Given the economic climate, it will be tempting for voters to
decline to support Measure P, the $150 million school bond on the
November ballot. That would be most unfortunate for this community,
and voters should keep in mind that this is, in essence, a
replacement bond. Your tax bill will not rise as Measure P will not
take effect until the school district’s previous bond, currently on
the books, expires.
1. The first use for the bond money will be to complete Christopher High
Given the economic climate, it will be tempting for voters to decline to support Measure P, the $150 million school bond on the November ballot. That would be most unfortunate for this community, and voters should keep in mind that this is, in essence, a replacement bond. Your tax bill will not rise as Measure P will not take effect until the school district’s previous bond, currently on the books, expires.
Primarily, Measure P money will be used to complete Christopher High School. Residents with longer memories will wonder why that didn’t get done with the last bond. That concern has some justification. The land purchase and construction estimate, from a previous school administration, had no basis in reality. Then, of course, construction costs rose and GUSD purchased the land on Day Road at what turned out to be the wrong time.
2. Even with the housing slump, Gilroy’s schools continue to grow
Suffice to say that facilities planning has not been a strong suit of the district for some time. The good news is that things are clearly headed in a better direction and the district is being pro-active in speaking with developers and trying to stay ahead of the population curve. Measure P money would allow GUSD to continue on that positive track and prevent the population of multiple schools with portable classrooms.
Completing the community’s second high school to relieve overcrowding at Gilroy High is, of course, job #1. That should make a significant difference in high school academic performance, as well, allowing for more manageable student populations on both campuses.
3. In the end, school facilities are a quality-of-life community issue
In addition the district will be able to expand and modernize Rucker School as well as plan for the next needed elementary school. Gilroy – even in the housing slowdown – continues to be a growing district adding about 300 students last year. At many schools, libraries and other accessory rooms have been turned into classrooms.
Our community cannot put off providing the money to build and modernize our schools.
Voters should keep in mind the significant academic gains made in recent years. Gilroy’s schools have made very solid progress on test results, particularly in the past two years. In a sense, the passage of Measure P would be an endorsement of that progress.
But mostly it’s a community quality-of-life issue. It’s not going to cost us any more tax money to get the job done, all we have to do is continue paying the current freight.
That’s well worth it. Yes on Measure P.
