Science labs, stadiums, plumbing, pools — lots of wants, needs on Measure L to-do lists
On the Nov. 8 election ballot, Modesto voters are asked to be true to their schools — to the tune of $198 million.
If approved, Modesto City Schools’ Measure L will raise funds dedicated to only its high school facilities, just as 2018’s Measures D and E did for TK-8 sites. The district’s last bond measure for high schools was in 2001. Voters then approved Measure T, a $65 million bond to help build two high schools: Enochs, which opened in 2006, and Gregori, which opened in 2010.
But MCS has five older comprehensive high schools — Beyer, Davis, Downey, Johansen and Modesto — and Elliott Alternative Education Center, and most of the facilities were built 50 to 100 years ago.
“If our most recent investment in high schools is 21 years ago, could you do that for your home?” Modesto Teachers Association President Chris Peterson said during a recent Measure L discussion with The Bee and district Associate Superintendent of Business Services Tim Zearley. “Could you delay repairs on roofing, HVAC, electrical? No homeowner in their right mind would do that. So really, this is an investment that’s overdue.”
The bond project list, which is included in the Stanislaus County sample ballot, does not drill down to specific projects and their price tags. If Measure L is approved — 55% of the vote is required — the project list will be shaped much the same way it was for elementary schools, Zearley said: “We would go to each school community, include teachers, administration, parents, (and ask,) ‘What would you like to see?’”
Ultimately, specific projects go before the Board of Education for approval. And the Measure L full text in the sample ballot says its passage “does not guarantee that all projects on the Bond Project List at all listed sites will be funded beyond the local revenues generated ... .”
The project proposals assume some state matching funds, which may be dependent on legislation or voter approval of a future state bond measure. Measure L bond funds would be a match for Modesto City Schools to receive money from that state measure.
The district has identified projects as being high-priority needs and has said each high school site will see improvements. Project areas include:
- Outdated and damaged facilities (replacement of portables, renovation of restrooms, leaky roofs, HVAC, plumbing, etc.)
- Classroom tech (updating classrooms and science labs, improving learning technology, performing arts theaters and more)
- Improving accessibility to meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements
- P.E. and athletic facilities (stadiums, pools, all-weather tracks and other projects)
- Health and Safety (alarms, lighting, fencing, security cameras)
Peterson cited the traffic situation at Modesto High School as a safety priority. The campus is divided by four-lane H Street, which students have to cross at a traffic light multiple times during the school day.
A vision shared with the school board, Peterson said, is to house the student body fully on the campus south of the street, where the permanent buildings are. With no room to expand the campus, that likely would mean adding some two-story classrooms.
As he talked of district staff visiting school communities to hear about project “wish lists,” Zearley touched on wants vs. needs.
If you ask the Enochs High community, it sees the school as unfinished because it lacks a stadium, he said. Indeed, when the board in June approved putting Measure L on the ballot, Enochs football players and coaches turned out in support, in large part citing the need for stadiums at those schools that lack them.
And the refrain from the Gregori High community, he said, is “We have a brand-new high school but we don’t have a pool.”
It’s one thing to not have a stadium, because a football team still can practice at their school without one, Zearley said, whereas swimming and water polo teams at high schools without pools have to go elsewhere.
The district has the challenge of striking a balance among the demands at the high schools and their surrounding communities, he said. “When we’re doing our surveys, if you have that grandparent or longstanding community member who’s gone through our schools, doesn’t have relatives, doesn’t have grandkids in school, their interest may not be a stadium. They want to make sure that the school is safe.”
A measure of trust
Measure L is a big ask. Zearley has said the bond’s total cost over its 25-year life — including interest — is about $334 million.
The cost to property owners would be about $29 per $100,000 in assessed value per year. That’s based on the purchase price of a home, not its current market value.
The owner of a $300,000 home would expect to pay $87 a year, or $7.25 a month. The cost to the owner of a $500,000 home would be $145 a year, or $12.08 a month.
The first planned bond issuance would be in May 2023, so property owners would not see the increase “until a year from now on their ’23-24 property tax bill,” Zearley said.
With no specific site improvements spelled out in the measure’s text, it also required a measure of trust by voters in the school board and staff.
To that end, in the years since bond Measures D and E were approved, the district has worked to show taxpayers it is a good steward of their dollars. There’s been a string of groundbreakings and ribbon cuttings for elementary school improvements, including multiple cafeteria, perimeter fencing and parking lot/student drop-off projects, as well as science labs and classrooms.
As with those measures, “L” if it passes would require an independent citizens oversight committee and an annual independent performance audit.
In an argument on the sample ballot, Measure L opponent Bruce Frohman, a onetime City Council member, says the oversight committee “can be packed with friendlies willing to rubber stamp extravagant expenditures (like electronic signage) without any accountability to taxpayers.”
Zearley said the district will ask for applicants, and the committee must include representation from certain parts of the community, including taxpayer groups. He said people like Frohman are invited to be part of the citizens committee.
The oversight committee for the elementary school bond measures included a couple of people who did not support D and E. “And they now have developed that trust that the district is being good stewards of the dollars and doing what they promised the voters they would do,” Zearley said.
In these few weeks ahead of the election, a Measure L informational meeting is being held at each high school campus. The first were Tuesday at Downey and Elliott, Wednesday at Enochs and Thursday at Beyer.
The remaining meetings are Oct. 18, Davis little theater, 5:30 p.m.; Oct. 24, Modesto High library, 5:30 p.m.; Oct. 25, Johansen library, 5:30 p.m.,; and Oct. 26, Gregori library, 5:30 p.m. Anyone may attend any meeting.
This story was originally published October 14, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
