Where have all the crises gone?

Progressives, and those duped by them, told us from August to November that if Proposition Q failed, a number of catastrophes would devastate our town. Since Q did fail, I figured Q supporters would gather in large numbers to work with Ramona Unified School District and school board members to strategize about overcoming the catastrophes they swore would come upon us.

I have been attending the school board meetings to see how RUSD and Q supporters would manage these imminent crises. Since November, school board meetings have been dominated by celebrating various sports teams, approving new classes, hiring new employees, discussing the latest names for the new educational fads dreamed up by progressives, and congratulating each other for awards applied for and received. The failure of Q has only briefly been mentioned, and the predicted disasters resulting from a Q failure have not been mentioned at all.

The most telling discussions at the school board meetings have been about how the budget situation has miraculously improved since the November election. We heard that construction projects will bring more money to RUSD. We heard that families are moving to Ramona — not fleeing from it as Q supporters warned. RUSD thinks this will bring more children and more money to the district.

We heard that the state budget looks better for RUSD because of the shell game Governor Brown is playing with our tax dollars. Remember the high interest rates that RUSD was supposedly locked into on their foolish debt? Well, it turns out that there may be a way to refinance that debt much sooner than we were led to believe.

So from August to November of last year we were going over a cliff. In December, something unbelievable happened. The cliff disappeared.

It is wrong to use fear or deceit to take money from someone. Purposefully using misinformation in an election to take money from taxpayers should be considered election fraud.

We should remember what the progressives and their followers did here. There never was a cliff. There never was an imminent crisis they intended to deal with. They wanted more of your money to keep things comfortable for themselves, and they were willing to scare you with misinformation to get it. They didn’t care how their unethical tactics affected your budget; they were only focused on padding theirs.

You need to remember this chicanery because they are going to come at us again. I read in the Sentinel that one board member suggested that a June election should be considered for the next bond measure because voter turnout is less in June elections.

After numerous bond failures, some still don’t get it. We want the bureaucrats to work within their budget. They want to concentrate on outmaneuvering us in their next bond attempt.

The public servant board members are trying to get the bureaucrats to focus on working within their budget. They are questioning some of the progressive excuses for the failures of government education. There is one woman who has been attending board meetings to ask insightful questions and to make practical suggestions for accountability and efficiency. She appears to be making an impact.

Those of you concerned about RUSD inefficiency and lack of credibility might consider attending board meetings as well. We need to support the board members and RUSD employees who are true public servants.We need to vigorously oppose the rest. Otherwise, the bureaucrats will continue with their financial irresponsibility and state imposed academic mediocrity.

J. Dyer is a Ramona resident.