I was stunned at a recent 3rd District Supervisor candidate forum to see the heartless Joan Hartmann once again deny that the recent pipeline break doesn’t harm our local schools’ funding. She claimed oil revenues make up “only” 2 percent of a $700 million county budget. That’s $14 million every year, until the pipeline is fixed! Much of which goes to schools in Goleta, Gaviota, and Santa Ynez. A search of recent school board agenda minutes shows Santa Ynez has already sent pink slips to several teachers, and Gaviota is furiously trying to raise private funding to save its preschool program. Sue the pipeline company? Sure, that will happen … but will take years. And teachers need to be paid NOW. And next year. And the next year after that. Hartmann is totally unwilling to acknowledge that there is an issue. Is her extremist hatred of oil so extreme that she will sacrifice the education of our children? Who could ever trust such a person to be an elected official of our county?
This article appears in Apr 14-21, 2016.