Capo School District Update

The next Capo USD board meeting will be Tues., Oct. 13, at the administration center, 33122 Valle Road, San Juan Capistrano, starting at 7 p.m.

Among agenda items, the staff is recommending that trustees hire a demographer to redraw trustee area boundaries. The work is needed in advance of the June 2010 election, in which CUSD voters will decide whether to elect trustees by trustee area or at large.

In last week’s CUSD update, this blog reported that two deposed, Fleming-era trustees had offered to help redraw the lines. Hiring a demographer at a cost of $20,000 to $40,000 is a better value than having former politicians do it, even if they’re volunteers.

While the June election is eight months away, this blog is already recommending that Mission Viejo voters keep the current at-large method of electing trustees. Each constituent now gets to vote on all seven, and it makes no sense to decrease one’s voting powers. The current method is working well for Mission Viejo, which previously was a donor city. Its tax dollars flowed into such money pits as the “Taj Mahal” administration center and the $150-million high school next to a San Juan Capistrano dump.

A CUSD parent sent the following email about the election:

“If CUSD trustees are elected by trustee area, Mission Viejo will again be disenfranchised. The CUSD portion of our city is divided into three areas, making it difficult to get a candidate elected from our city to represent our interests. See the trustee area at http://capousd.ca.schoolloop.com/cms/page_view?d=x&piid=&vpid=1232963604565. As you are aware, our MV tax dollars did not go to our MV schools. MV residents pay Measure A taxes (the bulk went to San Juan Hills High School in San Juan Capistrano and Arroyo Vista, a K-8 in RSM), Mello-Roos (the bulk went to the district office and Aliso Viejo School), and redevelopment (which must go to MV schools).”

Until the November 2006 election, no Mission Viejo resident had served as a CUSD trustee for many years. While the current at-large method of electing trustees might not be good for some other cities, it’s good for Mission Viejo.