Schools Deserve 100% of Pool Funds

* County supervisors have advised schools to quit dreaming about getting back all their money from the collapsed investment pool and start working within the confines of reality.

The supervisors would have us believe that all of the marches, the protests, the emotional pleas, the letters and editorials are not going to produce any more than the 77% repayment that has been pledged to the schools. The sooner the schools reach a settlement, the better off everyone will be. Or, let’s just say the better off the supervisors will be without the unending demands from the schools and parents.

Should the schools settle for 77% now, 13% later and 10% maybe never? Schools and parents must continue to fight for what is due, and let the county supervisors know what the real reality is--they let us down, they did not properly supervise the investment pool, and they do OWE the schoolchildren of Orange County 100% reimbursement. Schools and parents we need to keep up the pressure. If holding elected officials accountable for their actions is dreaming, then maybe it’s time to wake up these elected representatives and let them know we will not stand to have our children pay for their inefficiencies.

SUZY ELLIOTT

Rancho Santa Margarita

* There is very little in our society that has a greater effect on our lives than education. Adequate education and meaningful work are the only vaccines we know of that effectively combat crime and violence. Communities with successful and well-supported public schools are desirable and enjoy high property values; the reverse is equally true.

Virtually everyone agrees with these statements, so it is not surprising that at least three (a majority) of our county supervisors have stated publicly that they favor returning to our school districts 100% of the money they had in trust in the bankrupt county fund. Why, then, have these same supervisors adopted a “100% plan for schools” that includes 10% in notes “fully subordinate” to all other claims and openly acknowledged to have a value of zero? Isn’t that a 90% plan? And why is another 13% in 15-year notes, paying interest only for the first seven years? The supervisors say that our districts can sell these notes today for their full face value. If that’s true, why don’t they sell the notes themselves and give schools the cash?

Our schools need 100% of that money, in cash now, and we expect at least Supervisors Marian Bergeson, William G. Steiner and Roger R. Stanton to keep their word.

DR. and MRS. ERNEST WAGNER

Yorba Linda