Were Voters Mistaken in Approving Measure E?

The news that former Beverly Hills Unified School District facilities director Karen Christiansen and former Superintendent Jeffrey Hubbard were each charged with two counts of misappropriation of public funds may vindicate critics of the $334 million Measure E school bond passed by voters in 2008.

Christiansen, who is also charged with five counts of conflict of interest, served as the district's project and construction manager for the bond.

"After three long years and unrelenting pressure for me to drop this matter, the [Los Angeles County] District Attorney has now brought criminal charges against Christiansen and Hubbard," BHUSD board Vice President Brian Goldberg said in an e-mail to constituents. Goldberg was the only board member at the time to vote against letting Christiansen's firm, Strategic Concepts, manage the bond. Board member Steven Fenton abstained from the vote.

Three former BHUSD board members who spoke out against the bond measure some two years ago must certainly feel some justification for their opposition.

"The district is asking for a huge blank check, and they will decide later how to spend it, with no accountability and no transparency," the former members said in an open letter published in the Beverly Hills Courier in October 2008. The letter was paid for by Mel Spitz and Herb Young, both of whom served on the board in the 1970s, and Gerald Lunn, who served on the board in the early '90s.

In a subsequent statement, Spitz noted, "There is a specific conflict of interest in the district's process of identifying projects to be funded by Measure E. The district's facilities manager, Karen Christensen, was the key individual who identified projects, interfaced with consultants and developed the bond proposal."

As a resident and parent who voted for Measure E, I wish I had paid more attention to the former board members' concerns. I believed proponents who said big spending was needed to modernize district facilities.

"I hope that the public is more discerning in the future about important budget issues when they vote, and they use their own independent judgment," Young told Patch on Friday.

Now that Measure E is a reality, it is incumbent upon the current school board to be judicious in the bond's management. Board President Lisa Korbatov, who was not on the board when the bond was passed, has pledged a transparent and thorough review of the district's Measure E spending plans. Goldberg has been a skeptic from the start, so I trust him to work hard to keep this process fair.