Gilroy Unified School District remains $6.9 million short on
Measure I projects
Gilroy – Eliot Elementary School is up and running. Christopher High School has an architect. And Gilroy High School’s new student center should be ready by April.
Those projects have moved forward, courtesy of Measure I, but don’t expect that $69-million general obligation bond to fund everything laid out on the 2002 ballot.
During Thursday’s meeting, Gilroy Unified School District Assistant Superintendent Steve Brinkman told the board that he managed to whittle down the Measure I gap from an April high of $18 million to $6.9 million.
But the existing deficit means Brownell Middle School won’t get a new multi-purpose room and Mt. Madonna High School will have to wait for new classrooms and PE courts.
At the meeting, Brinkman recommended that the board approve a $3 million reduction of the Brownell Middle School project to offset the bond discrepancy. Brownell will still have access to $3.12 million that will fund a new band room, computer facility additional classrooms and landscaping.
Also, Brinkman pointed out, the district spent $3.5 million on various Brownell upgrades between 2001 and 2005.
Unusable portable classrooms will still be removed from the Brownell campus. Various sites throughout the district have received upgrades thanks to Measure I. The bond will still fund the purchase of land and construction of a new Las Animas Elementary School, to be built in the Glen Loma development in the Southwest area of Gilroy.
Costs increased because the price of materials, particularly steel and plywood, have increased. Also, the price tag on land has skyrocketed, causing the cost of building schools such as Las Animas to significantly increase.
The district is in the process of purchasing the new high school and just as initially outlined, Measure I will only fund phase I, or 900-student capacity, of Christopher High School. The other half will probably be funded with cash from the sale of land donated by Don Christopher.
Christopher donated 10 acres off of Miller Road and Santa Teresa Boulevard and the district purchased an additional five acres on the same site. Brinkman said the district also wants to sell the 10-acre plot of land where Las Animas Elementary School currently sits.
Brinkman said they’re hoping to sell both pieces of property by the summer of 2007 but they may hit some zoning snags. Las Animas is currently only zoned for a school and the district doesn’t want to sell the land unless it’s zoned for residential or commercial use.
The district also is set to collect $3 million from Measure J property taxes between 2007 and 2008. Measure J, which provides the district extra money in the form of property taxes, will end in 2012.
The district will release a complete updated list of which projects have been completed next week.
Board members said they were proud of the hard work Brinkman had done to shave off an extra $8 million.
“To see it down to less than $7 (million), I know you’ve done a lot of work to do that,” said Trustee Jim Rogers. “You and your department made a great effort. The fact that you halved it in six months is fantastic.”
Rogers remarks were echoed by board member Rhoda Bress.
Measure I Projects
Completed (Amounts in millions)
– Eliot Elementary replacement:
Estimate: $13.9, Now: $15.3
– Multi-purpose rooms at El Roble and Glen View: Spent: $5.5 each
– South Valley upgrades: Spent: $4.5
– Modernizations and safety upgrades at various school sites
In progress
– Gilroy High School student center: Estimate: $10.2, Now: $10.7
– GHS fire alarms: Estimate: $.5
Pending
– Las Animas replacement:
Estimate: $16.5, Now: $24
– Phase I new high school:
Estimate: $39, Now: $47
– New speakers and security
systems at Luigi Aprea, Antonio Del Buono, Rod Kelley: Projected: $0.7
– Brownell School modernizations: Estimate: $3.5 million
Cancelled
– Mt. Madonna High School
modernizations: $10 million
– New Brownell multi-purpose room: $3 million
– Various upgrade, modernization
projects at different sites
