The Fair Political Practices Commission voted November 21 to penalize a school district for violating state law by using taxpayer dollars to advocate for a bond measure on the March 2020 ballot.
Poway Unified School District, which operates 41 schools in the San Diego area and serves approximately 35,000 students, placed a $448 million general obligation bond on the ballot to finance school facility maintenance. The bond, Measure P, would have been repaid through a property tax of $30 per $100,000 of assessed value, but was rejected by voters.
The FPPC found that the school district distributed mailers and assembled a PowerPoint presentation that “unambiguously urged the passage of Measure P.”
The FPPC found that the district had costs totaling $35,209 in campaign filings that urged residents to support Measure P but failed to register as an independent expenditure committee. The bulk of these expenditures were dedicated to distributing 60,000 copies of mailers at the public expense, costing taxpayers $34,506.
“The tenor of the communication is urgent and reflects the pressing need for improvements,” according to a stipulated agreement approved by the FPPC. “The communication positively associates the proposed measure with the benefits for students and the community. The mailer stresses long-term benefits for students’ educational success and safety and strongly implies that they can only be achieved with the passage of Measure P.”
The FPPC also found that “the timing of the mailer being within 6 months of the March 2020 ballot intimately ties them together” and “suggests a strategic attempt to align the proposed benefits with the upcoming election to garner support.”
The district also failed to report expenditures on a newspaper column that featured language advocating for the tax increase, a newsletter that urged support of Measure P, and a 143-slide PowerPoint presentation to residents that outlined talking points.
“Many slides are titled ‘Why do we need a bond?’ and list arguments, photos, and charts that explain and support why Measure P is necessary,” the FPPC noted. “Other slides include ‘Talking Points’ that discuss reasons to support the bond. For example, the ‘Talking Points’ slides give the viewer ideas on how to support the bond on their ‘personal time.’ The presentation is not a fair presentation of the facts and is in no doubt argumentative.”
The FPPC imposed a $13,500 penalty against the school district for distributing prohibited campaign materials at public expense, failing to disclose campaign advertisements, and failing to file a semi-annual campaign statement. The penalty was approved by a unanimous vote.
The penalty assessed against the Poway Unified School District will be paid using tax dollars, and many observers have questioned whether these penalties curb bad actors’ behavior.
Responding to a CalTax social media post regarding the FPPC decision, former state Senator Steve Glazer commented:
“The public trust violations by this district were significant yet the penalties allowed under the law are completely inadequate.”
Ironically, one of the slides in the PowerPoint presentation to school employees noted that “District monies, facilities, and equipment cannot be used to campaign for the measure,” and the slide provided several examples of prohibited behavior, including distributing “advocacy literature” while working or using district resources to “advocate for or against the measure.” Elsewhere in the same presentation, a slide listed “talking points” including: “If we don’t pass a bond, it will create ongoing budget problems because more and more funds will have to be diverted to fix facilities instead of funding programs. If we don’t pass a bond, nearly $90 million in state matching funds will go to other districts.”