We, the Educators & Community of Sonoma County, Demand World-Class Schools!

The Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE), SCOE Board of Education and the County Superintendent play very important roles that impact the everyday lives of our students and work of our educators!   

We, the signees of this petition, demand that those elected to represent us and the community in November 2022 do not continue the unacceptable status quo:  

• As of September 2021, SCOE had amassed a shocking $50 million Total Unrestricted Reserves (75% of Total Outgo).  SCOE Total Unrestricted Reserves increased from $26 million in 2016-17 to over $50 million in 2020-21.  Yet, SCOE has continued to raise the rates our districts pay for special education services.  As a result, SCOE educators’ and paraprofessionals’ positions are being eliminated as large districts like Petaluma and Santa Rosa scale back their relationship with SCOE.  Smaller districts that are not able to bring the special education services in-house continue to be gouged by SCOE rates, which in turn reduce resources available for students and educators in those districts.  All this leaves our most vulnerable students in more precarious conditions.
• Also, SCOE does not provide meaningful fiscal oversight of the County school districts who are mimicking SCOE’s bad behavior of hoarding reserves while students, teachers and staff suffer.  Instead, SCOE rubber stamps financial reports by districts that are hoarding millions, while students and educators are left without much needed resources.  For example, tiny Mark West Union School District is holding an outrageous $15 million, or 88% of Total Outgo, in its Unrestricted Total Reserves.  Additionally, not one single district out of 40 districts in the County pay their teachers above the statewide average teacher pay despite Sonoma County being one of the most expensive places to live in the state/nation.  This is especially shameful given that 16 districts in the County are recognized by the California Department of Education (CDE) as “Basic Aid” districts that receive more money per student than the rest of the state.
• Furthermore, the likely incoming County Superintendent, Amie Carter, has had 3 Unfair Practices Charges filed by educators against her while she was an administrator at the Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District (CRPUSD).  Carter also served on the CRPUSD management bargaining team in 2018 arguing for the maintenance of some of the lowest teacher salaries in the County.  She is being financially supported by attorney Paul Boylan, a district-side attorney involved during the Forestville and West Sonoma County teacher strikes and who represented the troublesome WSCUHSD former Superintendent Toni Beal during her recent departure.  Carter’s campaign for SCOE Superintendent has been endorsed by a majority of the current SCOE Board and the following district Superintendents, most of whom helped create the current unacceptable status quo:
  • Peter Kostas, SCOE Board of Education, President
  • Herman G Hernandez, SCOE Board of Education, Vice President
  • Andrew Leonard, SCOE Board of Education, Board Member
  • Gina Cuclis, SCOE Board of Education, Board Member
  • Jeremy Decker, Superintendent, Windsor Unified School District
  • Dr. Tracy Smith Superintendent. Rincon Valley Union School District
  • Linda Irving, Superintendent, Sebastopol Union School District
  • Steve Hospodar, Superintendent, Wilmar Union School District
  • Chris Meredith, Superintendent, West Sonoma County Union High
  • Nate Myers, Superintendent, Kenwood
  • Dr. Anna-Maria Guzman, Superintendent Twin Hills Union
  • Chris Vanden Heuvel, Superintendent, Healdsburg Unified School
  • Ed Navarro, Superintendent, Monte Rio Union School District
  • Mike Gardner, Superintendent, Waugh School District
  • Adam Schaible, Superintendent, Wright Elementary School District
  • Rima Meechan, Superintendent, West Side Union School District
  • Deborah Bertolucci, Superintendent, Geyserville Unified
  • Dr. Steve Charbonneau, Superintendent Piner-Olivet
  • Kristina Arcuri, former Superintendent, Cinnabar
  • Dr. Gail Ahlas, Superintendent, Roseland Public Schools, retired
  • Jeff Harding, Superintendent, Healdsburg Unified, retired
  • Dr. Marilyn P. Kelly, Superintendent, SVUSD, retired
  • Dana Pedersen, Superintendent Guerneville, retired
  • Casey D'Angelo, Superintendent Rincon Valley, retired
  • Dr. David Alexander, Superintendent Bellevue Union, retired

We demand that these elected SCOE leaders truly represent the community and help us create the school our students and educators deserve.  Sonoma County wines and food are world-class.  We demand that our County schools also be world-class!

We demand that SCOE use its great financial resources to help Sonoma County districts by providing:

• More special education services for our students in the County by reducing SCOE’s fees and thus making expansion of SCOE services an affordable option to our school districts;
• Increased nursing, school psychology, and counseling services for our students in the County;
• Meaningful oversight of the districts’ budgets and Local Control Planning and Accountability Plans (LCAPs);
• Financial services to districts so every single district in the County does not need to hire a highly paid Chief Business Officer, which takes money away from the classroom;
• Leadership in advocating for higher than statewide average pay for educators and staff given the incredibly high cost of living in Sonoma County.  This advocacy includes stopping the misguided SCOE effort to build subsidized housing for only a few educators for only a few years.  SCOE must lead the push to pay all our educators in the County a fair wage so they can purchase their own homes, pay their rent and focus on our children;
• Relevant professional development for educators at no charge to all district so they can help further our students’ education and support our educators in the midst of this catastrophic educator shortage;
• Support for Career and Technical Education (CTE) by creating a robust countywide CTE that understands the vital importance of a relevant, high quality, and well-funded CTE program for our students in Sonoma County;
• Leadership to create an effective countywide substitute teacher pool;
• A countywide workforce development plan that will recruit more educators, including diverse educators, into the profession;
• Advocacy to change the way School and College Legal Services attorneys are paid and not incentivize more billable hours for higher pay (often fighting educators); and
• A SCOE budget that leads the County by example and spends today’s dollars on today’s students!

For more information, contact the Sonoma County Educators Council at: efernandez@cta.org.