Julie and I have raised five successful Bearcats in Paso Robles. Since 1988, I have owned several businesses often employing over fifty people. I am now a business consultant and REALTOR®. As the only Paso Trustee who graduated from the California School Boards Association’s MIG/Masters In Governance program, I bring a unique understanding of effective governance, school finance, Ed-Code, bylaws, commonsense, reason, fiscal restraint and, when needed, righteous indignation at board meetings. I am not afraid to speak out, ask tough questions, represent the concerns and suggestions of parents, students, teachers, businesses or voters, especially taxpayers. I volunteer at church, schools, city, county, Main Street Association and Rotary.
During my first term, I collaborated with district employees, especially teachers, enhancing our CTE/Career Technical Education, VAPA/Visual and Performing Arts, DI/Dual Immersion, and Counseling programs while eliminating deficit spending, balancing the budget and building a 10% budget reserve. Roblans narrowly approved Measure M to completely rebuild our oldest schools, update remaining elementary sites and build an Aquatics Complex.
My second term was more challenging. While elementary athletics, CTE, Skills USA, student safety, academic rigor/A-G, GATE and VAPA were either restored or significantly enhanced, a lack of good governance and a failure to provide accurate budget projections led to over-hiring, massive deficit spending and purchasing pools we may never build. I alone tried to prevent nearly $7,000,000 of budget reserve from being erased. Recently, I succeeded in preventing an attempted raid on Measure M construction money for salaries.
California’s economy may not recover from the COVID-19 pandemic until 2024. Even with Federal assistance, ongoing budget cuts and deferred payments to schools will continue as Sacramento adjusts to smaller tax revenues. Unfortunately, we may have to consolidate schools, cut staff, salaries and programs. Temporary school closures helped close our budget gap but the cost to our students’ education remains unacceptable. While these cuts are expected to be temporary, we must act today to ensure our schools remain locally controlled by Paso Roblans, their elected board and a superintendent of their choice.
Why vote for me? To help families self-determine the best way to educate their children, catch up and keep pace. To demand that our schools reopen safely for in-person learning, tutoring, childcare, athletics, VAPA and to add a Dual Immersion program on the eastside. Vote for me to reduce expenses, stop deficit spending and eliminate the primary cause of wasteful change-orders at our construction sites.
Thank you.
