Bad news for California school repairs: nearly half of bond measures on track to fail

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Last week’s election was full of surprises, especially for California school districts seeking to fix leaking roofs and broken air conditioners.

Although election officials are still counting votes in many parts of the state, the preliminary results show that nearly half the school bonds on California ballots are failing.

“It’s a shocking outcome,” said Sara Hinkley, director of policy and research at UC Berkeley’s Center for Cities and Schools. “This leaves some school districts with very few options. I’m sure they’re sweating.”

Eighty-six school districts put bonds seeking to do school repairs and modernization on last week’s ballot, totaling $12.4 billion, a relatively low amount of money compared to other big election years. Two years ago, school bonds totaled almost four times that and most of them passed.

As of late Tuesday, 50 bonds had either passed or were leading, with the rest failing. Bonds need 55% to pass.

Painful cuts

School district officials blamed the shaky economy.

“Everyone wants what is best for the kids, but when gas, groceries and utilities are cutting into people's budget, they have to find places to save,” said Mays Kakish, superintendent of Beaumont Unified School District near Banning in the Inland Empire. “In the short term, this loss of funding will be painful.”

Beaumont, one of the few districts in California where enrollment is increasing, desperately needs the $86 million the bond would have brought in. Last year, its schools had 138 roof leaks, district spokesman Thomas Guzowski said. In addition, the district needs to replace 81 portable classrooms.

A 2024 state bond — Proposition 2 — that provided $10 billion for school construction, is an alternative source of money for some school districts. But districts need to provide matching funds to get Prop. 2 money, and if the bond fails Beaumont will not qualify, Guzowski said.

Regardless, most of the Prop. 2 money set aside for school repairs is already spoken for. There’s still money available for new construction projects and emergencies, but there’s a long waiting list for the remaining money to fix leaky roofs or make other maintenance repairs.

Rich get richer

John Affeldt, managing attorney at the public interest law firm Public Advocates, said he wasn’t surprised at the outcome of the school bond elections. Many bonds in wealthier areas like the Bay Area and Orange County tend to be for more money and usually pass, enabling those districts to get Prop. 2 money using matching funds. Bonds in lower-income areas, meanwhile, tend to be for less money and fail.

“Those who have more, get more,” Affeldt said. “It’s an unfair system, and part of a long pattern of the state’s failed system of financing facilities.”

Affeldt’s firm sued the state over the alleged inequities in Prop. 2 and is awaiting a judge’s decision on whether to grant the state’s request to throw out the case. Earlier this year, a judge denied the plaintiffs’ request for an injunction but said they had a “reasonable chance of succeeding” on at least part of the case.

Windfall in San Diego

San Diego Unified is on the other end of the school bond fortunes. Voters said “yes” to its $3.4 billion bond, the largest in California, ushering in a windfall for swimming pools, new performing arts venues, staff housing, new air conditioners, security systems and other upgrades. Homeowners will pay an average of $294 a year.

“It was a great night. I’m still on a high,” said school board vice president Sabrina Bazzo. “This means that all students in our district — not just those in wealthy neighborhoods — will get access to high-quality facilities.”

Basso attributed the bond’s success to plenty of community support. Labor unions threw their weight behind the measure, in part because the district agreed to hire local union workers for much of the work, Bazzo said. Even the local taxpayers association supported the bond, largely because it wasn’t a new tax; it replaced a previous bond from 2022.

Repair and replace

Visalia Unified near Fresno doesn’t look to be so lucky. Its bid for a $158 million bond is trailing and expected to lose.

“The economy is challenging right now for a lot of folks,” said Superintendent Kirk Shrum. “I’m disappointed, thinking about what we could have done — upgraded bathrooms, new furniture — and now we have to wait.”

More than 70% of the district’s buildings are 50 years old or older, and are in dire need of repairs, Shrum said. A few years ago, the district assessed the condition of its buildings and the total for repairs came to $600 million. That seemed too high for a bond, so the district went with $158 million, the amount needed for only the most urgent projects.

Without the bond money, the district will shift funds around to pay for repairs when needed, but “we’ll never be able to get ahead of it,” Shrum said.

“You get stuck in a cycle of replace and repair when things break,” Shrum said. “But you can patch a roof only so many times.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.