The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees late Wednesday tabled a decision to place a general revenue bond on the November ballot that would fund a list of repairs, upgrades and construction projects at every school and building in the vast district.
In a 5-0 vote, the trustees agreed that they wanted to wait until Oscar Soto and Olivia Flores—who were absent Wednesday—to take part in the discussion. They also said they wanted to see a comprehensive list of project needs at every site.
The trustees were considering two options: a $315 million bond that would place $60 per assessed value for properties within the boundaries of the district, and a $195 million bond that would place $40 per $100,000 of assessed value.
Financial advisor Dale Scott, who prepared Wednesday’s report, said that a general presidential election is the best time to bring such a bond, as they draw more voters.
“There’s a tendency to believe that all elections are created equal, but they’re not,” he said.
Neither bond would fund all the district’s needs, which PVUSD Director of Purchasing estimates tops $500 million.
But without a list of specific projects the bond would fund, the trustees could neither make an informed decision nor justify it to voters, said Trustee Kim De Serpa.
“Right now were saying there’s a need, but we have no proof of that need,” she said.
Trustee Jen Holm said she was prepared to go for the $315 million option, and said that such a list could come after the board approves it.
“We’ve know for years that we have hundreds of thousands of dollars in deferreed maintenance,” she said. “We know we have the need. That’s not the question. Specifying the need is what gets determined after we move forward.”
Trustee Daniel Dodge Jr. agreed.
“We know the need at wWatsonville High,” he said. “I represent schools that are almost 100 years old. If we’re going to ask, ask big and let the voters decide.”
But in the end, the trustees agreed to bring the discussion back to a future meeting, although they did not give a date.
In 2012, the board approved Measure L, which was approved by nearly 70% of the 32,161 voters who cast a vote.
Since Measure L’s implementation, the district has completed projects at nearly every school, the crown jewel of which is the sports complex at Pajaro Valley High School.
But with those funds running out—and a plentitude of projects throughout the district still awaiting completion—the district is now eyeing new ways to get them done.
Mismanagement of funds. We don’t need more bonds, we need those in charge of the funds to be removed.
Taxes, taxes, taxes & more taxes. No wonder people aren’t able to stay in this area. PVUSD is failing miserably and maybe they should start having lower salaries for the top people starting with the superintendent.
Sad that this continues. Watsonville needs to wake up! These people are asking you to put in more of your hard earned $ into a city and school district run by people with high salaries…………yet not held accountable for the bad outcomes.
You were at this board meeting and not one mention of the dozens of PVUSD students who came to protest the board’s decision on Ethnic Studies? The amount of public comment by students that were so great in number that they reduced the speaking time to one minute?
I’d like to see a public list of all things needed at PVUSD that justify asking for more money and why they let schools get into such a “so called” bad condition that they think they need 500 million. I’d also like to see them include that those homeowners 65+ on limited income be excluded from this proposed tax theft from us. Enrollment is going down. They could close a school or two if enrollment is going down and stop allowing new charter schools to start sucking more money from the other schools. Why not make all the schools have the same goodies as they do charter schools?
So correct me if I am wrong between the hospital bond and this bond property taxes will go up almost $100 per $100k assessed value which equals probably $400 per year per homeowner?
Those costs will be just passed on to my tenants I have no other choice. There is always a work around for rent control and other landlords will find them as well. Bottom line is rents go up and landlords move to cheaper areas then rent their homes in Santa Cruz county at very high rents as I did
Please no more bonds on taxpayers; we are paying more than we can afford. We need better leadership on the school board.