Oceanside Unified has long been known for poor academic performance, policies that make it difficult for parents to have input, and decisions that prioritize spending on their own compensation rather than the actual education of kids.
In the past few years, they’ve stopped live-streaming meetings, moved meeting times to make them less convenient for working parents to attend, restricted the ability of people to comment, focused on putting questionable material in its libraries, dabbled in politics, and chosen to spend millions on the pay and benefits of well-paid employees. All while failing miserably at educating kids.
And immediately before the 2024 election, we saw them attempt to tilt the tables toward their favored board members – members they can reliably count on to agree with whatever they want to do, no matter whether that helps educate kids or not.
Dissent is rare; every decision is unanimous on this board, even as the district continues to lose enrollment, with parents deciding their kids might be better educated elsewhere. Their most recent budget projected a loss of almost 600 kids over the next year.
Fortunately, we have the Fair Political Practices Commission to keep an eye on such things. In October 2024, I filed a complaint against Oceanside Unified for violating laws that prohibit public agencies from spending tax dollars to promote their preferred candidates.
Last Thursday, I appeared before the FPPC to discuss this, and they ruled that Oceanside Unified had most certainly violated the law and issued a $4,000 fine.
A great win for the parents of kids in Oceanside!
Now, $4,000 is a picayune fine for a business projecting $273 million in revenue this year, but, as they say, “It’s the thought that counts.” And here, that thought is clear – in its zeal to ensure it had a compliant rubber-stamp board, Oceanside Unified acted illegally.
Will they learn anything from this? Probably not.
The fine is a rounding error in their financials. They will likely do what they always do when they need more money: take it from funding that would normally be used to educate our kids. This will not prompt them to move board meetings and public comment back to a time convenient for parents, to start live-streaming meetings again, to improve education rather than spending time and money on social issues, or – heaven forfend – to spend our money improving education rather than improving their own pay and benefits.
But the message is clear. Hopefully, parents will remember that message in 2026 and vote for board members who care more about our kids’ education than about doing whatever the district wants for themselves.
Can we do that? Time will undoubtedly tell.
Todd Maddison is a founding member of the Parent Association and San Diego Schools advocacy groups, a longtime activist in improving K-12 education, and the Director of Research for Transparent California.
*The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the newspaper, its editors or staff.
