ResolutiontoSupportMeasureCL

8/8/2019 ResolutiontoSupportMeasureCL

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Memo To: Board of Directors League of Women Voters of theClaremont AreaDate: September 19, 2010From: Jack Mills, Vice President Action

The following resolution is submitted for your consideration at ourmeeting on September 22nd. It is requested that we consider and voteon the resolution on the same night, as a delay in LWVs endorsementwill minimize its potential positive impact.

RESOLUTION

That the League of Women Voters of the Claremont Area support andpublically endorse the passage of local Measure CL.

DESCRIPTION

Measure CL will generate $95,000,000 through general obligationbonds. Measure CL is structured according to the provisions ofCalifornias Proposition 39, which passed in 2000 with support fromLWV-California. Measure CL is on the November 2, 2010 ballot andrequires 55% approval among the votes cast in order to pass. Themeasure will appear on the ballots of voters living within theboundaries of the Claremont Unified School District, which aresomewhat different than the City of Claremont boundaries. If passed,property owners residing within school district boundaries will beassessed $45 per $100,000 of assessed valuation of taxable property

usually an amount lower than market valuation and determined whenthe property was purchased. If passed, the first year property taxassessments will be levied is most likely November, 2011. CUSD hasthe option of selling Measure CL bonds at up to either 25 or 40 yearmaturities.

Funds that Measure CL generates will be allocated in the followingway:

Technology $22,189,862 23.36%

Safety Repair & Modernization $48,412,886 50.96%

Sustainability $14,395,562 15.15%

Retire Debt to Offset State Budget Cuts $10,000,000 10.53%

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TOTAL $94,998,310 100.00%

Technology: Measure CL funds capital and infrastructure improvementsfor technology. Purchases will be phased over the life of the bonds in

order to stay current with technological advances. Enhancedtechnology is necessary both as a way to deliver instruction as well asa skill students must develop to be competitive in the 21st centuryeconomy. Every classroom and every child in CUSD will be impacted bythe Measure CL money in the area of technology. Each room will haveprojection, sound and software installed. Learning centers will beincluded at both the elementary and secondary locations. The networkinfrastructure will be upgraded to increase fiber speed to 100mbit for K 8 and to 1Gbit at El Roble and CHS. Wireless access will beexpanded to all school sites. Online/Distance learning will becomeaccessible to ensure that all students that graduate from CUSD will

have the opportunity to be enrolled in at least one on-line class.

Safety, Repair and Modernization: Maintaining school facilities is aconstant process. Many of Claremonts facilities were built in the 1950sand 1960s. Measure Y was the first significant funding in many yearsthat could be used for building upkeep. More needs to be done.Having buildings in better repair means they are safer for kids andreduces the likelihood of property damage, catastrophic maintenancecosts and reduced exposure to liability from safety issues.

Sustainability: CUSDs estimates that Measure CL projects will result ina $100,000 annual savings in energy costs. The district believes thereis a strong possibility of even greater savings in the future as energycosts escalate. More importantly the energy savings and greening ofthe facilities and practices will reduce the districts carbon footprint.

Retire Debt: Measure CL funds will retire debt originally incurred forcapital expenditures, such as air conditioning the schools in the late1990s and leases or purchases of copy machines, telecommunicationequipment and computers. The resulting savings in interest paymentswill be used to help support academic programs and minimize difficultcuts in staffing.

RATIONALE

Measure CL is a means to accomplish League of Women Voterspositions at the National, State, County and Local levels in support of:

Equal access to education;

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Sound fiscal and administrative policies which provide sufficientfunds for operation expense and capital improvement;

A system of public education funding that is adequate, flexible,

equitable, reliable and sustainable; derived from a combinationof revenue sources; and distributed fairly to support access andequitable opportunities for all students;

Communities that can be sustained over the long term withoutdamage to the environment, minimizing resource consumption.

Planned expenditures of Measure CL funds meet LWV-Californiasdefinition of access and equitable opportunity for all children, includingprovisions for a safe school environment and clean healthy facilities ingood repair, with seating for all students.

Measure CL complies with the intent of State and Local Leaguepositions regarding the use of public financing for educational andcapital improvement programs, including provision for as much localcontrol as possible over local schools, and use of bond financing for:

Construction of capital projects;

Repair and retrofitting of existing public facilities and structureswhen other means of financing are not available;

Provision of voter approval of local bond measures by a simplemajority vote (in the case of Measure CL, 55% of those votingmust approve in order to pass).

LWVCs Action Guide in support of Proposition 39 listed the followingImportant Points which are as germane to the current situation theClaremont School District faces as they were state-wide in 2000:

California classrooms are among the most crowded in the nation now,

and a growing population willonly worsen the situation if new facilities arenot built. The problem is complicated by newrequirements for lower classsize, which are stretching existing facilities. Many of the existing facilities are old and in dire need of repair, and

most still need to be wired toaccommodate the teaching and use of newinformation technology.

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Proposition 39 requires local districts to list in advance the projects that

will be paid for, and to haveindependent financial and performance auditsdone to ensure that the money was spent as promised. Bond money may not be used for salaries or administration.A citizenwatchdog committee will inform the public of how bond funds are spent and

take stepsto stop any project if audits show wasteful or unauthorizedspending.

ISSUES AND POTENTIAL CONCERNS

State Responsibility for Education Funding

LWV-California positions on State and Local Finances state that

responsibility for education public funding resides with the state.

Response: According to a 2010 EdSource report California ranked 28th

among states in its per pupil expenditures in 2007/08. When thesenumbers are adjusted for labors costs (due to the high cost of living),Californias rank falls to 43rd. California high schools have half as manyteachers as found nationally. This was before massive state budgetcuts took effect in Fall 2008. Californias percentage of personalincome devoted to K-12 education was below the national average.Californias budget gap is about $19 billion. Due to the states inabilityto adequately support public education, CUSD received $17 million less in

state funding than anticipated over the last two years. CUSD has been in thebudget cutting mode for several years, eliminating teaching andadministrative positions and requiring employees to contribute greateramounts toward healthcare benefits in order to avoid even morelayoffs.

Cost to Taxpayers

Bonds sold under Measure Y will be retired in approximately 18 yearsand at the same time, assessments to property owners for Measure CLbonds could continue for up to 40 years. Property owners are already

being assessed for Measure Y bonds at approximately $75 per$100,000 of assessed valuation. Measure CL will add another $45 per$100,000 valuation.

Response: There is no denying that Measure CL will add to the cost ofowning property. The only means to raise revenue that state law givesto local school districts involves some type of assessment on property.According to EdSource, California ranks 14th among states in percent of

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personal income paid in taxes but below the US average for thepercent of personal income devoted to K-12 education. Meanwhile,California spends 53% more per capita on corrections than the nationalaverage. A long-term policy of locking up young adults instead ofeducating them can only lead to further downward spiral.

Perceived Mismanagement of Measure Y Funds

Critics of Measure CL claim that bond funds raised ten years agothrough local Measure Y were mismanaged. In fact, some promisedprojects such as renovation of the high school theater and building anew elementary school on the La Puerta site were not accomplished.School site renovations, other than at Vista del Valle, did not go as faras planned.

Response: Measure Y passed June 6, 2000 with a 68.9% affirmative

vote. Immediately following passage, CUSD prepared a detailedfinancial report resulting in a rare AA bond rating. The first phase ofconstruction began in the summer of 2001. Severe construction costescalation and gold rush for construction contractors created by theDivision of the State Architect both hit in May 2004, causing plans tobe scaled back.

Measure Y funds were not wasted. They were spent on the constructionprojects promised in the Measure Y campaign. There were nosuperfluous or unplanned projects added later, other than what wasrequired by law or as a result of unforeseeable contingencies, for

example, the extent of necessary asbestos abatement or the conditionof electrical or structural components inside the walls were in somecases not known until the wall was open-up during construction.

Many of the promised Measure Y projects were completed:

Complete modernization at Vista Del Valle;

Significant modernization/renovation throughout CHS, including anew science wing and lockers;

Modernization at El Roble and San Antonio HS;

Community gym at El Roble;

Claremont High sports fields and seating.Modernization projects were conducted at every elementary school.This work took place over two summers: 2004 and 2005. Most of theseprojects involved basic infrastructure and so are not visible. However,these projects made facilities ready for internet/data communications,increased safety and reduced risk by replacing:

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Electrical panels

Electrical conduit

Water and sewer lines (witness problems in City of LA whenthese lines age and spring leaks)

Seismic shut off valves for gas lines Automatic fire alarm systems

Above ground renovations at all facilities included:

New classroom doors, door thresholds and restrooms that couldserve handicapped persons

Wheel chair lifts in some areas

Upgrades to electrical and data capacity

CHS theater: After Measure Y passed, the theater planning group cameback with a much more ambitious project then had been included inthe Measure Y design. This required additional fund raising, bumpingthe project from one of the first to be done to one of the last. ThenCUSD ran out of money due to cost escalation of construction suppliesmentioned above.New elementary school at La Puerta: this project was delayed for tworeasons.1) A large amount of regulation regarding environmental planning

issues (e.g., working out flight paths from all nearby airports to ensurethat the site was safe from potential air disaster; working out athorough traffic safety plan with City Engineer for how students wouldbe dropped off and picked up); and 2) soil contamination wasdiscovered under the parking lot (probably insecticide or otherchemical storage) from previous agricultural use of the land. This soilcontamination was fixed. These necessary delays pushed CUSD intothe cost escalation period and thus ended the project.

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ResolutiontoSupportMeasureCL

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