Thank you supporters

Dear Friends,

Thank you for following my web blog and for supporting my grassroots campaign for the school board. I am grateful to those of you who volunteered countless hours of time and passion to help. I am also grateful to the 8,735 people who cast their ballots for me and I am proud to have earned your votes. Our team gave it our all and ran a great campaign! I am especially proud of the youth who helped out and were able to experience Democracy in action. 

I have taught my own kids that win or lose, it is how you play the game that matters. Our team’s good sportsmanship and perseverance made the experience a positive one. After three-months of campaigning, the outcome is mixed. I am disappointed with the results for the school board race as I did not win against the teacher’s union-funded candidate in which they spent $60,000 on running her campaign. However, I am very pleased to report that Measure M, which I opposed and my opponent supported, was defeated. Our team worked hard in San Clemente walking door-to-door and communicating via email and social media to inform voters of the real facts about Measure M that we felt CUSD was not communicating to the public.  We will not be triple-taxed by Measure M, the $1.8 billion tax increase (the largest bond proposed in OC’s history) because it failed to garner 55% required to pass. 

I ran for office with the goal of creating a more student-centered, taxpayer-friendly board leadership at CUSD, which is profoundly needed. After my years of involvement attending meetings, speaking up and remedying community issues for our taxpayers and students, my experiences and knowledge would have been beneficial in making the school district run better and be more responsive to the people it serves.

I remain hopeful and will not stop trying to make a difference in our community. Positive change takes time.

I will leave this page active so I can share relevant information with you from time to time.

Thank you again for your support and encouragement during this journey.

Warm regards,

Laura Ferguson