Both Sides Claim Win Over Ballot to Recall Orange Trustees

Two advisory measures on a ballot to recall three Orange school trustees will be reworded to remove language that recall supporters argued was designed to deflect the vote.

Encouraged by Superior Court Judge Francisco Firmat on Monday to accept his suggested rewording of the measures, attorneys for the school district and the Orange Recall Committee agreed to reword the measures that will appear on the June 26 ballot. The advisory measures will now read:

* Do you agree that teachers’ salaries should be increased so long as there is no increase in property taxes?

* Do you agree that a “back to basics” approach is better than a “whole language/integrated math” approach?

As originally worded, the advisory measures credited the school board with increasing teachers’ salaries without increasing property taxes, and with increasing test scores through a basics approach.

Both sides in the dispute claimed victory in the agreement to reword the measures.

Five of the seven school board members voted to include the measures on the recall ballot when it set the date for the special recall election of board members Linda Davis, Maureen Aschoff and Martin Jacobson.

Kimberlee Nichols, an Orange Unified School District parent, and the Orange Recall Committee filed a writ of mandate seeking the removal of the measures, which they considered misleading, partisan statements designed to influence voters not to recall the three board members.

“We’re thrilled that these measures have been removed from the ballot,” said Pamela Moore, the attorney for Nichols and the recall committee. “The [reworded] advisory measures are going to be true advisory measures that are not partisan. I feel this is a real victory for us today.”

“I’m extremely pleased,” said Nichols. “It’s unfortunate we have to do this in a court of law.”

Mark Bucher, attorney for the district, called the settlement a win for the district.

“It’s a huge win,” said Bucher. “The district put the measures on the ballot to allow the voters to express their views on tax increases, teacher salaries and back-to-basics instruction. The measures are still on the ballot as desired by the school district.”

Because the recall committee is supporting the reworded advisory measures, none of the committee’s opposition arguments will appear in an informational pamphlet that will be sent to voters.

In addition, the judge ordered the removal of two sentences in the recall petition, which will appear in the voter pamphlet. Deleted were references that the district’s teachers don’t have a contract and that teachers are leaving the district, causing test scores to drop and property values to decline.

Although the recall committee was under the impression that the advisory measures would come before the recall questions on the ballot, counsel for the Registrar of Voters told the court Monday that the three recall questions will come before the advisory measures.