Grand Jury: Santa Cruz City Schools oversight committee overlooking taxpayer dollars

The Santa Cruz County Grand Jury said the Parcel Tax Oversight Committee for Santa Cruz City Schools was not adequately monitoring how the district spent the tax money from the various measures passed by voters since its inception.

On Thursday, the Grand Jury stated the committee created in 2006 by the Board of Education, has failed at fulfilling its obligation to the community.

Grand Jury members said the committee was created to manage funds aimed at retaining quality teachers, art and music programs, career counseling, at-risk counseling, better library services, special education upgrades and class size reduction.

On Thursday, the school district responded to the Grand Jury report stating its reviewing the findings and the recommendations in the report. The district said it moved to correct many of the concerns stated in the report.

The announcement also states the committee barely held meetings and sometimes missed a full year’s worth. Grand Jury members also found the committee was not reporting to the school board or the public and failed to provide consistent reports on where money was being spent.

Superintendent Kris Munro said her new administrative team is ensuring the committee follows all Brown Act guidelines and that procedures and information are easily accessible to the public.

Munro also stated the district’s preliminary review of parcel tax spending shows the money was spent the way it was intended.

Click here to view the full report: http://www.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/Portals/0/County/GrandJury/GJ2015_final/ParcelTaxOversight.pdf