CUSD Update, March 8
Editorial staff

While some people applauded Supt. Woodrow Carter’s decision not to accept a $28,000 raise, others focused on a follow-up question. Is it true that Carter can request retroactive payment of his salary and benefits at a future time? He indicated he can.

Regarding other decisions Carter might make, he’s in a tough spot with four old-guard trustees voting as the majority. If he starts looking too much like a reformer or if he opposes their big spending on the $150-million “dump” high school, they could fire him.

The Registrar of Voters has until Tues., March 12, to count signatures for the recall of holdover Trustees Sheila Benecke and Marlene Draper. If the RoV puts a recall election on the ballot, Benecke and Draper will likely be gone in a few months. If Carter then quickly changes into a reform-driven waste-cutter, perhaps he’ll be viewed as politically savvy, catering to two different majorities during his first year on the job.

Carter indicated during the Feb. 27 town hall meeting at Capo High that next year’s budget will call for additional cuts. With no economic turnaround currently in sight, he’s probably correct. Perhaps Carter is waiting until the majority changes (say, in June if the recall election is on) to recommend changes that reform-minded parents have suggested all along.

If that’s the case, he should recommend immediately after the election: 1) putting a “hold” on all spending at the new high school, 2) mothballing the new high school until housing growth warrants reopening it, and 3) putting the Taj Mahal administration building up for sale. Carter has missed the opportunity to lead, but he could still move these items forward before a new majority beats him to it. He should then proceed to recommend undoing everything the old majority approved with a 4-3 vote since November 2006.

It took time to prove former Supt. James Fleming and his Stepford trustees were lying about how the administration center would be financed. They falsely claimed some of the funds couldn’t be used for anything but an administration building. They said redevelopment money from San Juan Capistrano would cover it, and that was a lie. They took money from Mello-Roos funds. They spent Newhart’s modernization money on their luxurious office building. They said money wouldn’t be taken from the General Fund to make payments on the loan, and now it appears there’s no other way to pay.

Administrators and administrative support personnel have increased dramatically at CUSD in recent years, yet the district is first eliminating high numbers of teaching positions to cut costs. Some Mission Viejo residents have said the district won’t stop wasting money until it has none left to waste. Astoundingly, CUSD seems willing to cut deep in areas that directly diminish education while it continues wasting money on outrageously high salaries, bonuses and extravagant offices for administrators.

Ideally, two new, reform-minded trustees will be seated in June, and everyone should hope they know a thing or two about school finance.