The last Santa Barbara Unified School District (SBUSD) meeting on February 8th resulted in selection of the new voting map for the entire district that includes the areas from Montecito to Goleta that will now be voted on by trustee district area instead of at large at the next election. The County Committee of School Organization will have the final say in their February 28th hearing.
This will put the district legally in compliance, the required change triggered by the last census update and the California Voting Act.
Up until the final school board meeting, it was about equally split between supporters for 7 trustee districts and proponents of 5, of whom many participated in creating the map A public map.
After the previous hearing with both sides having many speakers, it appeared that the District’s Board would most likely go to the middle of the road and select the consultants map for 5 areas and not select either the 7 area or 5 area map A presented from the public because it looked like there was no compromise between those two options and no consensus.
In an unexpected surprise twist, the entire community at the final hearing predominantly got behind map A created by the public including those that had initially wanted 7 areas because there was a lot of common ground they agreed with. This is a very important victory that unites the community and points the arrow at the real problems that need to be addressed.
The selection of map A supports communities of interest, grouping most of the East Side combined with parts of West side and keeps Old Town Goleta and Isla vista together, areas most underserved by this district.
It’s no surprise that many are dissatisfied with the District’s Administration’s manegment, getting very low marks from even staff and teachers with a scathing report from the Grand Jury flagging delayed learning problems, mental health concerns and inconsistent curriculum .
Some of the common reasons stated for supporting map A are:
1. Map A from the public best supports neighborhoods and neighborhood schools.
2. Map A from the public supports communities of interest and in turn parents involvement in their child’s education.
3. Map A supporters agree School Board candidates should not have to “pay to play” , the Candidates statement cost is set by this school board, not the elections office. This needs to change.
The district can absorb all or part of this filing fee that keeps working class candidates out, last election it was 5000.00 each.
4. Map A keeps communities of interest together . East and West side, Isla Vista and old town Goleta whose communities share issues as a protected class such as high level of English learners, first generation students and digital access issues and people with housing insecurities.
5. Map A supports those most affected by the achievement gap this district has failed.
6. Map A, by combining East and West side would be in a position to unite to eliminate the discriminatory outdated bussing that costs the district so much money.
How about no carbon footprint, walk or bike to school. further, this hurts hundreds of students being bussed from East side to West side that have to spend almost an hour each way every day. They deserve a downtown school they can walk to!
Last meeting a person spoke of still remembering how uncomfortable he was being bussed from East side to West side away from his neighborhood spending almost an hour each way.
7. Map A comes from the public , power to the people!
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