Measure P
– Y or N? The first wave of votes for or against Measure P – a
$150 million school facilities bond – will be cast as early as next
week when absentee voters receive their ballots in the mail.
Gilroy
Measure P – Y or N?
The first wave of votes for or against Measure P – a $150 million school facilities bond – will be cast as early as next week when absentee voters receive their ballots in the mail. A no vote on P a could leave a half-built high school standing in a field at the corner of Day Road and Santa Teresa Boulevard. A yes vote will allow the district to raise the money needed to complete the $180 million structure.
If approved, P authorizes the Gilroy Unified School District to sell $150 million worth of general obligation bonds to be paid off over the next several decades with local property tax revenue. Property owners would pay an estimated $60 for every $100,000 worth of assessed property, which translates to about $366 a year for the average Gilroy homeowner. The new bond would kick in only after another school bond, Measure J,
which taxes property owners $70.50 for every $100,000 of assessed value, sunsets in 2011.
Supporters are campaigning on the platform that approving the tax will actually lower the current tax rate by about $11 per $100,000 of assessed value, but opponents point out that voters are in no way obligated to renew the school tax and, by voting no, they could eliminate it completely.
The bond would fund a slew of projects, with the completion of Christopher High School gobbling up at least $78 million of the revenue. But Deputy Superintendent of Business Services Enrique Palacios said the money will touch each of the schools. In addition to the new high school, two new elementary schools will need to be built in the next few years, Palacios said. The bond’s project list calls for modernizations and repairs districtwide. The four-page list includes any project that could be worked on, but is not a guarantee that the district will do all of them.
However, CHS is a guarantee, Palacios said. After the bond passes, the board will have to draw up a list of priorities for the remainder of the money. The construction of two elementary schools and a reconfiguration of classrooms, libraries and food service facilities at Rod Kelley and Rucker elementary schools are next in line, he said.
By law, a citizens oversight committee is required to oversee the projects. The current committee that monitors the progress of another bond measure could be assigned to Measure P or the board can convene a new committee, Palacios said. Typically, they meet quarterly. The Measure P committee’s charge will be to make sure the bond money is being spent on projects within the guidelines of the project list.
“It’s critical that this bond pass,” said Superintendent Deborah Flores. She, her staff and board members agreed that there are no other viable options for completing CHS and Gilroy High School, which was built for 1,800 students, can no longer hold 2,500 students.
But Gilroy voters remember hearing these same arguments six years ago. In 2002, voters passed a $69 million school bond to fund construction of the first phase of the new high school, make various upgrades and repairs throughout the district, increase capacity districtwide and construct two new elementary schools – Las Animas and Eliot. Although both elementary schools were completed and repairs made, many voters are skeptical of another round of district promises to complete the new high school with bond money.
“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me,” said Mark Zappa, Gilroy resident, businessman and taxpayer advocate.
While the district has legions of parents, administrators and two unions on its side rallying under the campaign slogan Keep Improving District Schools, or K.I.D.S., and posting glossy “Yes on P” signs in their yards, the opposition doesn’t have the organization or the money to front a counter campaign, Zappa said.
“No doubt this bond campaign will tug on your heartstrings with calls for earthquake safety and ‘for the children’ mottos,” Zappa said. “With $4 per gallon gasoline, tumbling home values and out-of-control debt, it is a poor time to ask overtaxed and overburdened citizens to pay another dime.”
But district data shows that taxpayers are ready to pull out their pocketbooks and pony up the cash. The district went into the campaign process armed with a voter opinion survey, showing that 68 percent of its 400 person sample was in favor of the measure, well over the 55 percent approval required to pass the bond. However, 70 percent of 699 of Gilroy Dispatch readers voted no on a June 19 web poll asking if they would support the bond.
Palacios said the community has coalesced in support of the measure and that the campaign is gaining “great momentum.” A number of key endorsements including the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce and the local democratic club has P supporters in high spirits. Palacios said the endorsement of the Chamber shows that the business sector is on their side.
“This money is going to inject economic activity into the local community,” he said.
