Turlock Unified will seek $88.8 million in school bonds
Voters within the Turlock Unified School District boundaries will be asked in November to approve higher property taxes to secure campuses and upgrade classrooms. Making room for rising enrollment and building a new Turlock High science wing also appear on the list of projects.
“We’re asking people to invest in their community,” said board President Frank Lima.
Resolutions to place two bonds on the ballot passed unanimously Tuesday, a $40.8 million bond for elementary and junior high schools, and a $48 million bond for high schools. The second bond will include voters in Keyes and Chatom elementary districts, which send teens to Turlock high schools.
Owners of a median-price home assessed at $170,000 would pay up to $100 a year if both bonds pass, using figures provided by the district. The funding would be matching money for state school building funds, should they become available.
Safer campuses top the spending priority list, with ways to secure Turlock’s traditionally open spaces expected to take a good chunk of the money.
“The city basically considers our school grounds part of the park system. Turlock has always worked with the city to provide recreation for those neighborhoods. That’s been going on for 50 years,” said Roger Smith, facilities planner and safety coordinator.
Turlock has always worked with the city to provide recreation for those neighborhoods. That’s been going on for 50 years.
Roger Smith
Keeping grounds open when school is out – and secure when school is in – is the challenge, Smith said. “How do we limit access and monitor access, while still granting access to the community during non school hours?”
Earl, Walnut and Medeiros elementary schools were designed to meld with adjacent parks, noted board member Barney Gordon. “Now we find ourselves with safety issues,” he said, because of the open plans. Walnut especially has long open stretches, which will also need a sidewalk when fenced.
But, Gordon added, “Seems like a day doesn’t go by that we don’t hear something happening at a school (nationwide).”
Upgraded science and arts facilities, rewiring for better bandwidth and accommodating wider use of technology are the lists for all schools. So are utilitarian necessities like code upgrades and access for wheelchairs.
A new science wing is planned for Turlock High, a sprawling campus most identified with the historic brick facade now signifying the district office. Pitman High, Turlock’s newer campus, needs a new heater-cooling unit for its two-story classroom building.
Making room for more kids and replacing aging portables are also on the bond list, with a range of options on how that will be accomplished.
After shrinking steadily through the recession, enrollment at Turlock schools has bounced back and passed its 2005-06 high point for three years running. There were 14,091 Turlock students in 2015-16, with elementary schools housing an average of 802 students. The largest, the dual-language Osborn Two-Way Immersion Academy, had 1,029 students.
The district has about 35 percent of its students in portable classrooms, about 10 percent above the state recommended maximum, Smith said. Replacing decades-old portables with modular or even permanent classrooms is on his to-do list.
The board is planning more classrooms at Dutcher Middle School to take Osborn sixth-graders and possibly others, to ease elementary school crowding. The central kitchen now packing up meals in an adjacent lot will move in 2017 to a new facility being built on Auto Mall Drive.
New construction is on the horizon in southern Turlock, where developer fees and taxes will help offset the cost of more classrooms. But at the eastern edge of town, in Denair Unified School District territory, a development is going forward area statistics predict will send roughly 350 more students to Turlock schools with no money for new classrooms.
We’re asking people to invest in their community.
Frank Lima
Building a new school would be a possibility if money allowed after the other priorities, Lima said.
“I feel so strongly this is the right way to go,” said board member Lori Carson.
Turlock is still paying off bonds that built Pitman High in 2002 and several elementary schools, the latest being Walnut Elementary. A 2015 refinance lowered the cost. TUSD taxpayers will pay $46.8 million through 2032 to retire those bonds.
Funds from a new bond issue could not go to salaries, or operating costs, the resolution specifies. There would be a citizens oversight committee, as all such bonds must have.
Nan Austin: 209-578-2339, @NanAustin
This story was originally published June 24, 2016 at 2:09 PM with the headline "Turlock Unified will seek $88.8 million in school bonds."