Schools
Capistrano Unified School District's Response to Public Records Request
Regarding Payments made to Capital Advisors Group
At the March 25, 2015 Board of Trustees Meeting Trustees voted to hire the firm Capital Advisors Group to:
“provide the district with strategic counsel and assistance in developing mutually-beneficial partnerships. The contract for providing such consulting services expires June 30, 2016. The Agreement provides professional consulting services related to legislative, administrative, and regulatory guidance. The fee for these services will be $4,000 per month for the term of the contract, and will be funded by the general fund.”
Source: March 25, 2015 BOT Meeting Agenda Item #16 page 189 http://capousd.ca.schoolloop.com/file/1229223560406/1218998864154/9000450599948979580.pdf
"Mutually Beneficial" meant that our tax money; money that should have been spent to provide CUSD students with:
"...opportunity to obtain high quality staff, program expansion and variety, beneficial teacher- pupil ratios and class sizes, modern equipment and materials, and high-quality buildings."was used to write and promote California Proposition 51, Public School Facility Bonds (2016). The full text of the bond can be read at the following link:
https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_51,_Public_School_Facility_Bonds_(2016)
In a public records request, CUSD states that it has made $54,812.00 in payments to Capital Advisors:
Purchase Orders total $70,500.00
PO #351635 $48,000.00
BOT Meeting September 23, 2015 at page 172
PO #354316 $22,500.00
BOT Meeting February 24, 2016 at page
Every taxpayer should listen to the Board Audio from the August 10, 2016 BOT Meeting where Capital Advisors spoke on the issue of the State and Local Facilities Bonds.
Source: Capistrano Unified School Board Meeting August 10, 2016 at page 61
http://capousd-ca.schoolloop.com/file/1218998819331/1455438848279/6795361639437705343.pdf
Board Audio: https://sites.google.com/a/capousd.org/board-audio-archive/
at 1:10:00 Ex Superintendent Jack O'Connell now with Capital Advisors - now a CUSD Consultant. State Perspective. $9 Billion dollar State facilities Bond. If CUSD wants to share in the State matching funds they need to pass a bond.
Note: By his own admission, Jack O'Connell is the "Great Guy" who helped to write the provision that lowered the tax needed to pass a bond from 75% to 55%.
at 1:13:46 Susan Stuart - Capital Advisors - Provision in State Bond good for CUSD. Direction they were going was to follow LCFF- meaning low income districts were going to receive money first. If CUSD gets their projects in now they will be grandfathered in before rules change.
at 1:16:40 Kevin Jordan - Capital Advisors - Tax Policy. Fundamental difference in Education Tax policy. Matching funds make your money go farther. Other Districts are happy to take your money if you don't step up to take advantage of this opportunity.
Listen very closely to Mr. Jordan's words at 1:19:50 Capital Advisor's is paid as a consultant by CUSD to represent CUSD's interests in Sacramento. Yet, here is Mr. Jordan (of Capital Advisors) is stating that he is very proud of the work that Capital Advisors has done to get the State Facilities Bond on the ballot. So CUSD has been funding Capital Advisors efforts to get the State Bond measure on the ballot rather than advocate for the funding our students are entitled to. That is a misuse of taxpayer funds. Maybe it is not in the best interest of CUSD to be taxed yet again for facilities, rather maybe it would be in CUSD's best interest to advocate for the funding that the State is constitutionally obligate to provide every student and is refusing to do so that it can use tax money that belongs to CUSD students to create new programs and entitlements that are not constitutionally mandated.
Any money paid to Capital Advisors to promote Prop 51, the State School Facilities bond constitutes a mis-use of Taxpayer funds under Attorney General Kamala Harris's January 26, 2016 opinion and should be returned to the Students of CUSD.
https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/opinions/pdfs/13-304.pdf
It is absolutely shameful that taxpayer funds went to a consulting group that used the our tax money, not to advocate for our students but to promote a political agenda that seeks to tax us again for a service that the State of California is already obligated to provide.
Look at the funding for Prop 51: $8,344,477.87 (probably $70,000 from every school district in the State) and in opposition: -0-
Campaign finance
| Total campaign cash[12] as of August 16, 2016[13] | |
 Support: | $8,344,477.87 |
 Opposition: | $0.00 |
As of August 16, 2016, the support campaign for Proposition 51 had a war chest of $8,344,477.87. The opposition campaign had not reported any contributions.[14][15]
The fiscal impact statement is as follows:[6]
| “ |
State costs of about $17.6 billion to pay off both the principal ($9 billion) and interest ($8.6 billion) on the bonds. Payments of about $500 million per year for 35 years.[7]
| ” |
http://www.capitoladvisors.org/
