District needs applicants for bond committees

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT-MESA -- Time is running out for residents to apply to serve on

the committee that will oversee the spending of the $163-million school

bond passed by voters this spring.

Applications for the committee positions are due at the district

office by Sept. 5.

The Newport-Mesa Unified school board established the purpose,

criteria, composition and operations of a two-tiered oversight system.

There will be a 29-member district oversight committee and committees

of seven to 11 members at each school.

These groups will ensure that the funds from the school bond are spent

according to the facility plan released in January.

In February, the district sent out 33,000 letters with return cards to

find Newport-Mesa residents interested in serving on these committees.

The district received 325 responses. It then sent applications to

those people, said Mike Fine, assistant superintendent of business

services.

“Anyone can fill out an application; those 325 were just the ones we

had in our database,” Fine said.

Of those 325, about 30 to 35 residents have returned the applications

already.

Because applicants for most of the positions on the district-level

committee must meet certain criteria, such as being an architect or a

representative of the Orange County Taxpayers Assn., the district’s next

step is to send those applications to the various associations.

For instance, Fine said, Orange County Treasurer John Moorlach would

choose which candidate would serve among those who checked Orange County

Taxpayers Assn.

If all goes according to plan, Fine said, the committee selection

process should be completed by the end of September or the beginning of

October. That means the district oversight committee could begin meeting

as early as October.

The school-based committees will be formed further down the road, Fine

said.