Supportive Residents + Superior Schools = One Strong City

That's the final line of a strong endorsement of Measures Y and Z from the Los Angeles Family Examiner. I recommend reading the whole thing, but here's a couple excerpts.

Torrance has been known for its fine schools long before I moved here 31 years ago. As a 9-year-old, I didn’t know much about the relationship between property values and highly rated schools, but I did learn about it in 1998, when my husband and I bought our first single-family home in South Torrance. I was unaware at the time that this specific neighborhood, which is nestled between the busy streets of Lomita, Hawthorne and Sepulveda boulevards, actually was considered “South Torrance” until our Realtor explained about Torrance Unified School District (TUSD) boundaries.

I was thrilled to think that my future children would be able to attend South High School, where I went. Having access to schools earning a “9” on the Academic Performance Index (10 being the highest) was a huge selling point for both me and my husband. We signed on the dotted line in large part because of the excellence of our neighborhood schools.

Earlier this year we cheered when our daughter’s elementary school was designated “A California Distinguished School.” Soon after we learned about two bond measures, Y and Z, that would be on the ballot this fall to repair and modernize Torrance’s aging schools. Only then did we take a closer look at the structural side of these schools. En route to a soccer game at Seaside Elementary, I spotted the sign celebrating the school’s founding in 1949. I said to my daughter, “This school is almost as old as Grandma!”

But this is no joke. Most of Torrance’s schools are more than 50 years old, with some approaching 100 years old. We remembered our disappointment 2 years ago when a similar school bond measure failed to pass. Since then, extreme budget cuts from Sacramento have meant that older districts like Torrance's receive even fewer dollars.

......

It’s hard to believe that two measures with so much grassroots and institutional support still stand a chance of failing. Our country may be on the brink of recession, but no matter which income bracket you claim on your tax form, people everywhere agree that education is the best investment we can make into the future of our great country.

This means putting our money where our values are and honoring our commitment as taxpayers to support our city’s fine schools. There’s no question that Torrance campuses are in dire need of repair: Visit any one of them and see for yourself. The only question is whether residents are willing to pay now or to pay later. “Delaying repairs will only increase future construction costs and state matching funds may no longer be available,” say supporters of Y and Z.

Many of us grow wary during the election season because we’re not sure who to trust. Sometimes the things we hear just don’t add up. But here’s an equation that makes sense no matter how you spin it:

Supportive Residents + Superior Schools = One Strong City.

Four more days till election day. Volunteer!

Hands Across Torrance Event-Nov 2 1-3pm

Updated flier (click to enlarge). Share with your friends and neighbors and anyone with a sign in their yard, whether you know them or not.

My daughter and I walked the neighborhood and distributed a flier to those with a Y and Z sign - and everyone we encountered was nice and most were happy to learn about the event.

The Anti-Measure Y and Z Campaign & Their Amazing Website

I was reading my Sample Ballot to go over both the Pro and Anti arguments for Measures Y and Z, just to do my due diligence and see what arguments there were against it.

The Anti argument (authored by Rick Marshall and a few others) is rather pathetic, to be frank. At one point, they argue the bonds shouldn't be including money for maintenance because it's not proper to borrow for those expenditures. Then, in another spot, they're arguing this reserve for maintaining the improvements is "a good idea" but that "it's not enough". At least you'd think they could be internally consistent in what they're arguing.

So needless to say there was nothing they were arguing that made me question my support for the bond measures. However, there was something they brought up that was of great interest: the donors to the Pro-Y and Z campaign.

Have you seen who is donating to the campaign to pass the bonds? They plan to raise over $150,000 to pass these measures. Please see our website for the entire list from the last time and for the latest information.

I was so anxious to see who the supporters were so I could thank them, so I went to the website they listed: www.remodelthebonds.com. It's rather comical what's there -- a blank GoDaddy webpage that's plastered with advertisements for kitchen and home remodeling. See for yourself.

If they really had a compelling reason to oppose the bond measures, you'd think they'd be blaring it all across town. I doubt they're going under the radar with a stealth campaign, but who knows? I think it's much more likely that they simply don't have anything really to say, other than "taxes are bad". And since Torrance voters are smart enough to understand that schools don't magically take care of themselves, that just won't sell.

Get Out the Vote for Measures Y and Z

Can you spare a few hours during the days leading up to the election to help get out the vote? There have literally been thousands of people who've told phonebankers that they will be voting for the Measures, but unless we get them to the polls, it won't matter. So making get out the vote (GOTV) calls right before and on election day is pivotal. So if you want the measures to pass (and I suspect you do since you're reading this blog), then please give a few hours to GOTV!

The campaign needs volunteers to phonebank morning and evening shifts at their Del Amo Mall office during November 1 (Saturday) through Tuesday November 4th. Please contact the campaign (it's called Torrance 4 Kids) at 310-864-7356 and let them know your availability. (By the way, the office is located right near the entrance 12 (between Joann's and Macy's on the ground floor. You don't have to wander through the mall at all to get there).

Who's Endorsed Measures Y and Z

The Torrance school bond measures have a lot of endorsements from city organizations, elected officials and PTA's. Check the link above to see the list.

There is also a section for individuals who endorse the measures. If you'd like to add your name to that list, you can do so by going to the campaign site's Get Involved page.

There's also on that form boxes you can check to sign up to phone bank, donate or get a lawn sign. Given how close we are to the election, you're better off calling the campaign headquarters directly if you'd like to phone bank or contribute (310-864-7396). Also, I believe they ran out of signs a long time ago.

A Tool to Convince Your Neighbors to Support Y and Z

I don't know about you, but I find it hard to explain the formula for figuring out how much you would owe under Measure Y and Z to other homeowners. There's just no good way -- the math confuses people.

This is unfortunate, because there a lot of homeowners out there who are probably overestimating how much they would have to pay for the new bonds, and will vote no because of it. They may want to support schools but feel they don't have the means to pay for the bonds, such as those on fixed incomes or with very tight budgets.

It's unfortunate that we can't just ditch the formulas and simply tell a neighbor exactly how much (or rather, how little) they would pay for the bonds, isn't it?

Actually, I'm just kidding -- we DO have the ability to tell our neighbors exactly how little they'd pay, and it's public information. (You don't have to snoop in their trash to find out.)

Here's how you do it:

* Go to the Assessor's Website and enter an address in the Search by Street Address box. Start with your own address.

* When you look your own place up, the 2008 Roll Values will show your Land value, Improvements value and your Homeowner exemption. Since property tax bills came out recently, you probably have that handy. You can pull that out and verify that the assessed valuation that you're taxed on (Land + Improvements - Exemption) is the same on the Assessors site as on your actual tax bill. (I know it works because I checked my address and it matched exactly.)

* The next step is to check your neighbors. If one of them wondered to you how much they would pay, you can look it up for them and tell them.

* You can either look their address up like you did your own, or you can use the map on the left side of the screen to pick which one you want to look up.

* To do the latter, click on the icon below the map which is a white "i" inside a black circle. After doing that, you can pick a neighboring property to get its information.

I did this for my next door neighbor who's lived in her house for decades. I haven't discussed the bond measures with her yet, but now that I know her assessed valuation is $75,000, I can tell her that her annual maximum tax for the new school bonds would only be $36 ($48 / $100,000 X $75,000). Talk about being armed with a pursuasive argument for her. Wow -- she'd pay $3 a month to have fixed schools in her city. A pittance.

Another neighbor across the street has an AV of $62,000. That means the calculation for what he would owe is $48 / $100,000 X $62,000. That comes out to slightly less than $30. Not per week or per month. Per year.

People on fixed incomes are rightly worried about having to pay more in taxes. The good thing for a lot of them is that they have been living in their houses for a long time and probably have very small assessed valuations, so they would pay very little in Measure Y and Z taxes.

I did a few calculations and came up with another way of putting it:

Anyone with an assessed valuation of:
less than $52,000 pays under $25 per year for Y and Z bonds.
less than $104,000 pays under $50 per year for Y and Z bonds.
less than $208,000 pays under $100 per year for Y and Z bonds.

So if you're not comfortable doing the calculations yourself, you could use the reference amounts above. You can just check the AV, and then figure which range it fits in.

Then you're armed with your information that will hopefully put your neighbor in the Yes column on November 4. You just say to them: "Isn't paying $__ per year worth it to [keep our neighborhood schools][renovate our dilapidated schools][remove asbestos and other hazardous materials from the school buildings children are in 5 days a week?][maintain Torrance's reputation for good schools and help our property values]"

You may know the right argument to insert as the last part of the sentence - the above are just suggestions.

If you use this argument, please share your experience.

Painful Memory - Letter from Past President of JH Hull PTA

I received this letter yesterday passed on from a Walteria PTA member, and am sharing it with you at the urging of the letterwriter. It appears the letter writier has addressed the letter to all PTA groups in Torrance Unified.

Dear PTA,

As the election draws near, I feel I need to speak with every PTA member regarding Measure Y and Z. I have a unique perspective: I was the PTA President at JH Hull when the last bond attempt was defeated by 397 votes. I want all of you to take a minute to walk in my shoes.

The day after the election was a Torrance Council of PTAs Meeting. People arrived, greeting me hugs, smiles, 'Wow, great Karen, the bond passed!'. Even then, even in a room full of highly involved people, one of the key elements was missed by so many, the bond failed; it needed a 55% pass rate, not 50% as so many thought. Shocked faces of friends, panicked calls to school principals and others in the community, all the while for me, sitting in utter shock.

Back on campus at JH Hull, the district sent grief counselors not only for the students, for the staff. Something at Hull died that day, our campus of 35 years in our community. Students saddened they wouldn't see their final days on that campus, teachers that atended Hull as students, became teachers and 'came home' to Hull having that opportunity torn out of their hands. Teachers and parents that chose to have children in TUSD hoping their kids will go through the same schools as they did being denied that opportunity by 397 voters.

When you get involved with a PTA, you do it for your students, the schools they attend, and to make a difference in your community. You take ownership and personal pride in 'your school'. As PTA President the day the ballot measure failed, I felt overwhelmed with disappointment and that personal ownership failed. Akin to when a child overhears a conversation not meant for their ears, sees a car accident, finds a special present not means for him/her, just that shear moment as parents that we all go through of "Oh my gosh, I completely let you down' and then trying to work through those painful steps to recover.

As a PTA we worked through the rest of the year, worked through the pain all the while with the daily presence of the passing of a dear friend on the mind of everyone involved with JH Hull, hollowed, forever changed, and not stronger.

I went to Hull the day the portables were demolished. I stood there watching a bulldozer tear down rooms that were full of education, smiling students and memories. Put yourself in my shoes for a moment. Words cannot describe...

As we all move closer to Election Day, please do all you can and then more to educate your community members on the importance of these bonds. Fight for this! If, heaven forbid these bonds don't pass, the Board of Education will close campuses. I stand before you and tell you there is nothing as a parent, PTA member, school community member that you can do post-election to stop the closing of a school. Nothing. Kids will be consolidated onto campuses not of their choosing, neighbors will be divided by new school boundaries and school communities and more so our children will pay the ultimate price. I know, it happened to me.

Please share this with all your PTA members, school community, friends and neighbors.

I thank you for your time.
Karen Cristy
Past President of JH Hull 2006-07

In reading the letter about the grief counselors coming to campus, I imagined how I would have felt about having my middle or elementary school buildings that I attended being destroyed and never being able to go back. Sure, my folks wouldn't have taken me to see my school being torn down, but I certainly would have known what would have happened. I think fondly of my memories of grade school, and a lot of that is tied up with the physical place - the playgrounds, the classrooms of my favorite teachers where I had my "aha" moments of real learning --- I remember those places vividly. The big radiators, the view out the windows, the hallways where I hung out with friends, all that. If I learned that my elementary or middle school was torn down, it would bother me because it would kind of take away those memories a little, make them less real. And that's even with the passage of decades.

I can only imagine what it would feel like to be a kid not old enough to put things into perspective and live through a closure of his/her school in real time and literally be kicked out and have to go somewhere else.

This isn't just about maintaining physical structures, it's about how these structures affect our lives and most importantly those of our children. Displacing them from the schools that they identify with and are emotionally attached to, would be very tragic. When bad things happen, some kids think they are somehow responsible, even though they had no control over the situation. The thought that some of these kids would blame themselves for a school closure bothers me a lot.

The good news is that it's entirely preventable. If everyone supporting Y and Z goes out and convinces a few more people (person to person, through the phone bank, while trick or treating, etc.), then this bond measure will pass. We must strive for that.

Top Ten Reasons to Vote Yes on Y&Z: #1

Over the past ten days, I've been counting down the top ten reasons to vote YES on Measures Y and Z on November 4th from the flyer handed out at the grassroots, parent-organized fundraiser a few weeks ago. I didn't come up with these myself, but I agree with all of them. And now, we're down to number one..

Reason #1: Our students are counting on us to provide them with a good education... most are not old enough to vote, so we must care enough to vote for their (our) schools!

* Every penny from Measures Y and Z will benefit our students, teachers, and community
* Every penny will stay in Torrance and be used to fix our school here in the city.
* These monies cannot be taken away by the state, other districts, or the city.
* These monies cannot be used for any purpose other than facilities construction.
* Our schools will be returned to their former glory... worthy of our Torrance community.

Hands Across Torrance Event-Nov 2 1-3pm

Just received this flier in my email. Sounds like this will be a great visibility event. (click to enlarge)



There should be a prize for the best homemade sign.

Please share this with friends. If you want the email version, I'll forward it to you - just ask for one in comments and I'll send it your way.

Top Ten Reasons to Vote Yes on Y&Z: #2

Reason #2: Measures Y and Z are smart investments for property owners that will help to maintain the value of our homes in Torrance.

Passing both measures Y and Z will mean an additional $48/$100,000 of assessed value (remember, that's NOT your market value) in property taxes for each property owner in Torrance; that works out to $4 per $100,000 in assessed value per month. Most Torrance property owners would pay about $150-$250, an investment in our schools that we can afford.

If you want to see your home's assessed value, just go to the County Assessor's site (HERE) and look it up.

And remember an extra bonus -- our additional property taxes are actually tax deductible, which reduces the actual cost to you.

The State of Our Schools: Tuesday Edition

Click on the picture to enlarge. This is part of a snappy mailer that we just got in the mail. My wife's reaction was "Aha - pictures!" This is what she was waiting for, and I think that they've been saving the most compelling arguments till the election got to be near. This is powerful. There are a few egregious ones in the mailer (which I'll get to over the next few days). Here's today's:

Tonight's March Through Torrance Supporting Y & Z

I got home from doing a quick stint at the Y and Z phonebank and met up with my wife and kids, who updated me on how the pro-Measure Y and Z march through Torrance went. My six-year old was still pretty excited about her evening - she walked with a class mate holding a big campaign sign and chanted "Yes on Y and Z, Fix Our Old Schools", for the whole time. Lots of cars honking approval, and a good crowd of supporters who showed up to participate. There was press on hand taking pictures (I'm guessing it's the Daily Breeze), including one of my daughter. We had to tamp down her expectations a bit of seeing her picture on the front page of the paper. No news coverage yet - I'll post it when available.

The phonebank was pretty busy, with some high schoolers making calls as well as parents and probably some teachers too. By the way, they need to reach a lot of voters still, and if you want to see the bonds pass, making some calls could really help. Call the campaign headquarters for more information or to get involved, at 310-864-7396.

Top Ten Reasons to Vote Yes on Y&Z: #3

Reason #3: Our current experienced Torrance USD administration, supported by our current school board, has a good, improved plan to effectively manage bond expenditures.

The Torrance Unified administration has turned over twice since Measure R, and the entire school board is new and different. The current superintendent (George Mannon) and the current chief business officer (Don Stabler) both managed successful bond funded construction at their prior school districts. We should give these new administrators and board members the chance to manage the rebuilding of our deteriorated schools.

Top Ten Reasons to Vote Yes on Y&Z: #4

Reastion #4: Torrance voters have voted only $1,700 in bond dollars per student in Torrance Unified.

* El Segundo has voted $29,601 per student -- 17 times more than Torrance.
* Redondo Beach has voted $24,500 per student -- 14 times more than Torrance.

Our Torrance Unified students directly compete with students from these and other nearby districts. The lack of funds to support our school facilities leaves our students and teachers at a vast disadvantage, compared to our neighbors. Recruiting and retaining teachers in a district with rundown facilities is difficult when there are a number of other districts with newer and updated facilities where the best and brightest teachers can move to without having to relocate. And the condition that we leave our schools in sends a message about the value we put in education. Measures Y and Z will show that we value education.

Top Ten Reasons to Vote Yes on Y&Z: #5

Reason #5: In Torrance, property owners are paying less property tax for school bonds than those in almost any other school district in Los Angeles County.

Currently, just $17 per $100,000 of assessed valuation is added to our property taxes to repay our single bond. This puts us as the fourth lowest bond tax rate of all Los Angeles County school districts -- 67th out of 70 school districts -- in bond tax rates.

Video of the Day

Top Ten Reasons to Vote Yes on Y&Z: #6

Reason #6: Torrance has passed only one bond for school improvements since our schools were initially built.

We've had 6 measures on 6 ballots, but only one, Measure R, for $42.5 million dollars was passed, and that was 10 years ago in 1998. This bond money was used for critical infrastructure needs like plumbing, wiring, and restroom renovations. See an accounting for every dollar of the bond funds from Measure R.

Top Ten Reasons to Vote Yes on Y&Z: #7

Reason #7: TUSD may have to close schools if Y and Z do not pass.

Due to lack of facilities monies, the District was forced to close Hull Middle School and bus those students to a new location far from their homes. Measures Y and Z represent a commitment to our children and their education, and to our Torrance community extending far into the future. If Measures Y and Z do not pass, there is a good possibility that more neighborhood schools in Torrance will be closed.

Top Ten Reasons to Vote Yes on Y&Z: #8

We're in the middle of our Top Ten list of reasons to vote Yes on Torrance school bond measures Y and Z on the November 4 ballot. On to today's installment...

Reason #8: No school district has found any other way to raise funds for major improvements and renovations of school facilities aside from bonds.

Drawing funds for major projects from the general fund would be detrimental to our students and their education. Check out a recently completed School Services of California, Inc. analysis of district spending practices to the that TUSD is currently managing your tax dollars well. Just a sample of what you'll find in that report: the number of students per district administrator at TUSD is more than two and a half times the comparable district average (Chart 7).

Top Ten Reasons to Vote Yes on Y&Z: #9

Reason #9: School bonds are the ONLY way for Torrance Unified to raise funds for our school facilities.

The state expects that our community will raise funds locally for local schools, thus taking community responsibility of our own schools. Only once local bonds (Measures Y and Z) pass, will we then be able to access our due in state matching funds. That's millions of dollars we're passing up in state money if we don't pass these bonds.