When Bill Sandke finished up eight years serving as Coronado City Council Member in January of 2023, he got a little restless. He missed the job, he missed the action and he missed the responsibility.
Until he thought of another way to serve: he would run for Coronado School Board.
“When I started thinking about joining the school board, the more I thought about it, the happier I got,” said Sandke. “My insides were starting to feel good and it seemed like a fulfilling opportunity.”
Not only did Sandke grow up in the Coronado community and graduate Coronado High School in 1982, his two children are proud CHS graduates. His son is in graduate school and his daughter is working as a data analyst, both finding success on the East Coast.
“I think I have a deep understanding of our community as a whole, but also our Coronado school system,” said Sandke. “I have familiarity of the district from both the student and parent side, as well as having worked on a few projects as a council member in partnership with the school district.”
And this isn’t his first school board, in case you were wondering. Sandke also served on the board with Christ Church Day School, which he proudly shares has just added a new seventh grade class to its offerings.
But he says it was his experience as city council member that gave him a lot of insight into Coronado Unified School District’s biggest hurdle: the budget. District representatives say CUSD should become a Basic Aid district in 2027, whereby it will be fully-funded by local property taxes. But until then, CUSD is facing a deficit.
“The district has been operating with its hands tied behind its back for years, because of the state’s funding formula,” said Sandke. “But we did the best with what we could.”
In fact, Sandke says he was part of the group that made the return to Basic Aid possible. He, along with other council members and then city manager Blair King, worked with city’s financial and legal team to accelerate the repayment of bonds that were leftover from redevelopment. This enables the district to return to Basic Aid faster, according to Sandke.
“The district is now dipping into the reserves, but overall, I think the financial future looks bright,” he said.
Sandke acknowledges that teacher negotiations have been a sticky subject, but working through labor negotiations with city employees in police, fire, and clerical positions has given him some perspective. When the district makes it to Basic Aid, he hopes that the additional funding be spread around to meet the needs of the district and that the teachers be properly compensated.
Another issue Sandke is eager to address is the use of Artificial Intelligence in an educational setting.
“It’s changing our lives in every facet,” said Sandke. “I think that’s going to be a critical part of schools going forward. I mean, I come from a generation of Cliff’s Notes, so that’s really fascinating.”
Sandke says that he’s proud to see the district’s number of AP classes and high graduation statistics, although he hopes to see more vocational-oriented classes for kids who aren’t headed to four-year colleges.
And he’s a big fan of Coronado School of the Arts (CoSA). He credits CoSA’s educators and multi-disciplinary approach for the program’s success, and appreciates the school allows off-island students to apply and attend, bringing in more diversity.
Sandke also loves hearing from the public. He said this came as a big surprise; he thought it could be challenging to have people stop and ask him about City Hall around town.
“What I learned about myself is that being able to help people understand government—for example, the sewage issue—or if someone asks me about Basic Aid and I’m able to share that with them, then they understand a little better how government works,” said Sandke.
He says he takes public input very seriously, and that they should get to engage in the process in a meaningful way. And he’s learned in his positions on City Council and with Christ Church that it’s absolutely imperative to work collaboratively if you want to get things done.
“You can’t say enough about the personal joy of working with a collaborative group of community leaders who are striving for the same goal,” said Sandke. “Whether it be a successful agenda item or a community initiative, I would hope that a collegial atmosphere continue to exist, should I join the school board.”
Sandke acknowledges that the political climate can be tricky, and he’s witnessed some stormy waters at City Council and school board meetings. But overall, he says, things have gotten much calmer. He’s happy about this; he says that partisan politics aren’t good for the community.
“The office is nonpartisan to start with,” said Sandke. “It seems like the education of children has, over the last decade, become a location for culture wars. I don’t think these wars should be fought in a school board room.”
Sandke says that Coronado’s public schools are a vital part of the community, and that serving as trustee on the school board would honor the Coronado educators that have done so much for him in the past. He says he’s still close with former teachers like Maureen McGrath, Kris McClung, and Bill Seager, and is grateful for their decades-long friendships.
Serving as school board trustee will also help him keep a promise he made to his mom. He says when he was running for city council in 2014, his mom was ailing. But she had something important to say.
“She looked at me very seriously, and said, ‘don’t mess up the schools,’” said Sandke. “In a funny way, now I have a chance to keep my promise to my mom.”
