Watch: SB TV Gang Breaks Down Latest on Pipeline, Teacher Pink Slips, Evictions, Library Payoff, Trump Impacts
Big crowd demands school board halt teacher layoffs. as offshore oil foes marshal show of force for state officials. Newsmakers' all-star panel of top local journalists has it all - and more...
A secretive oil company’s bid to reopen the pipeline that triggered the calamitous Refugio spill of 2015 hit an unexpected obstacle this week, as a battalion of state regulators came to town and got an earful from local foes of the project.
Nick Welsh returns to Newsmakers TV, with a full report on Thursday night’s big community mass meeting, which not only featured a crowd of several hundred citizens mostly opposed to Sable Offshore Corp.’s bid to restart the flow of oil, but also officials from eight state agencies - 8, count ‘em, 8 - summoned by state Senator Monique Limon and Assembly member Gregg Hart. Complications ensued.
Callie Fausey and Josh Molina had their own epic public hearing to contend with, as both stayed until the pre-dawn bitter end of a bitter, eight-hour meeting of the Santa Barbara Unified School District board, as students and teachers put trustees on blast over what began as pro forma agenda item involving notices of potential layoffs, but ended amid sharp conflicts over skyrocketing spending on district administrators at a time when school enrollment is shrinking.
Beyond the whos, whats, wheres and whens, the gang dives into the critical how and why questions of both stories, unpacking the policy complexities and the political cross-currents that will shape consequential final decisions on the high-stakes issues.
Plus: Nick digs into that astonishing, half-million dollar severance payout to the ex-city Librarian; Josh dissects the politics behind city council member Kristen Sneddon shutting down colleague Eric Friedman’s stemwinder about the history of landlord-tenant relations; and Callie recounts her heart-breaking interviews with local federal workers canned amid Elon Musk’s budget vigilantism.
All this and more, right here, right now on Newsmakers TV.
Check out the new show via YouTube below, or by clicking through this link. The podcast is available on Spotify, Apple, and other platforms, and on Soundcloud here. TVSB, Channel 17, airs the show every weeknight at 8 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday at 9 a.m. KCSB, 91.9 FM, broadcasts the program at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.
Image: At 2:34 a.m. on Wednesday, SB Independent education writer Callie Fausey, and multimedia journalist Josh Molina were a little giddy, but still competing in coverage of the Santa Barbara Unified School District board meeting, which began at 6 p.m. on Tuesday (Josh Molina photo).
Students and Voters: Check out by school district the excessive number of administrators and their bloated compensation packages. Why have elected SBUSD Trustees allowed Supt Hilda Maldanado to hire so many Los Angeles friends in unnecessary admin positions and cut student instruction? Ask what 833 employees accomplish at the Office of County Education, where many terminated school administrators get kicked upstairs until pension eligible.
The saying goes, “Once you have a government job, you have rights of ownership unlike jobs in the private sector. Lifetime job and pension security.” No investment required, no risks, or comparable uncertainties. Most all of Santa Barbara’s 10 largest employers are government related, with employees dependent on taxpayer revenues. They vote accordingly to save control of their lucrative, powerful fiefdoms. Are you getting your money’s worth?
2023 salaries for Santa Barbara Unified - 2,884 employees
https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2023/school-districts/santa-barbara/santa-barbara-unified/
2023 salaries for Santa Barbara County Office of Education | 833 Employees
https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2023/school-districts/santa-barbara/santa-barbara-county-office-of-education/?page=8
2022 salaries for Hope Elementary
https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2022/school-districts/santa-barbara/hope-elementary-school-district-santa-barbara/
2023 salaries for Goleta | Transparent California
https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2023/goleta/
2022 salaries for Montecito Union Elementary |
https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2022/school-districts/santa-barbara/montecito-union-elementary/
2023 salaries for Cold Spring Elementary https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2023/school-districts/santa-barbara/cold-spring-elementary/
2023 salaries for Santa Barbara City College - 2,045 employees
https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2023/santa-barbara-city-college/
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Nick, Jerry, Josh: Do your homework! Students, parents and taxpayers have rallied before —in the hundreds — to save music and art programs from the ax of bloated, excessive, entitled, and grossly overpaid failed SBUSD Administrators. Have you forgotten 2008, 2012, and countless other meetings where students stayed burning the midnight oil passionately fighting on the front and circulating petitions door to door community wide to save instrumental and music performance? Have you forgotten the Santa Barbara has produced nationally recognized professional musicians, presidential scholars in music, and the first ever national Youth Grammy spotlight winner in jazz! One local was the first ever stand up bass soloist at the Boston Pops viewed on New Years Eve by over 300M viewers internationally! Our music programs are stellar!
Moreover, show me a successful math or STEM student who did not have instrumental music instruction between ages 3 and 11. Proportionately our public designated ‘minority high schools’ get more admitted to elite national universities than any other not as legacy admits but on merit! Music is lifelong.
The end game of Trustee Prez Gabe is housing and career DEM Party escalation; students are inconsequential. The shared goal of Gabe and Trustee Rose Munoz is still another 2026 PARCEL TAX (for music & art) and a BOND MEASURE (for housing via a 55% voter approved school bond).
If voters do not elect more trustees like Celeste, who stand against entitled administrators paid more than the POTUS, there is no hope for students or Santa Barbara.
Our County School Budget is over $1.3B with SBUSD highly funded as well. Spend the money on teachers to instruct students. Stop wasting it!