HBCSD Corruption

Proof of the lie:

After losing the district's $54M bond vote (Measure Q) in November 2014, school board members voted to unnecessarily move 160 3rd grade students from Valley School to View School in September 2015, only months before the district's $59M Measure S bond vote. This move egregiously overcrowded View School and panicked parents and HBCSD staff before the district's $59M bond vote.

Only months after losing the district's $54M bond vote in November 2014, at the February 11, 2015 school board meeting, 1:19:42 mark, Superintendent Pat Escalante states:

       “…it [moving third grade to View School] matches the, um, class size reduction school formula.  It, we, um, had some nervous moments by having third grade out there over at Valley, um, because the formula is based on a school-wide ratio average [for only grades K-3rd], and when you have just one grade level at the school, you cannot go over the 24:1 or you lose your funding for the entire district, which for us is around $500,000 dollars.”

The above statement by Superintendent Pat Escalante is misleading, incorrect and makes no sense:

(1)         Moving third grade to View School does NOT necessarily “match” the “class size reduction school formula”.   By “class size reduction school formula” it is assumed that Superintendent Escalante is referring to Grade Span Adjustment (GSA) requirement of not more than 24 students per classroom in grades K-3.

A.    Class Size Reduction (CSR) was disbanded by the CDE in the 2012-

2013 school year.  (Exhibit DI-14)

B.    CSR was replaced by K-3 Grade Span Adjustment (GSA) in the

2013-2014 school year.  (Exhibit DI-15a)

(2)         The only requirement for Grade Span Adjustment (GSA) is having no more than 24 students per classroom in K-3rd grade.  24 students per classroom can happen at either View School or Valley School.  Therefore, moving 160 third graders to View School does NOT “match” either the class size reduction school formula or Grade Span Adjustment requirements.  

(3)         According to the Grade Span Adjustment requirements and funding, a school district can get an additional 10.4% for each student in grades K-3 if it maintains 24 students per classroom average for K-3 grade per school.

(4)         If the district goes over the average of 24:1 in grades K-3 at any one campus, the entire district loses all GSA funding for their K-3 students.  (Exhibit DI-15c LAO GSA info)

(5)         It does not matter whether or not third grade is held at Valley School or View School because if ANY school (either Valley or View School) within a district goes over the 24 students per classroom for K-3 students then the entire district would lose all GSA funding for all K-3 students.  Therefore, HBCSD would have the possibility of losing ALL GSA funding whether View School goes over the 24/student limit or Valley School goes over the 24/student limit for grades K-3.

(6)         Pat Escalante’s statement that …”and when you have just one grade level at the school, you cannot go over the 24:1 or you lose your funding for the entire district”… is misleading in that it infers the problem is having “just one grade level at the school”.   It does not matter if HBCSD has K-3rd grade at Valley School or View School, or just 3rd grade at Valley School or just K-2nd grade at View School, or whatever combination of K-3rd grades and classrooms at either school.  What matters is not exceeding an average of 24 students/classroom in all K-3rd grades for the entire district. 

(7)         Grade Span Adjustment does NOT include and does not affect student enrollment per classrooms in grades 4-8th. 

(8)         Any school district can override the GSA requirement of 24 students/classroom in grades K-3 and still receive full GSA funding if they negotiate a collective bargaining agreement for higher class size provision ahead of the school year.  A collective bargaining agreement could have been made for 25 students per classroom instead of 24 students to insure HBCSD would not lose the GSA funding for the district.  A collective bargaining agreement would have only needed to have been for a year or two until enrollment dropped as was projected by the district's enrollment consultants Decision Insite.  (Exhibit DI-15a) 

(9)         Bottom line: HBCSD did not have to move 160 3rd grade students from Valley School to View School to comply with GSA funding rules.

(10)     If the district WAS planning on taking steps to accommodate K-3 Grade Span Adjustment requirements before the district’s Measure Q $54M bond failed as Pat Escalante states in the February 11th meeting, then why didn’t the district start the collective bargaining process with teachers prior to the February 2015 school board meeting?  The district could have negotiated provisions for a temporary higher student to classroom ratio, so as to be assured that the district would continue to receive Grade Span Adjustment funding for K-3rd grade in the 2015-2016 SY without having to move 150 3rd grade students from Valley School to View School.

NOTE: As of the School Board meeting of February 11, 2015, when school board members voted to move 167 3rd grade students to an already overcrowded View School, school board members still had time to make a collective bargaining agreement prior to the September 2015 to June 2016 school year.

(11)     If the district had taken the temporary collective bargaining step of increasing class size to 25 students per classroom (25:1) for at least 3rd grade in 2015-2016 school year, HBCSD and taxpayers could have saved the $721,476.00 that was spent on three temporary classrooms and a temporary restroom facility at View School when the district shifted approximately 150 3rd grade students from Valley School to View School in September 2015.

(12)     Looking back to 2012-2013 school year, HBCSD enrolled at most 169 3rd grade students.  The low was 144 3rd grade students in the 2013-2014 school year.  As of February 2015 there were 167 3rd grade students in seven classrooms at Valley School for an average of twenty four (24) - 3rd grade students per classroom. At the same time there were 163 2nd grade students that would matriculate to 3rd grade in September 2016. (Exhibit DI-5)

(13)     A less impactful solution could have been for third grade to be split up between Valley and View schools as long as the district conformed to 24 students per classroom. This solution would have created less overcrowding at View School AND would likely have only been needed to be in effect for one year until the district's enrollment decreased as was projected by Decision Insite in March 2014.

NOTE: Decision Insite's 2015 enrollment projections projecting large increases in enrollment were not released until three months after (May 2015) school board members made the decision to move all 3rd grade students from Valley School to View School. (DI-42 DI May 2015 vs. Nov 2018) Six months after the district's bond vote Decision Insite changed their May 2015 enrollment projections to one of 1,543 students in 2019 to 1,319 in 2019. AFTER the district won it's bond vote in June 2016, HBCSD now predicted only 1,235 students by 2023, a decrease of 224 students by 2019. During this time school board members were planning on building a brand-new $29M 510 student campus.

NOTE: See also Lie #16: [School board members and superintendent Pat Escalante], claiming that HBCSD was over capacity by 500 students.

(14)     In the past (2006 – 2009), HBCSD had worked to distribute students between Valley and View schools so as not to overwhelm any one campus.  For example, in the 2008-2009 school year, HBCSD housed 61 2nd graders at View School and 75 2nd graders at Valley School.  Parents were given the choice whether to have their 2nd grade child attend View School or Valley School. This was seen as a temporary measure at the time.

(15)     If 3rd grade enrollment was larger than anticipated in 2015-2016 SY, HBCSD ALWAYS had the valid option to use classrooms at the Community Center or North School.  Please see information on the Community Center/Pier Avenue School leasing agreement and North School facts.

(16)     Superintendent Pat Escalante had claimed that the district received about $500,000 for following Class Size Reduction (CSR) requirements.  However, HBCSD would spend $721,476.00 to purchase three more temporary classrooms and a restroom which contributed to an egregiously overcrowded View School.  The district could have saved $221,476.00 by foregoing the supposed $500,000 funding for CSR for one year (which at this time was not a certainty that the district WOULD exceed the 24 students/classroom in TK-3rd grade)  and NOT purchasing the three classrooms for the 2015-2016 school year, after which enrollment was projected to decline.

At the February 11, 2015 school board meeting Superintendent Pat Escalante states:

        “So what I have done is put together a recommendation based on the numerous conversations, the data that you [School board members] have collected through surveys, through the, um, input from stakeholders, and looking at all the options and considerations…”

From her statement, Superintendent Escalante* has had “numerous conversations” and “looked at all the options and considerations” with school board members regarding Class Size Reduction and K-3 Grade Span Adjustment requirements.  The longest serving school board members (School Board President Patti Ackerman and school board members Lisa Claypool and Carleen Beste) should have been aware that Class Size Reduction requirements had been disbanded in the 2012-2013 school year.  (Exhibit DI-14)  They should have known that what Pat Escalante was saying in her introduction about Class Size Reduction and its impact on the district was incorrect since CSR was no longer in effect and having “just one grade level at Valley School” was not the issue.   Yet none of the SB members clarify Pat Escalante’s statements in the publicly viewed school board meeting.   Did school board members do any investigation on their own into penalties and costs associated with K-3 Grade Span Adjustment rules before making the highly impactful and expensive decision to move 150 3rd grade students from Valley School to View School?

NOTE: School board members could claim plausible deniability that their decision to move 160 3rd grades students from Valley School to View School in September 2016 was due to Class Size Reduction or Grade Span Adjustment requirements and not because HBCSD lost a $54M bond vote three months earlier. 

* NOTE:  Pat Escalante does not hold a Doctor of Education degree, nor did she have any prior experience as a superintendent.   School board members who hired her should have been aware of her lack of qualifications to advise them of their options.  See information on Pat Escalante complete Discussion and Facts.

NOTE See also how school board members stayed silent while Pat Escalante or Terry Tao made obviously incorrect statements in public meetings:  May 25th 2016 Measure S Informational Meeting and May 31, 2016 Joint School District and City Meeting with presentation by the district’s attorney, Terry Tao. 

(17)         In July 2019, when the plans for a brand new $29M campus at North School were slated to be approved by the Coastal Commission, school board members were able to take advantage of the concerned parents whose children had spent years in artificially overcrowded conditions.   Superintendent Pat Escalante and HBCSD attorney Terry Tao were able to get 103 parents to send emails to the Coastal Commission advocating for an unneeded, brand-new $29M dollar campus.