It’s time for Gilroyans to step up to the plate and support
Measure I, the $69 million local school bond on the ballot
Tuesday.
It’s time for Gilroyans to step up to the plate and support Measure I, the $69 million local school bond on the ballot Tuesday.
Even if you vote against every other bond on the ballot, support this one. The money is controlled locally and it’s badly needed to rebuild dilapidated schools, modernize others and construct new facilities.
It’s easy, of course, to pick apart the bond measure with “what ifs” and “why nots,” but it’s time for Gilroyans to move beyond the sins of past school district administrations and improve our public facilities.
Measure I is a much-improved version of its predecessor, Measure D, which voters narrowly defeated in March.
The biggest difference between the two measures is that in Measure I there is money to buy land, complete the infrastructure for a new comprehensive high school and build enough classrooms to support 900 students. The job won’t be finished – the district will need more money to complete the high school – but given all the school facility projects starving for dollars, it’s an admirable compromise.
The list of projects that will be funded by the bond is comprehensive and clear. Eliot School, for example, will be torn down and rebuilt. Las Animas School will be razed, the land will be sold and the school rebuilt within the Glen Loma Ranch housing development in the southwest area.
The school district has developed a comprehensive plan for facilities that fits with the district’s strategic goals for the next quarter century. The tax rate for the bond is estimated not to exceed $59 per $100,000 of assessed property valuation.
That’s a reasonable cost for a solid plan that addresses building, maintaining and upgrading our schools for a quarter century.
