GILROY
– Gilroy voters have two more reasons to believe the $69 million
school facilities bond they approved Nov. 5 will be money well
spent.
GILROY – Gilroy voters have two more reasons to believe the $69 million school facilities bond they approved Nov. 5 will be money well spent.
At their regular board meeting Thursday, trustees promised the state to set aside 3.43 percent – roughly $2.1 million – of the Gilroy Unified School district’s annual budget to cover maintenance costs.
The figure exceeds the state requirement to earmark 3 percent of a school district’s general fund for upkeep. It also keeps the district on par with the amount it budgeted for maintenance earlier this year.
When the district failed to pass a similar $69 million school bond in March, much of the opposition said the district had not properly maintained buildings it hoped to repair.
“When we were making phone calls about the bond measure (during this fall’s campaign) people talked a lot about the district not keeping up with maintenance. This just shows there’s commitment by the district that we’ll maintain our facilities,” Trustee TJ Owens said.
Measure I funding will be used to construct a new high school while repairing and upgrading several other district campuses. Other major projects include: razing Eliot Elementary School and rebuilding it as a two-story site; and acquiring land to move and re-build Las Animas Elementary School.
In a related matter discussed Thursday, the district is ready to establish a Citizens’ Oversight Committee to watchdog district spending.
In conjunction with the oversight committee, GUSD facilities director Charlie Van Meter must report to the group regarding all expenditures under the bond.
“They make sure we’re spending money on those things that were listed in the bond language,” explained Van Meter. “They do not have approval authority, but they are a reporting authority to the community.”
Establishing an oversight committee was a condition of approval for the district’s school facilities bond, which landed 62.4 percent of the vote on Election Day.
Applications for the committee will be available Dec. 2 through 20. Diaz told trustees he would advertise the openings in local newspapers, on the district Web site and in the December district newsletter.
“That’s a pretty broad distribution,” Diaz said.
On Jan. 16, the board will approve committee members.
A specific number of members has not yet been determined, but trustees told Diaz they wanted to see representation from all stakeholder groups in the community, such as district staff, parents, Gilroy property owners and City of Gilroy officials.
