There will be a steep price to pay if the city, home developers
and the school district don’t reach a sustained and long-lasting
agreement
It doesn’t take a crystal ball, tea leaves or Tarot cards to predict that Gilroy public schools are going to be in a lot of trouble if the city, the school district and new-home developers can’t work out a compromise to adequately fund school facilities.
That future isn’t just a problem for the school district and its students. Overcrowded schools negatively impact home values, the ability of the city to attract top-tier companies who offer good-paying jobs, the ability to attract top teachers and the city’s image in general.
There are many places to point fingers. But it’s time to move beyond that. It’s time to find a solution.
A lack of a compromise means that one or more of the following scenarios is likely in the near future:
n Overcrowded schools – Reporter Christopher Quirk’s recent story on the upcoming “swell” of students at Gilroy High School is one example. Campuses will be littered with portable classrooms filled to capacity.
n Building moratorium – When a city doesn’t have enough capacity to handle the sewage caused by new construction, new construction is halted. The same should be true of schools. If City Council won’t stop itself from approving allotments for homes that attract families with students for which the school district doesn’t have room, perhaps voters will get fed up and pass a referendum imposing one.
n Another bond – This would be a very tough sell. After one failure, voters approved a bond measure largely on the promise that a second, much-needed high school would be built (now Christopher High School). Once the bond was passed, that high school was pushed to the bottom of the priority list, and now it will have to be scaled back dramatically or not built at all. Why should voters trust the school district with more money?
These are all unpalatable and unacceptable options. The only option is for the city and the school district and developers to come up with a creative compromise to find a way to build schools that the students in Gilroy’s new homes need.
Perhaps developers could build schools at a significantly lower cost than the school district. Perhaps future developers could be required to repay a portion of what current developers pay now to close the facilities budget gap. Perhaps a Mello-Roos district is needed.
There are many creative possibilities, but unless this problem is solved there will be an eventual backlash and city officials, developers and the school district will have to pay a steep price.
Whatever else city and school district officials and developers do, they must stop worrying about who’s to blame and start working on solving this problem – now – for the good of the community they all claim to support.
