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The Charter Oak Unified School District is asking voters to approve Measure S, a property tax increase to fund $75 million in renovation and repair projects.
Many of the district’s schools are more than 60 years old, said Emily Hernandez, a spokesperson for the Charter Oak Unified School District.
“Aging facilities are increasingly impacting students and classrooms,” Hernandez said. For example, she said deteriorating pipes have caused sewage backups; gas and water leaks and leaky roofs damaged 45 classrooms.
Understanding Measure S
The Charter Oak Unified School District serves about 4,200 students across 11 schools in the San Gabriel Valley..
In California, there’s no dedicated stream of funding to support the upkeep of the 10,000 public K-12 schools attended by 5.7 million students. The majority of the money schools receive from the state every year supports students, staff salaries and other day-to-day expenses. And if you’re wondering, “Wasn’t the lottery supposed to fund schools?” well, it does contribute money to public education, but the amount given to schools has stagnated.
Instead, school districts often rely on voters to approve statewide and local bonds to pay for repairs, renovations and new construction.
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A local bond is basically a loan a school district takes out, and property owners in that district pay it back through property taxes. The district estimates Measure S would cost property owners who live within the school district's boundaries an average of $40 per $100,000 of assessed value.
At least 55% of voters need to approve Measure S for it to pass.
The district's top priorities
The district told LAist its top three priorities for bond funding are:
- Student success.
- Safety and security.
- Modernizing aging schools.
“Measure S would support student success by improving learning environments and preparing students for college and high-demand careers, including health sciences, robotics, engineering and the skilled trades,” Hernandez said.
The district passed a bond, Measure CO, in 2012. The district used part of the $47 million bond to build a high school aquatic center and to upgrade classroom technology and infrastructure.
The district also equipped elementary school libraries with modern technology to create “learning resource centers,” Hernandez said.
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The Bellflower school district is asking voters to approve a $135 million bond to pay for renovations and repairs through increased property taxes. -
The city of L.A. wants to double the baseline budget for the city’s parks department over the next decade, without raising taxes. -
The Claremont Unified School District is asking voters to approve a $77 million bond through property taxes.
Another school bond?
Haven’t California voters approved a lot of money for school construction recently? Yes. In 2024, California voters passed a statewide school facilities bond that designated $8.5 billion for K-12 campus repairs, renovations and construction.
This money is typically available to schools through matching grants — districts must commit local dollars, often from a bond, to a project before getting money from the state.
Pent-up demand for school repair dollars was so high that schools had already submitted enough project applications to max out the funding set aside for school repairs by the time voters went to the polls in November 2024. There is still funding available for new construction, though demand for this type of funding has declined as districts build fewer schools amid widespread declining enrollment.
How school bond spending works
While ballot measure language identifies projects that could benefit from improvements, those lists are not a guarantee of which projects will be funded.
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There are often years of community meetings, design, permitting and construction between the passage of a bond and the completion of major renovations, though minor upgrades could be completed sooner.
Districts cannot spend bond money on employee salaries and are required to commission independent audits of bond spending.
Calculate the effect of this measure on your property taxes
- Find your property’s assessed value on the L.A. County Assessor’s website.
- Divide your assessed value by $100,000, then multiply the result by $40.
- The resulting number is the estimate of the annual property tax increase.
- Remember: Your property’s assessed value will change, but increases are limited to 2% per year, except when a property changes ownership or undergoes new construction.
- Rent? It’s possible that landlords pass increased property taxes on to tenants, but the limits on annual rent hikes depend on where you live.
Who is in charge of all this money?
A school district’s elected board often votes to approve large expenditures such as construction projects.
However, districts must also create an independent committee to oversee bond spending that includes representatives of the business community, taxpayers and parents. School district employees, vendors, contractors and consultants cannot be appointed.
Once established, you should be able to see bond oversight committee agendas, summaries of past meetings, audits and other information about how the district has spent bond funding.
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The district is also required to commission independent annual audits of bond-funded projects and spending.
Arguments for and against school bonds
Supporters say
Research links higher student achievement to better quality schools — it’s easier to learn in clean, climate-controlled, well-lit classrooms.
Many of California's schools were built decades ago. Though there is limited data on the condition of school facilities statewide, research suggests nearly a third of K-12 students attend schools that do not meet the minimum standard to be considered clean, safe and functional.
If a bond measure fails, the need for money to fund school repairs will remain.
“It's like a car, once you let it deteriorate past a certain point, it becomes very expensive to maintain,” said Sara Hinkley, a researcher at the Center for Cities + Schools at UC Berkeley. “It's not necessarily cheaper not to pass a bond and to just keep calling contractors out to fix your HVAC every time it fails.”
Critics say
Critics of bonds may say the cost to property owners is too high and question why school districts with declining enrollment need money for construction when they’re serving fewer students.
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association is a frequent opponent of state and local school bonds. The nonprofit is dedicated to upholding Proposition 13, the 1978 constitutional amendment that limited changes to California property taxes.
“We think bond financing has its place, but it should be judicious because it raises property taxes at the local level,” said Susan Shelley, the group’s vice president of communications.
The group has not taken a position on specific local bonds in the 2026 general election.
Shelley said voters weighing school bonds should carefully consider how the school spent previous bond funding and the plans for future projects.
“You should have confidence that the priorities are right,” Shelley said. “And if they're not, say no and make [the district] come back to you with a better plan.”
Arguments for and against Measure S
The Charter Oak PTA Council, the Covina Police Officers Association, the Charter Oak Education Foundation and the school board president are among those who submitted an argument in favor of the bond to the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder.
No individual or group submitted an argument opposing Measure S to the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder.
Further reading
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