Brown Act allegation filed against CUSD board
The complaint alleges the board violated the act to reduce reserves from 5% to 3% without proper public notice; the board approves districtwide electrification
CARLSBAD—The Carlsbad Unified School District Board of Trustees is under scrutiny due to an alleged Brown Act violation and violating a board policy.
The violation was filed by Jen Belnap, who ran for school board last year, on Dec. 21, 2024, after the board’s Dec. 18 alleging the violation of the Brown Act and board policy. During the Dec. 18 meeting, CUSD Board President Kathy Rallings called for a vote via raising a thumb to reduce the district’s Economic Uncertainties reserve account from 5% to 3% and allocating more than $6.6 million into another account.
The board voted to reject the revision to the board policy cutting the reserve account on a 3-2 vote on Wednesday.
However, there appears to be confusion among the board and district regarding if a violation occurred or whether the process was clunky but legal. In response to questions from North County Pipeline, Rallings said the district’s attorney does not believe a Brown Act violation occurred at the December meeting.
The $6.6 million, meanwhile, represents about 40% of the reserve account’s ending balance, according to district records. The account totals $13.9 million, according to the budget.
Rallings and Trustees Michele Ward and Alison Emery voted in favor on Dec. 18, with Gretchen Vurbeff and Laura Siaosi voting no. The trustees gave a thumbs-up, which is often an informal vote to give staff direction. However, on Wednesday Emery joined Vurbeff and Siaosi in voting against amending the board policy.
According to Belnap's complaint, the action violated the board’s policy of maintaining 5% in its reserve account, which was approved in 2015 on a 3-1 vote with Rallings voting no. Belnap alleges the vote on Dec. 18 constitutes a Brown Act violation as the item was not on the agenda or publicly noticed.
The board also approved eliminating all of the Stabilization Arrangement of the committed reserves to a “newly-created LCFF fund for LCAP projects,” which covers a wide variety of spending for a subset of students the board discusses each spring, Vurbeff said.
“The Board was not asked to make any changes to the budget, nor did the agenda include any indication that the Board would be considering amendments to the budget,” Belnap’s complaint reads. “There was similarly no description which indicated that the Board (sic) or District (sic) would be proposing, discussing or taking action to deplete the amount of reserves from 5% to 3% (in violation of Board Policy), transfer any portion of the Committed (sic) budget to other purposes, or create new budget categories.”
In an email response to Belnap’s complaint, CUSD Assistant Superintendent Eric Dill denied the board voted to change and deplete the reserves in the current budget. He said the board approved the First Interim Budget Report and was not amended to change the budget.
However, during Wednesday’s meeting, Dill said an action on information took place in December relating to the reserves but has not been implemented, when asked by Vurbeff. She asked if the board had committed a Brown Act violation, and he said the board must consult an attorney for an interpretation.
Vurbeff said the board should be “curing” the action from December. Emery, Siaosi and Vurbeff voted against the item on Wednesday.
“The lengthy discussion during the agenda item sought consensus to recommend to staff that components of the ending balance be committed and renamed to reflect current board priorities,” Dill wrote in December. “These changes will be brought forward at a subsequent meeting. There was no change to revenue or expenditures, so there was no change to the total amount of the ending balance. The only consideration was to rename and recategorize components of the ending balance.
“Notwithstanding, the discussion that was held during the agenda item was specifically about line-item details contained in the full First Interim Budget Report … and therefore within the scope of the agenda item. For these reasons, we do not consider any actions or discussion … to be in violation of the Brown Act.”
During both meetings, though, staff cautioned the board against cutting the reserves. Staff said the reserves are critical for any unexpected bumps in enrollment, which will add more staff to cover those students, along with other potential expenditures the district may need to cover.
As far as the differing statement, or interpretation from Dill, Vurbeff said she doesn’t think the rest of the board or the staff agree on what happened. She said the board voted to modify the reserves in December, so it should have changed the budget immediately. Instead, the board was told the action won’t be effective until March, which is not what was requested or voted on in December.
“That’s an issue for our legal counsel to decide, but for whatever reason the complaint was not forwarded to our attorney prior to our recent board meeting,” Vurbeff added. “I have inquired but am waiting on a reply. Whether or not it was a technical violation of the Brown Act, the purpose is to provide transparency to the public, and I don’t think that happened at our December meeting.”
Messages were left with the district and the other three trustees but not returned by deadline.
District electrification
The board also approved a resolution, 3-2, to electrify to the entire district on Wednesday.
The resolution requires the district to transition to 100% clean energy by 2025, develop a Career Technical Education to include pathways for clean energy jobs by next school year (and exposing all grades to green careers throughout their education) and phase out all fossil fuels from all district infrastructure (buildings, vehicles, lawn equipment, etc.) by 2035.
However, the district has not conducted a financial analysis on the cost for CUSD to transition to electrify the district.
Normally, resolutions state aspirational goals, so a fiscal analysis wouldn’t be conducted, Vurbeff said. However, she said this resolution had specific requirements to mandate the district switch to certain electrical plans and upgrade all vehicles and buildings to electric, which should have included a financial analysis.
Dill said the district has installed solar panels at eight schools and requires solar panels and battery storage at new facilities with more than 2,000 square feet. The district has electrified some of its schools and replaced gas-fire units with heat pumps, he said. Water consumption is down and lowered its utility costs at Carlsbad High School and have purchased six electric vehicles for the district.
Part of the resolution is also for the district to enroll in the Clean Energy Alliance’s Green Impact tier, where the portfolio is 100% renewable energy. It’s the highest cost of CEA’s three tiers, and in a letter to the board, interim Superintendent Rick Schmitt said the last time the Green Impact tier was explored it would cost $50,000. It’s unclear if the $50,000 is per month or per year as the district did not respond by deadline for clarification.
The trouble, though, is how to certify if the district, or a homeowner or any other business, is actually using 100% clean energy. Former CEA Chief Executive Officer Barbara Boswell told the City Councils in Oceanside and Vista in November 2023 the power provider cannot track clean electricity as the agency buys most of its power from generators in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest.
There has been pushback from some residents, parents and students with the resolution not conducting an analysis.
“The only thing this resolution succeeds in is being vague and unclear with your goal of 100% clean energy,” Sage Creek student Henry Davison said. “Today, you admitted that no analysis was done on the price of total electrification. In this, you claimed there would only be a 2% increase in the electric bill, but neglected to mention the fact the Clean Energy Alliance has raised its rates twice in the past two years due to increasing costs.”
Several other students said they and the district deserve a clean environment and urged the board to pass the resolution. They said it is important for the board to do its part in addressing the climate crisis.
Dill said the district has a proposal out for a new master plan so any future projects meet requirements set by the state so the district can apply for grants. He said there has been some cost savings due to the solar panels and battery storage at Avaiara Oaks middle and elementary schools.
Correction: Henry Davison’s last name was misspelled in a previous version. I regret the error.
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Not surprising, I’m finding a lot of apparent Brown Act violations in City of Carlsbad endeavors as if they don’t even know what that act is.