Improving Oversight, Accountability, and Fiscal Responsibility (Section 9 of 9)
See the complete California Policy Center report For the Kids: California Voters Must Become Wary of Borrowing Billions More from Wealthy Investors for Educational Construction (complete, printable PDF Version, 4 MB, 361 pages)
Links to all sections of this study readable online:
Executive Summary: “For the Kids” – Comprehensive Review of California School Bonds (1 of 9)
More Borrowing for California Educational Construction in 2016 (2 of 9)
Quantifying and Explaining California’s Educational Construction Debt (3 of 9)
How California School and College Districts Acquire and Manage Debt (4 of 9)
Capital Appreciation Bonds: Disturbing Repayment Terms (5 of 9)
Tricks of the Trade: Questionable Behavior with Bonds (6 of 9)
The System Is Skewed to Pass Bond Measures (7 of 9)
More Trouble with Bond Finance for Educational Construction (8 of 9)
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Guide to all Tables and Appendices – Comprehensive Reference for Researchers
Improving Oversight, Accountability, and Fiscal Responsibility
To help fix the many deficiencies identified in this report concerning school construction finance, the California legislature and the executive branch are urged to adopt 23 specific recommendations organized into these five goals:
Adoption of these 23 recommendations will help California voters to become more wary of borrowing billions more from wealthy investors for educational construction. Future generations will benefit when these five visions are advanced:
The introduction to a 2009 California Little Hoover Commission report entitled Bond Spending: Expanding and Enhancing Oversight claimed that government “must earn Californians’ confidence by demonstrating that it is providing oversight and accountability for the dollars put in their trust and delivering the promised value once a project is completed. Such confidence will be critical to the success of any future bond proposals.”
This warning was not heeded and the prediction was wrong. Oversight and accountability has not measurably improved, but Californians continue to vote for state and local bond measures.
The California Policy Center rejects the idea that additional oversight and accountability isn’t needed or desirable. Some legislative reforms and education programs (both public and private) can overcome voter cynicism, frustration, apathy, and ignorance. The following charts provide 23 recommendations for adoption by the California legislature, California executive branch agencies, and California local officials such as county treasurers.
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