With the Pleasanton faculty board unanimously adopting the brand new Amenities Grasp Plan throughout its June 23 common assembly, the following large step for the trustees is to order a faculty bond election this November — and get the measure handed.
Pleasanton Unified Faculty District employees started the method of updating the Amenities Grasp Plan within the spring of 2021. Since then the district has partnered with LPA Design Studios, the principle consulting agency engaged on the grasp plan. The agency spent months discussing with stakeholders and taking surveys from college students, employees, neighborhood members and the college board to determine what priorities to handle within the district.
A few of the priorities that the grasp plan is ready to deal with in levels might be deferred upkeep to issues like bogs; modernizing and new building of lecture rooms; extra funding for transitional kindergarten; restructuring of the visible performing arts in excessive faculties; cafeteria and air-con and heating tools.
A key part of the funding technique to finish the services initiatives includes taking a brand new bond measure — as much as $450 million — to Pleasanton voters within the upcoming common election.
A tier system might be applied to prepare the order of which objects to deal with first. Tier 1 will prioritize funding for the gymnasium and theater constructions at each Amador Valley and Foothill excessive faculties in addition to new lecture rooms at Classic Hills Elementary and new transitional kindergarten lecture rooms.
The grasp plan is assigning an estimated $203 million for Amador so the music services can transfer to a brand new constructing to make approach for 3 health and wrestling rooms in addition to constructing new music services in tandem with the college’s theater.
Foothill would additionally get an up to date theater and gymnasium that will be nearer to the outside fields. Whereas the grasp plan assigns value quantities for the sake of securing funding for these initiatives, it doesn’t imply these plans are set in stone, officers mentioned.
However as a way to totally fund the grasp plan, the district would want to pay $983 million. That is the place a brand new bond measure comes into play.
Throughout the identical June 23 assembly, board members reviewed the draft of a decision ordering a faculty bond election this November of as much as $450 million. Confirming the ultimate greenback quantity is among the many remaining steps into account for the board.
In response to employees, the plan might be to make use of $300 million from that bond to finish the Tier 1 initiatives of the grasp plan. The rest of Tier 2 initiatives getting funding and being accomplished will depend upon the bid market and different building components from tier one initiatives.
Board members reviewed the bond language to verify it aligned with their targets in order that voters might be extra inclined to vote to approve the bond. The language was developed by employees to incorporate all the highest priorities within the grasp plan
If the bond decision is adopted later this month, it should then be delivered to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters’ Workplace and the clerk of the county Board of Supervisors. The election for the bond might be consolidated with the statewide election to be held on Nov. 8.
One of many details of criticism the board had on the bond language was within the 75-word sentence that might be within the voter packet as an outline of what the bond will handle.
Board Vice President Steve Maher mentioned he wished it to be clear that whereas most of those initiatives within the grasp plan are new, it needs to be talked about that some are continuations of labor already being performed with the earlier $270 million common obligation Measure I1 bond that voters handed in 2016.
“I do not need individuals to suppose that ‘oh my goodness, I assumed we put all this bond cash into doing this and now they’re asking once more,'” Maher mentioned. “I would like them to appreciate that we began and we have made a whole lot of progress, however there’s nonetheless issues that must be performed in these areas.”
The district already didn’t move a second bond measure after Measure I1, with the $323 million Measure M bond falling brief by 2.6% within the March 2020 main election.
Maher, together with Board President Mark Miller, agreed to including the phrase “persevering with,” which district employees might be engaged on together with including extra info within the voter packet on what new technological facilities might be included within the grasp plan.
Assistant superintendent Ahmad Sheikholeslami additionally supplied the board info on estimates of the common annual tax charge, the very best tax charge and the entire debt service on the bond.
He mentioned the bond will make the most of a tax charge of $55 per $100,000 of assessed worth and that the bond program assumes a extra conservative long-term development charge of 4%.
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The board accredited its 2022-23 faculty price range plan, which incorporates plans to proceed eliminating employees positions and adopting a extra conservative price range total as a consequence of inflation and financial challenges.
Throughout a June 9 board assembly, Sheikholeslami mentioned letting employees go is as a result of district shedding about 800 college students from 2019 to 2021, which affected the district’s essential type of revenue.
In response to the price range, there can even be a $7.1 million deficit to the expenditures price range. Sheikholeslami mentioned in the course of the June 20 board assembly that the district may have sufficient funds to deal with that deficit and meet the three% requirement for a reserve fund.
There can even be a rise within the cost-of-living adjustment to six.56% and a rise to salaries.
Throughout the assembly employees had been nonetheless ready on Gov. Gavin Newsom to signal the state’s 2022-23 price range plan, which he did on Thursday. In response to the accredited $300 billion price range, the bottom funding for the Native Management Funding Components, the mechanism by way of which a lot of the state’s public faculties are funded, will enhance by $9 billion.
Now, district employees will make any changes essential to replicate the newly enacted state price range at a 45-day price range replace or at a primary interim report session.
