One of the most remembered lines in American cinema is from the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke. After Captain (Strother Martin), the sadistic prison warden beats to the ground petty criminal Luke played by Paul Newman Captain says, “What we've got here is failure to communicate."
That line describes current interaction between voters and the administration of Yuba Community College District (YCCD). Citizens and a Sutter County Taxpayers Association (SCTA) representative have submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to obtain facts about the upcoming ballot Measure C authorizing $228.4 million more in loans.
SCTA President Pat Miller asked for electronic links to current CalSTRS and CalPERS reports disclosing pension liabilities for instructors and other employees. Her requests were described by YCCD as “unclear.”
Questions asked by others were for the number of students – full and part time, the number of students attending various district locations and how many receive tuition assistance. (One online review said 86% of students get some form of aid.)
This FOIA request was described by YCCD as “unintelligible.” An inquiry as to the number of empty classrooms was considered “vague and unclear.”(An online Yuba College Master Plan reports lecture instructional space as under-utilized.)
The back and forth or ‘stone-walling’ is reminiscent of the Yuba County Measure K Sale Tax Increase when a Wheatland resident’s FOIA request asking about the amount of tax dollars spent promoting Measure K went unanswered for months.
With the election fast approaching on March 3, 2020, FOIA foot-dragging undermines efforts to properly inform voters who are being asked to burden future generations with nearly $700 million (2006 and 2020 bonds) in debt. Only 55% percent of the voters need to agree to more borrowing.
Government sarcasm and disdain for citizens have created the FOIA process that requires an attorney-like linguistically precise request worthy of even an evasive response from bureaucrats. The average hard-working taxpayer is unworthy of a swift answer by phone and is instead dismissed as “unclear” and “unintelligible.”
What local school campus office manager could not tell a caller what attendance is? Do college people really not know or just don’t want to say -- ignorant or irritable?
Searching elsewhere, voters say that YCCD attendance is down by about 1,000 students from 2012 to 2018. If true, then that aligns with other news reports that as costs to run California Community Colleges are booming students’ use of the schools is dropping.
The attendance confusion comes when looking for full-time versus part time versus fulltime equivalent students. One source says there are 6,640 full and part time students, another says 5,529 and another source says 7,713 full-time equivalent attendees. One website notes fulltime attendance at just 1,535. What is clear is that the percentage of graduates from community colleges is minimal, less than 25%.
One analysis says that the bulk of the 2006 bonds (currently still owe $191 million) were spent on the Woodland campus of YCCD.
Pension and employee benefits debt is hush-hush at YCCD. Of 73 California Community College Districts YCCD is in the top 5 districts buried in unfunded pension liabilities surpassed only by Chabot – Las Positas, Napa Valley, Peralta, and Ventura County districts. Operating YCCD for a few thousand students is one expensive proposition.
YCCD pension debt for fiscal year 2018 was $47,809,628 but is now more than 50 million. Bond funds can be used to pay pension liabilities.
And, by looking at Transparentcalifornia.com for YCCD 2018 salaries the top four administrators are being paid a total of just under $1 million. One hundred and eight-six employees make more than $100,000/yr. and 75 receive $150,000/yr. plus. In 2020, nearly 20 are each making $200,000 or more.
Politicians today are on a borrowing binge at every level of government. Here is a way to look at it. What parents would be praised if instead of an inheritance they left their children decades of debt payments? Rather than be commended the parents would be a curse to their children.
It is time to stop borrowing, sell what we cannot afford, and reduce the size of government. Vote No on Measure C.
(Get Lou’s podcast at “No Hostages Radio” and his articles at nohostagesradio.com)
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