Local residents will vote in the June 3 primary election whether to approve a $16 million bond to be paired with state funds to complete renovations under way in Fort Bragg Unified School District.
The bond, which district trustees voted last week to put on the ballot, will create an assessment of $22.88 per $100,000 assessed valuation for fiscal year 2008-2009..
In two surveys, local residents have said they support paying such a bond which will allow renovations at Fort Bragg High School and Dana Gray Elementary to proceed.
Fort Bragg residents have favored paying for a bond by what they have said in both surveys — and what they haven”t said.
Nobody showed up at the board meeting to talk about the tax, despite radio and newspaper publicity about the potential action.
“I think we have done a pretty good job getting the word out,” said Trustee Jennifer Owen. “We have done an extensive survey. It”s been in the newspaper ? I don”t see anyone here to address us. The message I”m getting, is for the board to go forward with this.”
Trustees heard at their January meeting that 362 local people spent about 15 minutes on the phone, hearing what the money was needed for and being asked a series of questions about the level of a tax they would be willing to vote for and what kind of school work they favored.
Superintendent Steve Lund was then asked to return with a plan to put the tax on the June ballot.
Following that meeting, the survey firm Caldwell Flores Winters took a quick survey in which residents were asked just one question, about whether they favored the bond. That produced an approval number of 62 percent, the firm”s Leonard Cuenco told the board.
The first survey revealed 60.5 percent would support a tax of $25 per $100,000 in assessed value, reported Abel J. Guillen of Caldwell Flores Winters in January.
The plan lists specific projects and proceeds from the assessment are restricted to those. For example, improvements to athletic facilities, such as tennis courts and the high school stadium didn”t get the magic 55 percent approval rating from those surveyed. The district will find other ways to fund those projects, Lund said.
Caldwell Flores Winters has done similar surveys for hundreds of California school districts and conducted a survey in Fort Bragg five years ago before that successful election.
This will be the second bond measure this century for a school district that seldom asked voters for funds in the 20th century, even as buildings aged.
The first was Measure D in 2003 which enabled the district to complete the modernization of Fort Bragg Middle School and other facilities, leveraging over $9.5 million in matching state funds over the past five years, a press release from the district stated.
The new bond would modernize Dana Gray Elementary and Fort Bragg High School, including replacing leaky roofs and outdated heating and plumbing systems to improve student health and safety and reduce annual costs. It would also retrofit district schools for renewable energy including installing solar and photovoltaic systems to reduce energy costs and save money that would be better spent in the classroom. The bond would also provide the local match for an additional $13 million in state funds, the press release said.
An independent citizens oversight committee will be established to ensure that the bond money is used only for voter-approved school improvements and repairs. The committee would also be in place to ensure that none of the bond proceeds are used for salaries, administration, and overhead costs, the release said.
There will now be a voter education effort launched by the board and Caldwell Flores Winters. Trustee Deelynn Carpenter said many local voters are now forced to vote absentee and asked if the firm was preparing efforts early enough for those voters.
“One of the larger parts of our effort is get the absentee vote out,” Cueneco told the board.
Lund added that was a very good idea
“More and more people in our area are voting absentee by design,” Lund said.
The Fort Bragg Unified School District was established in 1895 and currently educates approximately 1,650 students in grades K through 12.
