ 6,100).

    OUSD Agenda Item 12 C (page 34)  for the February 15th meeting includes the resolution to "INCREASE THE STATUTORY SCHOOL FEES" (taxes).  The Tax Resolution, by law, must lay out the justifications for the tax increase. 

    The OUSD Tax Resolutions allow for 3% of all taxes collected to go to "administrative costs" caused by the collection of the tax.

    Once a "tomboy" and still "not a prissy girl"...
    Trustee Brenda Lebsack becomes state-wide leader against new mandated Health Education framework
    OUSD Trustee Brenda Lebsack has become a state-wide leader against the new California mandated Health Education framework since OUSD's turbulent roll-out of its Health Education framework last year. (For more information click on OUSD HEALTH ED)

    Lebsack's leaped from an Orange County platform with an op-ed in the Orange County Register  to a state-wide platform with an opinion piece in the highly respected and influential mulit-media education platform  EdSource.

    Her December 2018 commentary titled  Parents,educators should scrutinize concepts of gender and sexual identity in state's health education framework is aimed at getting readers to comment on the Health Ed Framework before the January 11, 2019 input deadline.

    Writing that "The draft includes controversial teaching about sexual relations, sexual orientation and gender",   Lebsack directly quotes controversial passages from the 1,000 page draft as well as taking the process to task for not making a Spanish language version of the draft available.

    However, the most powerful writing Lebsack does is her vigilant replies to the online comments about her article. Lebsack monitored the comments for weeks, often responding with gracious rebuttal comments and poignant questions:

    Brenda Lebsack 3 weeks ago

    Alexander, I don’t mind if you disagree, this is America where free thought and free speech still exists. We are so fortunate to have these freedoms. Do you think parents should have the freedom to raise their children according to their cultural and religious values? Do you think “unlimited gender choices” should be taught to young children without parental notice and without the parent being given the right to “opt out” of this teaching? Do you believe the state’s authority over-rides parental authority? Just curious …

    In another response to a commenter, Lebsack also provides a link to a letter the ACLU ( a sponsor of the Legislation that created the California Health Framework) sent to Orange Unified when it voted to delay the implementation of the new framework last year:
    Brenda Lebsack 2 weeks ago
    Mr Rodriguez, As an educator and parent myself, I agree with you that Parents are the most important educator in a child’s life when it comes to teaching values, however the ACLU and many other powerful organizations do not agree. When my district halted a curriculum pilot for Middle School students that included many of these teachings, the ACLU sent our district a letter that stated:
    Parents do not have the right to dictate what curriculum is used or what information is provided to students in public schools. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that parents do not have any constitutional right “to prevent a public school from providing its students with whatever information it wishes to provide, sexual or otherwise, when and as the school determines that it is appropriate to do so.” Here is the full ACLU letter.

     (For more information click on ACLU OUSD WARNING )

    However, the last answer ( as of this posting) is a powerful self-revealing admission about growing up as a "tomboy" and being "kicked out of the girl's restroom" and her powerful self-awareness assertion  "I’m still not a prissy girl, but that does not make me any less female".   That early childhood experience leads her to reflect that the current Health Education Framework "would have caused me psychological damage and major confusion" :

    Brenda Lebsack 1 week ago

    Andy, I can only speak for myself. When I was a child I was a tomboy. Instead of playing with barbies, I played pirates and cops and robbers. I went through a phase when I just wore motorcycle t-shirts. My parents did not make a big deal about it. I never doubted I was a girl, but deep inside I wished I was a boy, because I thought boys had more fun. I looked and acted so much like a boy sometimes, that if I was in an unfamiliar environment, I would get kicked out of the girl’s bathroom. As I grew up, I changed.

    I’m still not a prissy girl, but that does not make me any less female. All I can say is, speaking for myself, these teachings would have caused me psychological damage and major confusion. As a 9 year old when I heard about female menstruation for the first time, I freaked out. It sounded like the most horrific thing in the world (and sometimes it is, LOL!).
    But as a child with an immature perception, I would have thought…”If there’s a way to get out of this, then I want it! Puberty blockers or whatever it takes.” This is just me, because I know how I thought as a kid.

    I’m grateful my parents just accepted me for who I was and did not put a label on me. I’m glad they did not use gender stereotypes to define me. Although I am now a wife and a mom, I still don’t fit in many of those feminine stereotypical roles, but isn’t that what accepting a person for who they are all about?

    Whether agreeing or disagreeing with her position on the California Health Education Framework,  Lebsack's tone and presentation of her case is an approach many elected officials  across the county can learn from. 

    To read the article CLICK on : Lebsack Ed Source commentary 

    INSIDE the OUSD Agenda

    OUSD Public Relations costs
    In February 2018 OUSD Trustees voted $219,424 for a Public Relations contract (Click on):
     OUSD VOTES $219,400 for PR

    Here is what spending $219,424 of educational tax dollars on PR buys (For the latest in OUSD News on the web Click on): 
    OUSD in the NEWS

    NEXT OUSD BOARD MEETING January 17, 2019
    Next OUSD Board Meeting -OUSD BOARD ROOM
    CLOSED SESSION-  5:00 pm
    OUSD Regular Session: 7:00 pm Board Room
    For AGENDA-CLICK ON: OUSD AGENDA


    For more information call the OUSD Superintendent’s office at 714-628-4040
    For budgeting questions call Business Services at 714-628-4015

    ARCHIVAL Information and direct news can be found at:
    the Greater Orange News Service http://greaterorange.blogspot.com/
    ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
    and the
    Greater Orange News Service
    are independent news services of /O/N/N/
    Orange Net News


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    Greater Orange News Service is a community service of the Orange Communication System /OCS/, the communications arm of the Greater Orange Community Orgainization