Rostra friends: This morning DA Dumanis continued to demonstrate leadership on the issue of getting San Diego Unified back on track and preventing a disastrous takeover by the state. Below is her statement weighing in on Scott Barnett’s proposal to declare the district insolvent and turn the schools over to the state. Dumanis is the only candidate for mayor to put forward a bold reform plan for San Diego Unified that gets to the heart of the structural problems that have led to the district’s situation.
SAN DIEGO – District Attorney and Mayoral candidate Bonnie Dumanis issued the following statement this morning concerning the proposal by San Diego Unified Trustee Scott Barnett to have the district declare itself insolvent and surrender control of our local schools to the State:
“San Diegans don’t want to see our schools declared insolvent and turned over to the state for the same reason they didn’t want the City of San Diego to declare bankruptcy in 2005 – it’s a cop out that turns our destiny over to others instead of solving the problem. San Diego took the tougher path of reform, and the result is a better city government. The same needs to happen at San Diego Unified.
“A state takeover of our schools would be a disaster for our kids, and our local economy. No CEO is going to relocate their company to a city where their employees’ kids will be attending schools that have financially gone belly up, and a state takeover would only make it easier for the governors of other states who come to San Diego and attempt to lure businesses and jobs away.
“I’ve put forward a plan to directly confront the problems that have contributed to the financial issues at San Diego Unified, including a new, independent financial oversight board and a Mayor’s Education Liaison. When we see problems persist over years over different administrations, it’s a sign the problems are structural, requiring structural solutions.
Comments 1
Sorry, but nothing will fix the problem until we elect competent people to the school board. Increasing the size of the board will do no good either. No one stood up to get rid of Richard Barrera, mastermind of the raises that will kill the district. Therein lies the problem.
We do have Mark Powell and Bill Ponder. We need to get behind them with support to ensure they win in the fall. Otherwise we could be stuck with the status quo once more.