Candidates Lining Up to Vie for Seats on Santa Barbara School Board

Local races continue to take shape for the November election

By Giana Magnoli, Noozhawk Staff Writer | @magnoli | Published on 08.09.2012 9:26 p.m.

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More candidates have joined school, city and special district races for the November election in Santa Barbara County.

In the Santa Barbara Unified School District, four people are now battling for three seats on the Board of Education.

Incumbent Ed Heron is running for re-election, but Annette Cordero and Susan Deacon decided not to try for another term. Pedro Paz, Gayle Eidelson and Deborah Schwartz have all pulled nomination papers with the county Elections Office to enter the race, and Louis Segal has pulled papers but has not yet filed. Eidelson and Heron have been formally qualified to be on November’s ballot so far.

In the Goleta Union School District, Board of Trustees president Susan Epstein and parent Yvonne DeGraw are running for the two available seats so far.

School and special district candidates have to file declaration of candidacy and nomination papers by the end of Friday. Seats for water, sanitary and fire protection districts will be on November’s ballot as well.

Candidates are still joining City Council races in Carpinteria, Goleta, Buellton, Lompoc, Guadalupe and Santa Maria.

The June 5 primary election also set up hot regional, state and national races for Santa Barbara County voters: Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, will fight Republican Abel Maldonado to keep her congressional seat; Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson and Republican Mike Stoker will battle for the 19th State Senate District seat; Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian, R-San Luis Obispo, will fight to keep his 35th District seat against Democratic challenger Gerry Manata; Assemblyman Das Williams, D-Santa Barbara, will face Republican challenger Rob Walter; and Fourth District Supervisor Joni Gray will face challenger Peter Adam in a runoff election for the county Board of Supervisors.

Capps raised $2.15 million from Jan. 1 to June 30 and spent $1.29 million so far, according to the Federal Election Commission. Maldonado raised $1.76 million and spent $1.26 million in the same time period.

Jackson and Stoker have been heavily fundraising as well, Secretary of State numbers show. Jackson raised $158,491 from the end of May to the end of June and $439,892 so far this year. She’s spent $682,320 this year, with about $99,000 in cash left.

Stoker has received $149,049 through June 30 and still has $135,188 in the bank.

Williams has raised $192,386 this year through the end of June, spent $176,936 and still has a lot left in the bank, with $132,939. Walter hasn’t filed campaign finance documents with the Secretary of State’s office.

Candidate lists are updated every day around 5:30 p.m. and can be accessed by clicking here.

— Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.

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» lou segal on 08.09.12 @ 09:41 PM

Correction: I have received papers, but have not filed as of now. I have until the 15th to make a decision.

» whatsername on 08.10.12 @ 10:32 AM

What about the SBCC Board of Trustees? Why isn’t there any reporting about that race?

» Joan Livingston on 08.10.12 @ 12:17 PM

County Elections website maintains a list of candidates who have filed to date as of Friday morning. For the newly created SBCC trustee single districts, the following candidates are listed as of this time Friday morning:

#2: Marianne Kugler (City of Goleta)
#3: Sherry Kathleen Holland and Veronica Garcia Gallardo (roughly downtown SB)
#4: no candidate has yet filed (roughly unincorporated county)

Contact County elections for the exact precinct boundaries and filing requirements in each of these newly created SBCC single trustee districts. Three up for election in 2012. Four are up in 2014.

Information meetings will be held Friday afternoons on campus at 4pm at SBCC for candidates and the public, and even for prospective candidates thinking about running in 2014.

Sept 7 - Who are we?
Sept 21 - Who are our students?
Sept 28 - What do we teach? How do we support our students?
Oct 5 - How does the college operate?
Oct 12 - Participatory Governance and the Role of the Board of Trustees

» lou segal on 08.10.12 @ 07:15 PM

Another correction: I looked at the candidate’s list today and I noticed that Pedro Paz and Deborah Schwartz have not filed their papers or declared their candidacy.

» lou segal on 08.10.12 @ 08:37 PM

I would imagine most voters don’t know who Gayle Eidelson or Pedro Paz are. Of course, many voters are aware of Deborah Schwartz and her failed bid for city council. Both Pedro Paz and Deborah Schwartz already have 2 strikes against them because of their close affiliation with the Democratic Party, an organization, along with the Ca. teacher unions, that have continually resisted even minor reforms of a seriously dysfunctional public school system.

As for Ms. Eidelson, I would like to know her specific positions regarding teacher tenure, seniority and merit pay. Has she and the other candidates read the local collective bargaining agreement and do they agree with it. Are these candidates using the school board as a stepping stone to higher office and a political career. Of course, it is not difficult to divine Ms. Schwartz’s intentions, as she is running for any political office to continue the family tradition.

I hope we get more than the usual platitudes from these candidates than the usual drivel about how they are supporters of public education. The real question is whether they support the status quo and the present culture of mediocrity in our schools or are they prepared to alienate the teacher unions and the entrenched educational bureaucracy to ensure that every student has access to a great teacher and a learning environment that works.

I will be looking forward to their answers. Whether I run or not will partially depend on their answers.

» lou segal on 08.11.12 @ 01:55 AM

Joan, so we don’t have a candidate to run in one of the trustee districts. What happens then?

Most people have no idea if they live in one of these districts, making it very confusing to most everybody. I wonder if district elections (particularly when they are drawn in a political manner by the present majority) are actually counter-productive. BTW, do you know the people that are currently running. Can you endorse any of them?

» Joan Livingston on 08.11.12 @ 12:14 PM

Lou,

Looking at the latest “unofficial” Aug 10 after 5:30pm update on the County Elections website, it appears for the three open seats there is only a single candidate who qualified to run: Marianne Kugler for the city of Goleta seat.

Two separate SBCC district seats now appear to remain empty as they list no qualified candidates: (2) Downtown SB and (4) Unincorporated County (both roughly described by area)

SBCC Board Policy 2110 as well as California Education Code controls provisional appointment procedures when vacancies in office occur. Whomever is later provisionally appointed by the SBCC board majority is later required to stand at the next regularly scheduled election.

Of note is the fact for over a week after the start of the filing period, the “unofficial” county elections website posted materially inaccurate information identifying the SBCC districts up for the 2012 election. They continued to post the four former trustee areas, and failed to identify the seven new separate SBCC trustee districts.

This error provided materially misleading information to potential candidates to determine whether they qualified for these three new seats up for the 2012 election.

(NB: the county does identify this as their “unofficial” elections website)

This was eventually corrected after numerous requests to provide accurate information to the public. The SBCC college website additionally had trustee area maps of poor quality outlining the seven new districts, but without actual precinct definition precision. County Elections finally made the proper precinct locations available on their “unofficial” website, but well after the start of the filing period.

Additionally, County Elections “unofficial” website listed myself and Morrie Jurkowitz as “incumbents” for two of the erroneously identified SBCC districts where in fact we do not even reside and would not even have been qualified to run as “incumbents” in the first place. This error also provided misleading information to prospective candidates, if they had only accessed the county’s “unofficial” website.

Remaining in question is whether Luis Villegas is officially the “incumbent” for the newly named and identified separate SBCC district which has never held an election for anyone. Mr Villegas resides in this district, so it is not clear if that automatically qualifies him to be identified as this new district’s “incumbent”.

This matters because County Elections will keep this seat open for 10 more days after the filing deadline, if the “incumbent” chooses not to run for “re-election”. Since Mr Villegas chose not to run again and the county had identified him as this district’s “incumbent”, this new district may still have 10 additional days for a candidate to qualify to run in that district.

So the final tally is pending as to open SBCC seats and candidates for the Nov election: (1) One district has one unopposed candidate; (2) One district has no candidates and no incumbent; (3) One district has no candidates and questionable if it will remain open under the 10 day extension rule since the “incumbent” chose not to run again.

Check directly with the County Elections office for further official information. Do not rely on the County Elections website, which warns users it does not provide “official” election information.

» lou segal on 08.11.12 @ 04:22 PM

Thank you, Joan. I find it interesting that the time to file is only extended 5 days if an incumbent doesn’t run in the SB School District election, but apparently 10 days for the SBCC District elections. I wonder why the discrepancy.

Joan, could you provide the link for the district boundaries. I think it would be useful for people to have the opportunity to see which district they live in.

If the time to file is extended in one of the districts, I hope someone out there will declare his/her candidacy. It would be a shame to give the current Board majority the right to appoint the other members of the Board.

» SBLOGIC on 08.11.12 @ 06:00 PM

Lou and Joan: can you exchange phone numbers and talk privately?

» lou segal on 08.11.12 @ 06:15 PM

SBLOGIC,

Why?

» Joan Livingston on 08.11.12 @ 06:23 PM

Lou, you may well be right about only a 5 day filing extension for SBCC as well - anyone interested needs to confirm this with the County Elections office

Here is the link to the precincts in each of the seven new single SBCC districts - scroll down to pages 34 and 35: http://www.sbcassessor.com/Elections/DistrictsandPrecinctRpts.aspx

There is no map with that link, just the precinct numbers. Roughly here are the approximate and imprecise locales of the seven new SBCC trustee districts:

2012 Election:

#2 - City of Goleta (one candidate)
#3 - Lower Downtown - East/Westside, Milpas area (no candidates)
#4 - Unincorporated county and surrounding northern city areas of Goleta and SB (no candidates - may allow filing extension)

2014 Election:

#1 - Carpinteria/Montecito (Trustee Haslund)
#5 - Upper State/ Riviera/Mission Canyon (Trustee Croninger)
#6 - Hope Ranch/Isla Vista (Trustee Macker)
#7 - Mesa (Trustee Blum)

» lou segal on 08.11.12 @ 08:16 PM

I would urge anyone who lives in the unincorporated areas of Santa Barbara and Goleta and is concerned with many of the changes taking place at SBCC to declare their candidacy for the Board. If you do it in the next few days, it is likely you will have no opponent.

» whatsername on 08.11.12 @ 10:55 PM

I agree with SBLOGIC.

» sos4sbcc on 08.12.12 @ 12:28 AM

Lou,
I noticed your concern about the elementary school district candidates. Gayle Eidlelson’ children went to school with mine. She was very active with the rebuild Roosevelt bond measure.
She was always active at PTA meetings and had very high standards for her children. I know she does not believe in mediocrity in education and I was pleased to see she was running. She is not in anyone’s back pocket and I know she will do a good job and is very ethical. Her children have all been high achievers in education. I do not believe she is using this as any stepping stone, she has always been home raising her family and volunteering for school activities.
Rosanne Crawford

» sos4sbcc on 08.12.12 @ 12:39 AM

The current board majority of SBCC trustees voted to change the at large election process for board of trustees to this confusing situation that not even the elections office can explain very well.
What a zoo. and the sad part is because people can not figure it out and it is not clear, we may end up with who ever they choose to appoint. Where is the oversight?
This is not doing anything for being inclusive of the community or being transparent which have been some of the problems with the accreditation warning they are under.

» LookingWest on 08.12.12 @ 11:38 PM

I find the “conversation”, if public forum exchanged can be called that, between Joan Livingston and Lou Segal very interesting and even helpful in understanding what’s going on.

I do have to disagree with Joan Livingston on this, though: “Check directly with the County Elections office for further official information.” I was interested in the new District 3 seat; went to the County Elections office about a week ago; they told me they did not know about the details of the election and said that it would be handled by the SBCC. Their role, the Elections Office, would be to validate the signatures. I asked whom/what to contact at SBCC and was given a telephone number on a slip of paper. Unfortunately in the process of errands, I lost that slip of paper. (I wanted to know where to get the petition, how many signatures were required, what the deadline was; the last question was answered that it was the 10th, unless an incumbent chose not to run, in which case it was the 15th. They did not have the new district maps and seemed to not know of them. ...)

Noting that there were no election details on the SBCC web site, although I did find the maps, I gave up rather than going back to the elections office, figuring that I could not be so interested after all.

» lou segal on 08.13.12 @ 12:17 AM

LookingWest,

Go back to the County Election Office or at least give them a call. I am pretty sure you do not need any signatures to declare your candidacy. You need to talk to another person. I have a pdf file of the SBCC Districts, but for some reason I am unable to link it here. Try googling it. If you live in District 4, you have until 5:00pm August 15 to file your papers. Everything is handled at the County Election Office. If no one else files, you will become a member of the SBCC Board of Trustees.

» lou segal on 08.13.12 @ 12:27 AM

LookingWest, I checked the website and there is a declared candidate for District 3. Her name is Veronica Gallardo and apparently she is a teacher. Because there is no incumbent for this seat, the deadline has passed. Joan, is this also your understanding?

» LookingWest on 08.13.12 @ 10:48 AM

There really needs to be more information easily available on the SBCC website (and at the County Elections office and also maps — there are none there) for how to proceed. On reading this Noozhawk story last week, I did go to the County site and saw there were two candidates and saw last night that one had qualified. (I am in the new District 3.)

» Joan Livingston on 08.13.12 @ 11:38 AM

Lookingwest, you were given materially in accurate information as reported in your account. I hope you follow up on this with the proper agency. Election notice and fairness is critical.

Pease check with the Campaign and Fair Practices Commission to see if any rights were violated, according to your reported experience. Equally important is whether other potential candidates received similar misinformation.

Any later updates after my own last report Friday using the “unofficial” county website as the “unofficial” information resource obviously have to be updated with County Elections itself for the latest final filing status.

» Joan Livingston on 08.13.12 @ 06:49 PM

Anyone interested in running for the SBCC board in 2014 obviosly should start early to make sure they get the proper information for the next elections in Trustee Districts #1, #5, #6, and #7.

Suggestions for improvement in time for the 2014 SBCC elections need to be made to both SBCC and County Elections. The topic was recently discussed at the last SBCC study session.(Tape available at SBCC..edu)

The SBCC seats next up for election in 2014 a.re roughly located in the following areas:
1 - Carpinteria/Montecito
5 - Upper State, Riviera, Mission Canyon, San Roque
6 - Hope Ranch/Isla Vista
7 - Mesa/West Beach/Westside

PLEASE CHECK WITH COUNTY ELECTIONS FOR EXACT BOUNDARIES

Starting in September, SBCC will be putting on general information forums for candidates in the present election. Anyone interested in running in the 2014 election is also welcome to also attend. A prior post in this thread sets out the dates and topics.

The Communiy College League of California (CCLC) has excellent trustee and prospective candidate educational material, as well as position papers on critical community college issues.

Additionally, the state Chancellor’s Office has valuable information links including the latest guidance document from the Task Force for Student Success. (CCCCO)

For those interested in the long-range visioning for community colleges, please read the CCLC 20/20 report which considers what community colleges might look like iin the year 2020.

» lou segal on 08.13.12 @ 08:02 PM

Don"t forget if you live in the unincorporated areas (please check with County Elections Office), you have until 5:00 PM Wednesday to declare for District 4. As of now, you will have no opposition.

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Candidates Lining Up to Vie for Seats on Santa Barbara School Board

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