A group created to campaign for the Measure E school bond question on the June ballot lists an assistant superintendent of schools’ home as its address.
The group, which includes the highest-ranking school district administrators and school board members, has received donations of more than $30,000, mostly from five companies that do business with the district and possibly some that could reap big profits from E’s passage.
The pro-E group calls itself Friends of Gilroy Unified School District Supporting Measure E. It’s registered with the state and has a tax ID number.
Member and longtime school trustee Jaime Rosso said Wednesday that everything the group does is above board and that it keeps its advocacy activities and fundraising separate from those of GUSD.
It’s making the best use of resources available to promote the bond issue, which is sorely needed to meet the communities needs, he said, adding there is nothing unusual about the involvement of elected school trustees.
“What we do as school board members is no different from any other community when school bond measures come up,” he said.
If passed, the $170 million in bonds would pay for a new elementary school, fix two aging middle schools, upgrade classroom technology and lab equipment and fund other needed facility improvements.
According to the district, failure of the measure will mean overcrowded schools and continued deterioration of facilities.
The pro-E group last week sent a bulk mailing to voters urging passage. It also has a website and Facebook page promoting the benefits of E, the largest bond measure in district history and the third since 2002.
None of the group’s media platforms mentions who’s behind the organization, who funds it or that of the 175 supporters it lists, more than one-third are district employees, school board members and their families.
In at least one case, a listed endorser’s $104,000-a-year district job managing bond projects depends on E passing—as do the jobs of at least three other GUSD employees whose positions are paid by bonds in the combined amount of nearly $500,000 a year.
The only identifying information on the mailer is an address listed as its headquarters, 1969 St. Andrew’s Circle, Gilroy.
That is the address of assistant schools superintendent Alvaro Meza. It’s located in Gilroy’s Eagle Ridge golf club community of $1 million-plus homes in the western foothills.
Meza also serves as GUSD’s chief business officer, and is the district administrator who oversees financial dealings with contractors and architects, including the support group’s major donors, all of whom contract with the district, some for projects funded by past bond measures.
Measure P in 2008 helped pay for the $158 million Christopher High School. Cost overruns during construction prevented the athletic fields and a theater from being built. The fields were completed with donations, mostly from the Christopher family.
Measure E bonds and interest would be paid off over 30 years and cost taxpayers annually up to an additional $60 per $100,000 of assessed valuation on residential, commercial and industrial property.
That would be added to property taxes already being paid to retire Measures I and P bonds totaling $219 million plus $122 million in interest.
Meza acknowledged Monday that campaigning for Measure E on district time would violate election law. He said his work and that of others in the pro-E group, including school trustees, is not done on district time, uses no GUSD resources and is work they undertake as private citizens.
He said that’s “absolutely allowable” and involves nothing “disingenuous.” He agreed to be interviewed about the support group and provide information, but only after work hours and via his private phone line and email address.
“Every citizen in the United States has a right to do this on their own time. We live in Gilroy, we care about our schools and we want (Measure E) to be successful,” Meza said.
He said the support group includes his boss, schools superintendent Debbie Flores, and school board members, some of whom have walked the city precincts urging voters to pass Measure E. He said board members James Pace and Jaime Rosso are involved.
Rosso said trustee Pat Midtgaard also is a member of the group. Some school trustees are not members, he said.
The ones involved, are “acting as citizens,” and not in their capacity as elected school trustees, according to Meza.
At the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission, spokesman Jay Wierenga said citizens have a free speech right to campaign on their own time.
The only way to determine if election law has been violated is for the FPPC to launch a formal investigation. That would be trigged by a formal complaint, which anyone can file, he said.
Meza said five private companies are “major donors” to the support group. With the amounts given, they are: Irvine-based LPA, Inc. Architects, $5,000; Artik Art & Architecture of San Jose, $5,000; Bay Area law firm Garcia, Hernandez, Sawhney & Bermudez, the district’s general counsel, $5,000; school food vendor Sodexo, $5,000; and SLS, or Seward L. Schreder, Construction, Inc., of Redding, $10,000.
Rosso confirmed that all have contracts with GUSD and that board members vote on the contracts.
The contract approval process is rigorous and includes legal requirements, according to Rosso.
Asked about possible perceptions that big donors to the pro-E group might get special treatment, Rosso said, “It’s a transparent process, we are above board in how we award contracts.”
Two weeks ago, GUSD sent out a Measure E informational mailer to district property owners at a cost of nearly $5,000.
It failed to mention the district salaries paid from bond proceeds and that the district will get millions in matching state funds described in the mailer only if a $9 billion state school bond measure passes in September. The Friends committee mailer also mentions neither.
Meza said the law allows such salaries for bond administration. When bond money is all spent the positions end, he said.
The GUSD and pro-E group’s mailings used the same nonprofit organization bulk mail permit. According to the U.S. Postal Service in San Jose, the permit belongs to a mailing company and can be used by the firm for its nonprofit clients’ bulk mail.
