Open letter to Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Education and Superintendent Dr. Carmen Garcia:
I am writing to you as President and on behalf of the South County Democratic Club pursuant to a discussion and vote taken by the club membership at our recent July 2024 regular meeting.
Our Democratic Club obviously believes passionately in voting. That said, there have been numerous times when elected officials in various local positions resign due to relocations, health and other issues. California’s laws about how school districts, cities and special agencies deal with these vacancies guide the process.
Given the facts and circumstances Morgan Hill Unified faced regarding Trustee Terri Knudsen’s pending vacancy there were two legally available options.
One, the board members had the option to appoint a qualified applicant after a thorough public interview process; or two, the board could have called for a special election at the next available election date.
Since the next legally available date is March 2025, that would mean the district would have to calendar the special election during a year in which there are no scheduled local or statewide elections.
One very rarely sees such special elections in Santa Clara County because the cost of doing so is exorbitant. Our understanding is that the preliminary cost estimate from the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters ranges from $500,000 to $2 million.
We must note that one of the trustees offered the example of Milpitas Unified’s last special election at a cost of $80,000-$105,000 as a reason why the recent estimate sounded unreasonable. Once one realizes that Milpitas example was in March of an even numbered year when many regularly scheduled elections, including primaries for governor and county supervisor appear, then it becomes clear that the Milpitas example is irrelevant to Morgan Hill’s current situation.
Therefore, we applaud the board’s July decision to move forward with a provisional appointment, and we hope that those who have threatened a signature gathering campaign to overturn any such appointment will reconsider such a costly move given the district’s current budget deficit.
Furthermore, we find it ironic that those same people who advocate to overturn the provisional appointment have been highly critical of the district’s recent spending decisions.
In closing, local appointments to replace those who are no longer able to serve as elected officials are both common and consistent with representative democracy. There are numerous decisions local elected officials are empowered to make under California law and this is one of them.
We have confidence that well-qualified, eligible people will apply and that the remaining trustees will make a thoughtful, wise and public choice from these applications and therefore avoid a costly special election.
Joanne Fierro
President, South County Democratic Club
