It’s a stunning figure
– the Gilroy Unified School District will pay $20 million for
42.6 acres of land for Christopher High School on Day Road.
It’s a stunning figure – the Gilroy Unified School District will pay $20 million for 42.6 acres of land for Christopher High School on Day Road.
That’s more than $470,000 an acre. It’s even more astounding when you consider that the parcel is in the county, not in Gilroy city limits, and doesn’t have housing approvals. And the perspective becomes even more crazy within the context of the original budget for the CHS land purchase: $6 million.
Being in the school land acquisition business in our area is no picnic.
The demands from the state for high school sites, the expectations of the community and the money available simply don’t add up – except in the high frustration category.
In truth and in retrospect, Gilroy found itself behind the planning eight ball once again. The first ill-conceived local school facilities bond, which deservedly failed, cost GUSD time and money before the second bond, Measure I, passed muster with residents.
The voters approved the district’s largest-ever bond initiative in the November 2002 election. Its success came largely because residents were clamoring for a second high school given the increasingly overcrowded conditions at Gilroy High School.
So asking, “Why did it take more than four years for GUSD to secure the land for a second high school?,” is a very legitimate and apropos question to pose to the GUSD Board.
Clearly what this points out is how important it is, given high land and construction costs, for the city and the school district to work far more closely together from here on to solve school facility issues before they become a crisis.
Having developers participate in building schools is the only reasonable way to avert skyrocketing costs and further burdens on local taxpayers.
City Council members must force the issue at every opportunity, and with every housing development.
Think about it – the land prices for Christopher High School will devour nearly 30 percent of the entire $69 million Measure I bond.
Could GUSD have planned better? Should the school district first have built the second high school, then modernized other facilities?
Yes, and absolutely.
But that is spilt milk, and all the projects on GUSD’s Measure I list were, in fact, worthy.
What will be important now is to funnel as much money as possible into building a second high school. The city, perhaps, could help by augmenting plans for shared facilities at the site.
At this point, building CHS will be a relief not a triumph.
