One of the questions Valley voters will find on the Nov. 8 ballot is a bond measure asking them to help bring the Sonoma Valley School District campuses into the 21st century by approving a $120 million general obligation bond.
The school board is expected to approve a motion at its Aug. 9 meeting putting the measure on the November ballot.
The school district’s Facility Master Plan has identified $220 million in upgrades, some of which are covered by a bond issue while others can be met through deferred maintenance. Of the estimated $220 million in upgrades, Sonoma Valley High School alone had an estimated price tag of $112 million while the rest of the district combines for about $110 million.
“Our focus continues to be on warm, safe and dry,” said Superintendent Louann Carlomagno, referring to how the money would be targeted.
The proposed project list for the bond covers three pages and includes renovating, modernizing, replacing and expanding a litany of things. But as of now, the list isn’t site specific.
The district has a FAQ link on its website, svusdca.org, and click on the box on the front page marked “School Facilities Q&A.”
At the board meeting on June 21, Mia Hodge, of TBWB Strategies, held a PowerPoint presentation and went through the steps the district has already taken, including a telephone survey.
She told the board that there was a strong baseline for a bond issue, but once the figure reached $49 per $100,000 of assessed value, the support started falling off.
The proposed $120 million bond would cost homeowners $42.50 per $100,000 of assessed value, not market value. Someone with a residence with an assessed value of $200,000 would pay $85 a year.
The $120 million bond would ultimately cost $242 million to pay off.
Hodge told the board that 83 percent of the people polled agreed that local funding for schools is needed, and that support for the proposed bond grows when more information is available.
Valley voters overwhelmingly approved Measure H, a $40 million bond issue in November of 2010.
The bond needs 55 percent approval to pass.
“The project list has more than what can be covered with a bond,” Carlomagno said. “$120 million is about half of what we need.”
Carlomagno pointed out that most of the campuses were built in the 1950s, and the district needs to bring them up to 21st century learning standards.
“We need our classrooms to look differently than they do now,” she said. The project list includes the district’s five elementary schools, two middle schools, Sonoma Valley High, Creekside High and the Sonoma Charter School and Woodland Star Charter School.
In addition to the phone survey, the district also mailed out surveys to Valley residents and had received 360 returns by the middle of June.
Carlomagno was pleased with the returns and with the tone of the returns. The district received some negative – and some outright nasty – comments, but those were few in number.
The board will take up the question again at its Aug. 9 meeting as it has to have the wording to the County Clerk by Aug. 12 in order to make the Nov. 8 ballot.
Email bill at bill.hoban@sonomanews.com.
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