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Tuesday, January 15, 2019
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.
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.
INSIDE the OUSD Agenda
- Closed Session: 4 A ( front page) - Mid-year performance review of Superintendent Dr. Hansen.
- Action Item 12 A (page 2) - Approval of new calendars for school years 2019-2020 and 2020-2021.
- Action Item 12 C (page 5) Approval of updated agreements with El Rancho and Santiago Charter Schools.
- Information Item 13 B (pg 138) Updates on Measure S projects
- Information Item 13 D (pg 140) Information on El Modena HS pool replacement
OUSD Public Relations costs
In February 2018 OUSD Trustees voted
$219,424 for a Public Relations contract (Click on):
Here is what spending $219,424
of educational tax dollars on PR buys (For the latest in OUSD News on the web Click on):
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 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/
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