A cohort of educators and school supporters kicked off a
campaign they hope will funnel $150 million into the school
district in the coming years.
A cohort of educators and school supporters kicked off a campaign they hope will funnel $150 million into the school district in the coming years.
Principals, teachers, school administrators and community volunteers signed up to get the word out about the campaign to Keep Improving District Schools, also known as the Gilroy K.I.D.S. campaign or Measure P.
“There’s two things that draw or repel people to a community,” said Lanny Brown, retired assistant police chief who sits on the campaign’s committee, “the crime rate and the quality of education. By investing money into the community, I’m making the place I live a better place.”
By voting yes on Measure P, voters will authorize the sale of $150 million in bonds to fund the completion of Christopher High School – scheduled to open in the fall of 2009, construction of permanent classrooms at district schools and safety repairs and upgrades at all school sites.
The approval of Measure P will levy a tax charging property owners up to $60 per $100,000 of the assessed value of their homes. The new tax is a decrease from the current rate under Measure J that taxes property owners $71 per $100,000 of the assessed value. Because the higher tax would end the same year the new tax would kick in, property owners would see a decrease in their property taxes of about $11 per $100,000 of assessed value.
However, once Measure J expires, voters are not obligated to replace it, and should Measure P fail, property owners would see a $71 decrease per $100,000 of assessed value. If they vote yes on Measure P, they will be taking on a new tax entirely.
“Measure P will allow the school district to continue the great work we’ve seen over the last eight to 10 years to keep pace with the growth of this wonderful community,” Superintendent Deborah Flores said, naming various improvements funded by the bond voters passed in 2002, including the construction of Las Animas Elementary School, Eliot Elementary School and the library and student center at Gilroy High School.
The district added 335 additional students to its roster this year and has grown by an average of 168 students per year, according to a statement placed in the voter information pamphlet.
Flores said the district is out of space at the elementary level and that GHS – which was built to house 1,800 students – is now packed with 2,800.
“It’s critical that this bond pass,” Flores said.
“People ask what’s the contingency plan,” Deputy Superintendent of Business Services Enrique Palacios said. There are no other viable options, he said.
For all the enthusiasm and promotion on the district’s part, Gilroy resident and taxpayer advocate Mark Zappa said the burden on taxpayers is already high enough. At a time when taxpayers have to scrimp and save, Zappa wondered why the school district isn’t doing the same.
“The money’s not there right now,” he said. “Everyone’s selling boats, SUVs, motorhomes, homes if they can, and the government continues to spend and spend and spend.”
Zappa said he’s voting against the bond because “it’s a poor way to finance things,” pointing out that taxpayers will be paying off Measure P long after the money is spent.
“They’re piling on one bond after another.”
He also questioned what he called “unspecific and extremely vague” bond language that gives the district “a lot of wiggle room.” In exchange for needing only 55 percent approval to pass the bond, the school district must spell out the projects to be funded by the bond and assemble a citizens oversight committee to monitor projects and expenditures.
“(The language) needs to be a little more specific,” Zappa said. “It allows them a lot of ambiguity. For all we know, the entire amount could go to the high school and no money to the other schools.”
But Palacios said that would not happen. Although about half of the $150 million will be needed to complete CHS, “every school will be touched,” he said.
