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Score: +10 (10/4/0)
Santa Cruz County Grand Jury • 2014-2015

Parcel Tax Oversight Committee Oversight or Overlook?

27 pages
View PDF View Full Original

Findings and Recommendations 14 findings

F1 Page 26
The operations and activities of the Santa Cruz City Schools Parcel Tax Oversight ​ Committee lack the transparency required for public oversight committees, including a website with posted meeting times and locations, agendas, minutes, and membership for the current year and prior historical records.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Page 27
Santa Cruz City Schools District should reconstruct and make available on its website an institutional historical record of the Parcel Tax Oversight Committee’s activities. This record should include but not be limited to the official committee charge, membership, and annual reports for the entire span of the committee’s existence, 2003 to the present. Where these records are unavailable, the website should note that absence. (F1, F4, F5, F7, F14)
F2 Page 26
The Parcel Tax Oversight Committee has not complied with operating rules ​ defined by the Board of Education with respect to quorum or length of term.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
Page 27
The Parcel Tax Oversight Committee should ensure that all its members are apprised of the rules and regulations governing their activity, and its officers must require compliance with those rules. Rules should be established for addressing the issue of persistent non­attendance. (F2, F3, F6, F7)
F3 Page 26
The Parcel Tax Oversight Committee has not consistently tracked the attendance ​ or responded to continued absences of its appointed members.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
Page 27
The Parcel Tax Oversight Committee should ensure that all its members are apprised of the rules and regulations governing their activity, and its officers must require compliance with those rules. Rules should be established for addressing the issue of persistent non­attendance. (F2, F3, F6, F7)
F4 Page 26
The Parcel Tax Oversight Committee has not provided annual oversight reports in any consistent or predictable format accessible to the general public.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Page 27
Santa Cruz City Schools District should reconstruct and make available on its website an institutional historical record of the Parcel Tax Oversight Committee’s activities. This record should include but not be limited to the official committee charge, membership, and annual reports for the entire span of the committee’s existence, 2003 to the present. Where these records are unavailable, the website should note that absence. (F1, F4, F5, F7, F14)
F5 Page 26
The lack of publicly available information regarding open positions on the Parcel Tax Oversight Committee leaves taxpayers who are not associated with Santa Cruz City Schools unaware of opportunities to serve on the Parcel Tax Oversight Committee.
Related Recommendations (2)
R1
Page 27
Santa Cruz City Schools District should reconstruct and make available on its website an institutional historical record of the Parcel Tax Oversight Committee’s activities. This record should include but not be limited to the official committee charge, membership, and annual reports for the entire span of the committee’s existence, 2003 to the present. Where these records are unavailable, the website should note that absence. (F1, F4, F5, F7, F14)
R7
Page 27
The Santa Cruz City Schools Board of Education should solicit applications from the public at large whenever vacancies occur or terms expire among Board appointed seats. (F5)
F6 Page 26
For the 2013­14 school year (the first year of the new Measures I and J) the Parcel Tax Oversight Committee failed to meet, monitor expenditures and report to the community.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
Page 27
The Parcel Tax Oversight Committee should ensure that all its members are apprised of the rules and regulations governing their activity, and its officers must require compliance with those rules. Rules should be established for addressing the issue of persistent non­attendance. (F2, F3, F6, F7)
F7 Page 26
Neither the Parcel Tax Oversight Committee nor Santa Cruz City Schools has been able to verify that the Parcel Tax Oversight Committee has met its responsibility to monitor expenditures and report annually to the community.
Related Recommendations (2)
R1
Page 27
Santa Cruz City Schools District should reconstruct and make available on its website an institutional historical record of the Parcel Tax Oversight Committee’s activities. This record should include but not be limited to the official committee charge, membership, and annual reports for the entire span of the committee’s existence, 2003 to the present. Where these records are unavailable, the website should note that absence. (F1, F4, F5, F7, F14)
R3
Page 27
The Parcel Tax Oversight Committee should ensure that all its members are apprised of the rules and regulations governing their activity, and its officers must require compliance with those rules. Rules should be established for addressing the issue of persistent non­attendance. (F2, F3, F6, F7)
F8 Page 26
Santa Cruz City Schools Board of Education has not defined the form that the annual report should take.
Related Recommendations (2)
R6
Page 27
The required Parcel Tax Oversight Committee annual report at the end of the fiscal year should be prepared in advance and included in the Board book, presented orally at a Board meeting, distributed to local media, and published on the Santa Cruz City Schools website. (F8)
R8
Page 27
Future parcel tax language should be more precise about the specific responsibilities of the Parcel Tax Oversight Committee, especially regarding the advisory nature of their oversight, required public reporting, and Brown Act compliance. (F8, F12, F13, F14)
F9 Page 26
Administrative and clerical duties have been assigned to the counselors, counseling secretaries, and library staff, who are funded by parcel tax money. The use of parcel tax money to pay for administrative and clerical costs is contrary to the intent of the measure language.
Related Recommendations (1)
R9
Page 27
Future parcel tax language should more accurately reflect the intent and priorities ​ of the SCCS regarding spending priorities by including funding percentages where appropriate. (F9, F11)
F10 Page 26
Santa Cruz City Schools failed in its obligation to provide annual information ​ regarding the allocation of parcel tax funds.
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
Page 27
Santa Cruz City Schools business office should reconstruct from its financial records the parcel tax expenditures for all the years since the parcel tax was collected and post these on its website. (F10)
F11 Page 26
The Board of Education has failed to follow its own explicit commitments for the ​ proportional allocation of parcel tax funds.
Related Recommendations (2)
R4
Page 27
The Santa Cruz City Schools Board of Education should clarify its position on the percentages for funding priorities to which it committed in 2006, and either explicitly revise those percentages or instruct the District business office to comply with those percentages in its budget. (F11)
R9
Page 27
Future parcel tax language should more accurately reflect the intent and priorities ​ of the SCCS regarding spending priorities by including funding percentages where appropriate. (F9, F11)
F12 Page 26
The Parcel Tax Oversight Committee, Board of Education Trustees, and Santa ​ Cruz City Schools staff disagree concerning the Parcel Tax Oversight Committee’s role in making expenditure recommendations.
Related Recommendations (1)
R8
Page 27
Future parcel tax language should be more precise about the specific responsibilities of the Parcel Tax Oversight Committee, especially regarding the advisory nature of their oversight, required public reporting, and Brown Act compliance. (F8, F12, F13, F14)
F13 Page 26
The Board of Education has failed to provide a formal charge to the members of ​ the Parcel Tax Oversight Committee.
Related Recommendations (2)
R8
Page 27
Future parcel tax language should be more precise about the specific responsibilities of the Parcel Tax Oversight Committee, especially regarding the advisory nature of their oversight, required public reporting, and Brown Act compliance. (F8, F12, F13, F14)
R10
Page 27
The Santa Cruz City Schools Board of Education should provide the Parcel Tax ​ Oversight Committee with a formal charge. (F13)
F14 Page 26
The Board of Education has failed to require the Parcel Tax Oversight Committee to comply with the Brown Act.
Related Recommendations (3)
R1
Page 27
Santa Cruz City Schools District should reconstruct and make available on its website an institutional historical record of the Parcel Tax Oversight Committee’s activities. This record should include but not be limited to the official committee charge, membership, and annual reports for the entire span of the committee’s existence, 2003 to the present. Where these records are unavailable, the website should note that absence. (F1, F4, F5, F7, F14)
R8
Page 27
Future parcel tax language should be more precise about the specific responsibilities of the Parcel Tax Oversight Committee, especially regarding the advisory nature of their oversight, required public reporting, and Brown Act compliance. (F8, F12, F13, F14)
R11
Page 28
The Santa Cruz City Schools Board of Education should require the Parcel Tax Oversight Committee to comply with the Brown Act. (F14)

Additional Recommendations 1

These recommendations are not explicitly linked to specific findings.

Agency Responses 1

Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.