Romoland School District Seeking $58M In Bonds With Measure I

This November, voters in the Romoland School District will be asked whether or not to approve Measure I, a $58 million bond package that will be used to address overcrowding in the district and prepare for future growth.

“We’ve seen, I think it’s about 40% growth over the last 10 years in our student enrollment, maybe 10% in the last few years, and our schools are all at capacity,” Superintendent Trevor Painton said.

In order to address this growth, the district is hoping to use the bond money to build a new school and either replace aging portable buildings or convert them into permanent classrooms.

“Unlike a lot of districts, we’re growing in multiple areas of our attendance boundaries,” Painton said. “One of the developers is starting this fall on a 1,600-home development, and there’s another 600-home development right down the road, so we know that we will need to open a new school to accommodate the students that move into those homes.”

Prior to heading out for bond, the district conducted polling with voters and received mostly positive feedback from the community.

“We sent home a few educational mailers,” Painton said. “One of those had the opportunity to provide input via a survey, either paper or electronic, and we got both.”

Painton said the district has also disseminated a lot of information about the capacity issues facing the county and the importance of providing students with adequate facilities.

If approved, Measure I will be the first bond in the history of the Romoland School District.

“We are the only district in Riverside County to have never passed a bond, which is significant considering we’re one of the only districts in Riverside County to have increased enrollment in the last few years, especially post Covid,” Madison Arreola, communications and special projects coordinator, said. “We’re still increasing every year.”

When it comes to property taxes, the district is asking voters to approve a levy of up to $40 for every $100,000 in assessed value for all residential, commercial and industrial properties. Painton said the average property owner would be an increase of approximately $120 per year.

“We hope that $10 a month is something that families would be able to prioritize for the benefits of students in their community,” Painton said.

Both Arreola and Painton said now is the right time for this bond because the district has exhausted all other options to address its capacity concerns.

“We’re growing so fast that our resources are exhausted at this point with those solutions,” Painton said. “And the total money generated from a school bond, there’s some variables in there, but it can take anywhere from seven to 10 years to get all of the proceeds from a school bond, so we have to think long term.”