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PV School Candidates Focus on Money

Posted on: Friday, 28 October 2005, 12:00 CDT

By Melissa Milios DAILY BREEZE

In the coming term, the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified school board may be called on to oversee a $60 million, second-phase campaign to fix and upgrade schools -- while balancing tight budgets handed down from Sacramento balanced with teacher and student needs in a growing district.

That could be why much of the talk among four candidates running for three open seats on the five-member board often turns to dollars and cents, even when raising seemingly touchy-feely issues like kindergarten class size reduction and guidance counselor-to-student ratios.

Barbara Lucky is the only incumbent running to keep her seat in the Nov. 8 election. She faces challengers Erin LaMonte, the district's current Parent Teacher Association president, former Peninsula Education Foundation president Malcolm Sharp and 29-year teaching veteran Ginny Snider.

Trustees Ellen Perkins and Gabriella Holt, who respectively have served 12 and eight years on the board, are not running for re- election. Trustees Dave Tomblin and Dora de la Rosa, the current board president, were both elected in 2003.

With the school district floating two facilities bonds, Measures R and S, on the November ballot, a relatively inexperienced board could soon find itself stewarding up to $40 million in voter- approved taxes and upwards of $20 million in state matching funds. All four candidates said that being good stewards of the taxpayers' money would be a main goal if elected.

The parcel tax passed by Palos Verdes Peninsula voters in 2003 also expires in three years, which could mean a loss of around $3 million annually if it's not renewed by voters.

Those and other challenges ahead are exactly why Lucky said she decided to run for a third four-year term, even after making public announcements that she was retiring.

"I want to bring the historical memory, the institutional memory," Lucky said. "It's just good information to have when you're making decisions, to know how things were done in the past. That way, you can make good decisions for the future."

Lucky, 57, earned her elementary teaching credential from UCLA but after graduation went straight into law school at the University of San Diego -- and then combined her degrees to serve as an attorney for Long Beach Unified School District for eight years.

Her son attends high school in the Palos Verdes district.

Like all of the candidates, Lucky pointed out that PVPUSD, ironically, is considered a "low-wealth" district, and promised to continue to fight in Sacramento for changes to the funding formula.

Currently, the $4,906 average per pupil PVPUSD gets from the state is $100 per pupil below the countywide average, but it's at least $400 per pupil less than received by Redondo Beach, El Segundo and Manhattan Beach schools, according to state data.

With teacher salary negotiations beginning again this year, candidates were wary about promising raises beyond the 3 percent the district conceded last year after a lengthy stalemate.

"It all depends on state funding," said LaMonte, a business consultant who holds a bachelor's degree in business management from California State University, Long Beach.

"When you're sitting at that negotiating table, you're making decisions about $60 million in personnel costs," she said. "I'll come in with the experience to balance the needs of our children and our teachers, who are our valued employees."

LaMonte, 47, has three children -- one in elementary, one in intermediate and one in high school -- all who attend district campuses. She also served on the citizens oversight committee for the parcel tax.

But while state funding may be a challenge for the school district, which boasts some of the highest student achievement in California, Palos Verdes Peninsula parents have been notoriously generous. Collecting and directing those resources, however, has sometimes pitted the desires of the district against those of individual schools.

Sharp, 55, who was at the helm of the education foundation last year when it took in a record $1.4 million, said he "valued equity" in fund-raising and would like to see more coordination between the districtwide foundation and school-based booster clubs and Parent- Teacher Associations.

He also said PVPUSD is well-positioned to apply to area businesses and the state and federal government for more "out-of- the-box grants that will fit within the district's mission of trying things that will eventually benefit all kids."

This month, Sharp turned down an endorsement and $1,500 campaign contribution from the Palos Verdes Faculty Association. But he said that teacher training -- especially in utilizing the district's technology -- would be a top priority if he's elected, pointing to the $12,000 the education foundation granted to teachers last year for trips to professional conferences.

"The benefit (of teacher training) far outweighs the cost," Sharp said. "We have so much energy in Palos Verdes ... to have our teachers aware of best practices, I think it's a great thing to do."

Sharp is retired and holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Mississippi and a master's degree in education from the University of Memphis. He spent nine years teaching in elementary and middle school, and 19 years as a USC instructor and information systems developer.

Snider, 56, is the only candidate endorsed by the Palos Verdes Faculty Association, after serving as its vice president for eight years.

She recently retired after 17 years as an elementary school teacher in the district, and said she would like to see more teachers, parents and students participating in the district's decision making.

"I don't have all the answers, but I know how to find them," Snider said.

"I also know how to ask questions. Sometimes individuals who think they have all the answers don't listen."

She advocated reducing kindergarten class sizes to 20 students, saying it would allow teachers more time to diagnose early learning problems that otherwise might develop into costly special education needs.

Snider, who holds a bachelor's in elementary education from Western Michigan University and a master's degree in special education from the University of Michigan, has three children who graduated from Palos Verdes Peninsula schools.

Source: Daily Breeze

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