AnonymousBy Monie de Wit
In a town that prides itself on ideals of equity, access, and inclusion, the prospect of running for the Santa Barbara Unified School District (SBUSD) Board is anything but.
Just to file the necessary paperwork and pay for a 200 word or less statement costs $5,302! For any candidate that needs to make their case to the voters in less than 400 words? You’ll need $10,604 handy. In contrast, a run at the city council is free and an SBCC Trustee fee is less than $1,000.
I get that there are extra translation fees but really the half of a page is going to run without the 200 words so additional charges are hard to justify from a printing aspect.
This price tag is a barrier and leads to appointed incumbents staying in power. Incumbents have name recognition and party and donor backing that those lacking the means can’t compete with and should not have to in a democracy. I think it is wrong to create barriers that exclude candidates whose children are among the high risk. This leads to having boards, like we did with our last Superintendent that is made up entirely of appointed board members. So Superintendent Matsuoka got to hire his own bosses. This tends to make for a top-down rubber-stamping board. Our new Superintendent and the current board could change this if equity is truly a priority.
Santa Barbara County has the third-highest rate of poverty in California, according to a study conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California.
I drilled down on these details because I am considering a run for SBUSD board. As a mother of two children in the district, I have believed our district could do a far better job of addressing literacy, special needs students, teaching the neurodiverse, and dramatically raising the educational outcomes for all students, be they privileged or impoverished.
SBUSD spent $26.5 million on the armory and $40 million on a football field that was supposed to cost $12 million. But this same leadership that spends freely on vanity projects cuts off anyone who can’t easily afford the $5,302 entry fee. The voter guide is the main way to communicate with voters in a pandemic. Do we really want candidates canvassing door to door because they can’t afford the fees and that is the only option? This feels so rigged against outsiders or new energy.
How are we ever going to get representation from those socioeconomically stressed? What about our high-risk students and families? So many in our diverse community get spoken down to, but when will they have a voice on the school board podium too?
This “Pay to play” dramatically reduces competition and accountability. It simply maintains the status quo – people connected to the school district or simply using their board seat as a platform to higher office. I find this troubling, rigged and inherently unfair because it means that anyone else who wants to participate in the process must first be part of the elite and/or aline themselves with one political party or the another just to pay the entry fee.
I am motivated to get involved because I truly believe that literacy is a human right. Literacy not only disrupts the school to prison pipeline, it builds self-confidence and self-esteem, and it enables every child the chance to reach for their true potential. Literacy is the essence of education.
Even if I do not make it on the ballot, I believe we should reduce this defensive paywall to allow a greater diversity of new people and new ideas to enter our school district leadership. If we want the best for our kids, our teachers and our community, let’s stop shutting the door on those ready, willing and able to help.
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When I ran for the SBUSD in 2016 the original cost to me was $5103.00 but that was for a full page on the assumption that there may be no other candidate to share the full page. The SBUSD has the practice of passing a resolution indicating that the most a candidate can pay is for 1/4 of a page. I kept my statement to 1/4 page and in December received a rebate for $4,307.67. My net cost was $795.33. If you are going to run a full fledged campaign be aware this is only a minor part of the cost. I was fortunate as this was a re-election campaign and this was my only cost as I chose not to raise any funds nor spend any funds. Hopefully the School Board will once again pass this resolution and with current members probably considering to run again I would bet that such a motion will be passed assuming someone remembers to put it on the agenda if not already accomplished. I hope more citizens consider running. Thanks for the interest. EdHeron@cox.net
What?! That is unacceptable in every way. Thank you for taking this on and informing the public.
Monie, you left out a huge detail – that fee is NOT required to run for the school board. That fee, and inclusion of your candidate statement in the voter’s guide, is completely optional. You can be on the ballot for free (in my understanding of the candidate info guide) as long as you fill out the paperwork. I agree that the fee amount to be in the Voter’s Guide is disturbingly astronomical (2-5x any other special district election), but it does not prevent you from running for office.
SB life .. Thank you for the links but here is the inequity. If you don’t pay the 5300 for 200.00 words or 400 is 10,000 you only get room for your name and occupation . With Covid it is not prudent to go door to door so this paywall should not exist. The voters have a right to know and everyone should get 200 words. Also the fee does not crunch. I used to do oversees press checks and that page has black ink. It will cost the same for 200 words as 400. There maybe a tiny translation cost that is extra. The whole situation is inherently unfair not equitable. Plus the students who are doing the worse are also the ones who qualify for free lunch and the students with differences. Shouldn’t their parents get to run for school board without this barrier. Seriously it is not democratic. It tilts towards those with means and connections get the big advantage. There is no way to reach 113,000 voters without being in that voter guide. Unequitable and imprudent during a pandemic.
Monie is ABSOLUTELY right! This is pay to play. This is an OUTRAGEOUS amount of money to ask anyone to pay just to have a LEVEL PLAYING FIELD. It gives a very unfair advantage to those who can afford to pay or for those who are being sponsored to run. It is just another form of cronyism. It really is.
Additionally, I just can‘t see any justification for such an extraordinary amount of money to simply print a short bio and statement. $5k and $10k? Seriously????
Absolutely agree. Thank you for such a thoughtful comment!
This must be changed to ensure every resident access to message their candidacy. Can we start a GO FUND ME PAGE for SBUSD CANDIDATES? Can I pay for an EdHat Ad to allow Myself and others to know where to send contributions? Where can we send Monie a contribution to help pay this insane, discriminatory fee?
Thank you, Ms. De Wit, for bringing light to this issue. $5-10K is an outrageous fee for getting a short message out to registered voters. Seems like it ought to be a few hundred dollars, or maybe free if you can get enough signatures of local voters who support your candidacy. Who has the power to change this fee? Current SBUSD board? County board of supervisors? Some other elections board/commission? Where should I direct my ire?
From SBUSD Board Policy: Statement of Qualifications-The district shall pay the Santa Barbara County Elections Division so that no candidate requesting a candidate’s statement in the voter’s guide will have to pay a cost for the ballot statement exceeding one-quarter of a page in the guide.On the 125thday prior to the day fixed for the general district election, the Board secretary or his/her designee shall deliver a notice, bearing the secretary’s signature and district seal, to the county elections official describing both of the following: (Elections Code 10509)1.The elective offices of the district to be filled at the general election and which offices, if any, are for the balance of an unexpired term-2.Notification of the district policy that the district will pay the Elections Division so that no candidate requesting a candidate’s statement in the voter’s guide will have to pay a cost for the ballot statement exceeding one-quarter of a page in the guide.
How it works. The County Election Office charges the candidate for a full page (they don’t know if the full paged will be filled or not) based on an estimated cost. After all the actual costs have been tallied and allocated the SBUSD pays the County Election office what ever it takes to insure the Candidate pays no more than the actual cost the the 1/4 page and then the County Election Office refunds the excess to the candidate. I received my refund in December if I recall correctly. This wasn’t always the case. At one point the candidate only paid for 1/4 page and the County Election Office and the SBUSD settled up after the actual cost was determined. Why the change? I can’t remember. EdHeron@cox.net