June 11, 2012
ISSUE: 10
Greetings! 
 
You are Invited to the First Meeting of the Contra Costa County CaLBOC Chapter
June 23rd, 10am-Noon in Martinez
Everyone is invited to this first meeting of the Contra Costa CaLBOC Chapter. Organization and the 2012 CCC Grand Jury Report on School Bond Oversight Committees will be discussed.
To register for this meeting and more info: REGISTER HERE
June 23rd Contra Costa CaLBOC Meeting Flyer: june23flyer.pdf

Contra Costa County Grand Jury Report 1208 School Bond Oversight Committees

Raising the Bar 

Report by the 2011-2012 CCC Grand Jury, May 10, 2012

The report is to the Governing Boards of: Acalanes Union School, Antioch Unified School District, Byron Union School District, Contra Costa Community College District, John Swett Unified School District, Martinez Unified School District, Mt. Diablo Unified School District, Pittsburg Unified School District, West Contra Costa Unified School District.

 

EXCERPT: FINDINGS (partial list  of 16 Findings)  

8. Although all oversight committees have bylaws, they do not appear to include or take into account "best practices" recommended by independent groups.

9. The public websites required to be maintained by districts for their bond oversight committees are not always easily located or navigable.

10. The websites required to be maintained by districts for their bond oversight committees are not always timely or complete in posting agenda materials, minutes, reports and other required items.

11. Financial reports furnished to oversight committees by the districts are not always complete and comprehensive enough to allow meaningful and effective review and oversight.

12. Financial data and reports are not always furnished to oversight committees early enough to allow time for thorough review prior to meetings.

13. Districts do not typically afford their oversight committees an opportunity to provide input into defining the scope and content of the district's required annual performance audit.

14. The performance audits provided by some districts to their oversight committees are so limited in scope and conclusory as to prevent meaningful and effective oversight.
PDF of 13 page CCC Grand Jury Report (1.5MB)CCCGJ1208.pdf

School bond measures receive donations from contractors | June 4, 2012 | Will Evans | CaliforniaWatch.org
 
EXCERPT: As voters around the state decide on more than two dozen local school bond measures tomorrow, the campaigns promoting many of them are funded largely by businesses that stand to benefit financially. ... 

... Bond campaigns draw small contributions from community members and school officials, but the larger donations often come from companies that work for the school districts: architects, construction companies, and the financial and law firms hired to work on selling the bonds. By law, school districts can't spend public money to support bond measures, leaving the campaign committees reliant on donations from contractors.

 

A California Watch investigation found that in the last five years, almost every time an underwriting company gave money to a successful school bond campaign, that firm was hired to sell the bonds to investors for a profit. Critics, including some county treasurers, call the practice "pay to play," arguing that the contributions affect the school districts' business decisions. But school officials and underwriters counter that the money has no influence, pointing out that the companies usually are hired before they donate. ...  To see complete article visit: CaliforniaWatch.org

Complete URLs to CaLBOC links
Grand Jury Report:

California Government Penal Code Section 933.05: http://www.calboc.com/reports/code933.05.pdf

Flyer for June 23rd Contra Costa CaLBOC Meeting

May 11th Conference handouts, 20 pages:
May 11th, Lori Raineri 14 page handout:
May 11th, PDF of Alicia Minyen's PowerPoint:
In This Issue
Grand Jury Report on School Bond Oversight Committees
School Bond Measures and Contractors
Complete URLs to links
Archived CaLBOC Newsletters
Correction for Issue 9, June 4, 2012 

The Nine Districts mentioned in the  Contra Costa County Grand Jury Report #1208 have 90 days to respond to the Findings and Recommendations. We misstated that they had 60 days to respond in Issue 9. California Penal Code Section 933.05:
code933.05.pdf

 

Contra Costa

County CaLBOC Chapter

First Meeting

June 23, 2012
10 AM - 12 PM

La Tapatia Restaurant
536 Main Street
Martinez, CA 94553 

TOPICS:
Organization of CCC
CaLBOC Chapter
 
The Contra Costa County Grand Jury Report    

The Next CaLBOC

Board Meeting is 

November 9, 2012 

10 am -  3 pm

Sacramento

Conference call service will be available.

Mission Statement 
What is Our Mission  

To promote school district accountability by improving the training and resources available to California's Proposition 39 School Bond Oversight Committees and educating the state legislature, local school boards and the public about the oversight and reporting powers these Citizens' Bond Oversight Committees (CBOCs) have, and to advocate on a state level, where appropriate, on issues of common concern to all CBOCs.

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California League of Bond Oversight Committees, 510-799-1141, [email protected]