This may sound like a fairytale: There are no official arguments filed against a proposed bond that could cost local homeowners up to a collective $45 million. But it’s not a fairytale. It’s real politics.
Matt Beecher, assistant superintendent of business services for the Santa Maria-Bonita School District, wrote in an email to the Sun that when the district filed its argument with Santa Maria’s elections office in favor of the school bond, there was an opportunity for opponents to counter the proposal.
“No argument was filed in opposition of Measure T with the elections office,” Beecher wrote.
Measure T is a ballot item set for the Nov. 4 election. Its authors hope it will enable the school district to raise the funds needed to buy the land for and build a much-needed new elementary school, as well as to renovate the district’s existing 19 schools.
If Measure T passes, the district is authorized to increase its debt through the sale of general obligation bonds.
Even though nobody officially filed an argument against the measure, there are still opponents.
William Smith, a district school board member responding to emailed interview questions from Sun, accused the district of wastefully spending state money. He added that the district gave pay raises to administrators and spent money on legal fees to “prove pointless points”—referring to dollars spent on a case for which he’s the focus and that started when he was a teacher with the district.
“I am against Measure T. It is not needed,” Smith said in the email. “The community needs to tell Santa Maria-Bonita to live within its means like the people have to, and focus on getting our 19 failing schools up to state standard rather than trying to tax the public to death when other options to house our student are available.”
So how necessary is an extra $45 million in debt?
That answer depends on voters’ opinions of overcrowded classrooms.
Fourteen of the district’s 19 schools boast more than 800 students each. Eight of those 14 have more than 900 students, and three of those eight have more than 1,000. This translates into a logistical nightmare as far as housing and educating students goes.
Maggie White, the district’s public information officer, said the district is working hard to keep Santa Maria-Bonita classrooms below the state’s maximum enrollment caps. Kindergarten is maxed out at 33 students per teacher, and first- through third-grade classes are capped at 32 students. When those maximums are reached, the district has to bus kids who live in one school’s residential area to another school that has room for them. While there’s no government cap on how many students can be placed in fourth- through eighth-grade classrooms, the district tries not to put more than 36 students in a class.
“We know how many students a teacher can comfortably get to,” White said.
As of Sept. 12, her roster showed that at least one fourth-grade class had 37 students in it. That kind of student population really stretches teachers, resources, and the schools themselves.
“It takes its toll on our facilities,” said business services’ Beecher, which is why the district is looking to make upgrades, as well as build another new elementary school. The district is in the middle of constructing an elementary school campus, which has space for approximately 825 students.
The total cost of building an additional elementary school—from the land purchase through the architectural review process and, finally, constructing the new campus—can cost anywhere between $25 million and $30 million.
Beecher explained that in order to build a new school, the district goes through a far more stringent process of approval than does an average construction project. For instance, the district’s architectural plans have to be approved by the Division of the State Architect, and after passing those requirements, the plans must also be OKed by the California Department of Education.
“School buildings are built to the highest architectural standards,” Beecher said.
The additional $15 million to $20 million in bond sales would be applied to a long list of existing school facility renovations and upgrades. That list stems from conversations that began a year ago about where the district needs upgrades.
The district started by throwing everything on the list and paring it down to “still a fairly long list of the highest priorities,” Beecher said.
The money would be allocated to items “solely on the project list,” Beecher added.
He enthusiastically detailed the reasons why the measure should pass, saying that the money would be a long-lasting investment in the education of future generations.
Beecher was unaware of any vocal opponents to the measure.
If there were such opponents to the measure, however, they would likely be asking: What happens when the bonds mature?
These bonds aren’t the kind of bonds the general population purchases.
If Measure T passes, the reality is that the cost would be picked up by the community in property taxes because it’s a general obligation bond, meaning each property owner’s share of that cost would be based on what his or her property’s worth. For this measure, the impact would be $25 for every $100,000 assessed when the property was purchased. A home owner who bought a house for $195,000 would end up on the hook for slightly less than $50 per year toward paying off the debt.
When asked what would happen if the measure failed to pass, Beecher gave a very positive answer.
“I’m focusing all my attention on when it passes,” he said.
He’s not putting any energy into what-ifing and oh-noing himself into a frenzy, but that’s not to say he hasn’t looked at what a no-measure future would look like.
The district has considered going from a single-track to a multi-track system. The latter would divide the entire student body and staff into tracks, which would rotate time spent in school and vacation times. For instance, in a three-track district, two of the tracks could be in school and one of the tracks could be on vacation at any one time. One of the benefits of this system is that it could expand the seating capacity in each school.
“It’s a last resort for housing students without new facilities,” Beecher said.
It would add $3.5 million in ongoing expenses, paying for the extra teachers, administration, and operating costs that would be required to move from single track to multi track.
Should the measure pass, the district’s target for projects on its renovations and upgrades list is to work on 25 percent of them per year for the next four years. But Beecher cautions that the target is only a that: a target.
“[That pace] depends on the bid climate and the availability of high-quality contractors at effective prices,” Beecher said.
Nov. 5, the day after the election, won’t be an instant “happily ever after” if the measure makes it past voters. There would still be the process of securing the money and doing all the things it would take to build a new school. The design process for the school could take at least a year, followed by six weeks to three months of contract bidding, and an average of about 18 months of construction time.
In the meantime, the district will have to continue to juggle students between schools, fitting them in as a giant, logistical-nightmare of a jigsaw puzzle.
Contact Staff Writer Michael McCone at [email protected].