Alameda school board faces potentially challenging future

Duo happy about win-win Alameda school board vote

By Susan McDonough, Alameda Times Star, November 4, 2004

David Forbes and Bill Schaff will join the local school board as a team. They won two of three open seats on the local school board Tuesday after running an aggressive and somewhat unusual campaign that positioned them as a united force.

But there were times when their joint campaign seemed like it might split.

The local teachers union early on punched a hole in the duo's joint ticket by giving its influential endorsement to Schaff but not to Forbes.

In ensuing weeks, Forbes, the more visible of the two, would win local endorsements Schaff did not.

Even through a good part of election night, the two sweated out early results from absentee voters who favored Forbes and incumbent Bob Reeves over Schaff.

"David was more worried than I was," Schaff, 46, said Wednesday from his office at Bay Isle Financial, the $1.2 billion asset management firm he founded. "He didn't want to go without me."

Final results in Tuesday's school board race gave incumbent Janet Gibson the most votes, followed by Forbes and Schaff.

"If only one of us got elected, it would be tough to affect change," Forbes, 45, said Wednesday.

In the past few months, the two waged an aggressive campaign, sharing campaign materials and high-profile political adviser Larry Tramutola, and delivering identical platforms for better schools and a more proactive school board. At lunch one recent afternoon they even shared the same Subway sandwich.

"David and I can work together," Schaff said that day. "It doesn't mean we always agree."

The two met in 2001 when working on a parcel tax measure that now delivers about $1.8 million annually to local schools. They worked on a successful school construction bond earlier this year, and both served on the superintendent's budget advisory committee.

Their shared experience has built trust, Schaff said. "If you trust someone, you're more likely to trust their judgment."

Superintendent Alan Nishino on Wednesday called Forbes and Schaff "hard workers" who have already done a lot for Alameda schools."

"We are fortunate to have such a strong board in place as we move forward with some very difficult budget decisions," Nishino said by e-mail.

Critics, including local teachers union president Glenda McDowell, have complained the current school board "rubber-stamps" whatever Nishino says.

Forbes and Schaff have promised to find creative funding solutions for schools instead of cutting staff or school programs to balance the budget.

The two mention the Brown Act independently when talking about their plans for the future. The California law prohibits board members from discussing business with the majority of their colleagues either collectively or individually, unless at a public hearing.

"We have to respect the (law)," Schaff said, "but we can still get together for a drink."

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Last modified: November 4, 2004

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