Turlock Unified makes best of N, O bond designations

School bonds that Turlock Unified leaders are counting on to improve security and upgrade science labs will appear on the November ballot as Measures N and O, an unintended negative resulting from when they were filed.

“We were very disappointed we could not get other letters assigned to our measures, nor reversed in order. We’re optimistic that voters will support kNOwledge!” said Turlock Superintendent Dana Trevethan by email, using the capitalized NO to make her point.

Other possibilities: NO more vulnerable campuses! or – flipping the order – ON to 21st Century Learning!

There are eight tax initiatives for various Stanislaus County locales coming up in November, Measures K through R. Turlock’s two bond measures arrived after M, but before P.

“That’s the exact date they walk it in and hand it to us,” said Lee Lundrigan, Stanislaus County clerk recorder and registrar of voters.

In the case of the Turlock Unified measures, there is the added complication of northern Merced County within the school district boundary being part of the vote. Merced County has agreed to use the same letters to avoid confusing voters.

Every letter has potential negatives or upsides, Lundrigan said. “Schools hate to have F as their letter, and they get it all the time,” she said.

“It’s all pretty much internalized. The voters pay no attention (to the letters),” she said. “Look at Prop. 13. People loved it – it stood out,” she added, referring to property tax-slashing Proposition 13 that passed by a nearly two-thirds vote in 1978 despite its unlucky number.

Making lemONade out of the N and O designation will be retired Turlock High science teacher Eric Julien, who will lead the Turlock bond campaign. His marketing, however, will focus on different letters, S-T-E-M, an education acronym for science, technology, engineering and math, and C-T-E, standing for career technical education.

“The purpose and the focus of the bonds is to control access and make our school site facilities safer, and to construct, promote and improve the science, technology, engineering and math and career technical education facilities throughout the district,” school board President Frank Lima said.

“With the passage of these bonds, we’re hoping we can leverage state and federal matching grants and funds to significantly improve the educational facilities in our district. Great schools help make for a great community,” he said by email.

The “kNOwledge” branding is included in the brochure now being distributed by the campaign.

Turlock split its bond proposal because Turlock’s high schools serve students in the Chatom and Keyes elementary districts. This way, voters in those smaller districts would not have to pay for Turlock’s elementary school costs, in addition to their own, should the bonds pass.

Measure N seeks $40.8 million for Turlock elementary and junior high campuses. Measure O asks voters to approve $48 million for high schools.

Other measures on the ballot are: Measure K, school bonds for Waterford Unified; Measure L, the countywide road tax initiative; Measure M, formation of a community facilities district in Newman; Measure P, school bonds for the Newman-Crows Landing Unified district; Measure Q, a school facilities improvement district for Hughson Unified; and Measure R, school bonds for Hughson Unified.

This story was originally published July 23, 2016 at 5:47 PM with the headline "Turlock Unified makes best of N, O bond designations."