This much is clear: At least one new person will join the Santa Barbara School Board this November.
But will an entrenched incumbent hold on to her seat?
A recent forum put on the Coalition of Neighborhood Schools shined a light on four candidates for two open seats on the board of trustees.
Rose Munoz, who has served eight years on the board, is running for a third term in Trustee Area 4. She faces a formidable challenge from Valerie Amparan. Kevin Thomas Guay is also running in this area, but was not present at the debate.
In Trustee Area 1, longtime community activist Jacqueline Inda Karlsen is competing against Mark Philibosian, to replace Gabe Escobedo, who is leaving the school district after one term to run for Santa Barbara City Council.
The candidates offered their views on issues such as test scores, the $10 million budget deficit and outdated facilities at Tuesday’s forum at the Santa Barbara High School Library.
The event was moderated by Alice Post, the head of Coalition for Neighborhood Schools, and former Santa Barbara City Councilman Brian Barnwell, but members of the audience were also allowed to ask questions.
Area 4: Munoz vs. Amparan
Munoz pointed to her eight-year-record on the school board. She prided herself and fellow board members for getting the Armory ready to be up and running for career technical education.
Amparan, whose children go to Santa Barbara Charter School, demonstrated a command on issues plaguing the district despite being a newcomer to public education, telling attendees that she toured schools in the district and met with teachers. She touted her sales and nonprofit experience.
While answering moderator and crowd questions, Munoz often kept her responses simple and deferred to work the district has already done.
On a question about how the candidate would strengthen partnerships with local foundations, Munoz replied she would “meet for coffee.”
Amparan said the board needs to “open up our doors to be more collaborative, understand where the needs are and where donors value their hard-earned money.”
One attendee asked in Spanish about what candidates would do about improving results for Latino students with English as a second language.
Munoz said, “We would need to look at the curriculum that they have, and is there a better curriculum for them?”
Amparan responded, briefly in Spanish, that the district already has a successful model for multilingual students at Adelante Charter School that can be expanded to others. At Adelante, students are immersed in a 90% Spanish, 10% English curriculum.
“Once they graduate, they have two languages under their belts with advancement in their curriculum so they’re not getting left behind,” Amparan said.
When asked about opinions on Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) and honors classes, Munoz said she has equity concerns and would like to study it more at a board study session before forming a concrete opinion.
Amparan said she was in GATE as a child and benefitted from it and that those programs offer an extra push for students who are ready for it.
“We of course have to consider the children who are underachieving, but we manage all children,” Amparan said. “And for children who are overachieving and need to be pushed, what are we doing for them?”
Area one: Philibosian vs. Karlsen
Philibosian, also a newcomer to education, brought a sense of urgency on hot-button issues, namely test scores and the budget deficit. He said his experience managing budgets would help the district manage theirs.
Karlsen, Philibosian’s opponent, portrayed herself as deeply embedded in the community and local schools as a long-time activist. She said she’d be an advocate for equity in public education. She has run unsuccessfully for the school board in the past.
Karlsen said she founded the city’s Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, spoke passionately about equity and upgrading facilities for schools. She pointed to Adelante Charter School, which does not have a playground, science or tech lab, she said.
Additionally, she said she would push the board to create more collaboration with the city, such as its city administrator and youth council, as well as local foundations to help the district address challenges.
She said that district Superintendent Hilda Maldonado has created a silo preventing the school district from collaborating with other public agencies.
Throughout the night, the activist distinguished herself from Philibosian as someone with experience.
Karlsen added she has very different values from Philibosian, claiming he is conservative.
Philibosian told the News-Press he changed his party registration from “Republican” to “No Party Preference” this year before he filed to run for school board. He said “a lot of things on the federal level have been frustrating to me on both sides.”
He added that he was not seeking endorsements from political parties because the school board race is non-partisan and that endorsements don’t necessarily translate to results.
“I’m a Santa Barbara-guy focused on Santa Barbara issues,” Philibosian said.
Philibosian, a certified financial analyst, flexed his finance muscles throughout the debate and repeatedly urged the need for the board to fix the $10 million budget deficit.
He emphasized the need to spend its grants in a timely manner, pointing to untapped Prop. 28 funding for arts education and teachers’ frustration as a result.
“Oftentimes when you take a look at the board meetings, the most vocal speakers are often the music and the art teachers,” Philibosian said. “And it’s because they’re wondering, where are our funds?”
The same logic, Philibosian said, is applicable for addressing declining enrollment at some schools.
The district, he said, should invest more money into schools that are seeing higher drops in enrollment, such as Santa Barbara High, by creating successful programs that would encourage parents to send their children there. He named the success of Dos Pueblos High School’s engineering academy as an example.
On a question about how increased state funds per student due to declining enrollment should be diverted to arts, Philibosian said the district doesn’t have enough money to be spending per student because of the deficit. But once the budget is balanced, he said he would focus on arts education in elementary schools.
