What Kit Bobko Can Do For The Hermosa Beach Schools

Let me give you the punchline first. If Kit Bobko can solve the fiscal problems of the Hermosa Beach City School District, he will be a local hero. He will also show himself to be pro-education, and a roll-up-his-sleeves problem solver.

You can argue that it is not his job. I would counter that it is not my job to write about the subject, nor is it Russ Wilson's job to advocate for the Hermosa Beach schools on his blog Save Hermosa Schools.  It is not politicians' jobs to kiss babies, but they spend a ton of time doing that. The point is that it is a big fat emotionally loaded subject that brings together fiscal policy, taxing and spending, the vague notion of education, and the specific picture of happy children and parents. So what is and isn't his job is of no relevance. His town and current constituency needs this problem solved, and he can earn plenty of praise and positive comments when the press comes to Small Town Hermosa to ask the residents how they feel about their home town boy.

The brilliant State of California makes it very difficult to fund schools except in very specific ways. It is my understanding that the three options are:

1. A Sales Tax which must be passed at the county level, which sounds almost impossible;
2. A Parcel Tax - this would come to a few hundred dollars per parcel for 5 to 10 years - small peanuts if your mortgage is $3000 to $15,000 per year;
3. Donations

So if Kit Bobko wants to show his ability to help his constituency, and his ability to loosen the purse strings of big money donors which is essential in any run for high office, then getting some big private and corporate donors to kick in $5 million to permanently fix the Hermosa Beach City School District budget would accomplish both of those goals. Make it $10 million and I will start a relentless campaign to have a sports field or some kind of school facility or maybe an entire school named after Kit Bobko. That would certainly provide some positive press coverage for a budding United States Congressman.

Hermosa Beach City Council
Peter Tucker           Mayor                         peter@electpetertucker.com
Howard Fishman    Mayor Pro Tempore  kkfish@earthlink.net
Jeff Duclos             Councilmember         jeff@jeffduclos.com
Patrick "Kit" Bobko Councilmember         kit.bobko@gmail.com
Michael DiVirgilio    Councilmember         mdivir@gmail.com

Councilmembers' phone number (310) 318-0216
Councilmembers' fax number (310) 372-6186

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