Where School Spending is the Priority -- Not Schools!

Each year, the California Department of Education is heavily lobbied by an organization known as the Coalition for Adequate School Housing (affectionately known as C.A.S.H., or simply "cash" by its membership).

The members of this private lobbying group are school districts and the school employees that deal with facility matters throughout California. The group also invites contractors, architects, environmental firms, geologists, lawyers, and others involved in construction of public schools to join. The average membership fee is just over $500 per year per individual or organization.

The State of California barely keeps an eye on such lobbying groups. However, State records show that C.A.S.H. reports lobbying two departments of state government, the Office of Public School Construction (OPSC) being one of them. They spend about $0.5 million per year on such activities. A lot of this money originates from public agencies and public agency employees.

The obvious question one might ask is why a public agency such as a school district would spend money to lobby a department of state government such as CDE/OPSC? Assuming that departments merely implement policy established by the Legislature, this seems improper. But apparently, it is not illegal even if it should be.

What does C.A.S.H. have to do with CUSD and San Juan Hills High School?

Among other things, Dave Doomey, former Deputy Superintendent in charge Facilities, was the President of C.A.S.H. during the period when SJHHS was developed. The membership of the C.A.S.H. included all of CUSD's lawyers, engineers, architects, construction companies, and environmental firms. While C.A.S.H. does not publish its membership list (it is available to members only), one can infer these memberships from the various presentations made at C.A.S.H. conferences involving the employees of these companies.

Even today, CUSD's law firm, Bergman & Dacey, is a member of C.A.S.H. The Planning Center, responsible for preparation of the new Pipeline Safety Hazard Analysis is also a member (as was Wilson Geotechnical, authors of the original defective analysis).

If you don't think that the C.A.S.H. affiliation has some influence over the work and decisions of the members, just consider the following presentation made at a recent C.A.S.H. conference. The author of this presentation was responsible for the original review of the SJHHS site application!