The fix is in… the powerful retain their power. Does anyone else feel like jumping ship to John Swett?

County rejects bid to have WCCUSD board members elected by district rather than at-large
By Kimberly S. Wetzel

A proposal to have West Contra Costa Unified School District board members elected by district rather than at-large as they are now was rejected by the county Wednesday night.

The Contra Costa County Office of Education, sitting as the County Committee on District Organization, voted 4-1 to deny a request that WCCUSD board members be elected by areas. Board board member Daniel Borsuk voted in favor of the proposal.

The majority of board members said they understood the petitioners’ intentions, but were concerned that putting the issue before voters in the fall could jeopardize support of a school district parcel tax measure also slated for November’s ballot.

“I don’t think voters will be confused, they’ll be frustrated,” said board member David Krapf. “I do think having both items on the ballot in November will be detrimental” to passage of the parcel tax.

The board made its decision after listening to more than 30 people weigh in on the issue, including city council members from Pinole, Hercules and Richmond and a representative from State Assemblywoman Loni Hancock’s office. Supporters and opponents were about evenly split.

A group called Citizens for Positive Education submitted a petition in May asking the county to consider changing how West Contra Costa board members are elected, arguing that candidates would need less money to run in district-specific elections, trustees would serve areas that might otherwise not have representation and voters may feel more connected to the political system because they have their own representative.

County board member Pamela Mirabella, who represents West County, suggested alternatives to the petition such as term limits for WCCUSD board members and limits on campaign contributions.

Petition backers said after the county’s decision they weren’t surprised by the outcome but thought some middle ground could have been struck.

“If they wanted to postpone it, they should have moved to postpone it instead of denying it,” said Charles Cowens.

West Contra Costa Board member Charles Ramsey said the county did a good job weighing the facts.

“I thought it was well thought out and well-reasoned, and they made the right decision,” he said.