The Riverside Record, a nonprofit news outlet serving all of Riverside County, is taking a look at special ballot measures across Riverside County, starting with school bonds. This work is made possible by contributions from readers like you.
Eleven school districts in Riverside County will seek approval for a combined total of $1.7 billion in school bonds this November in an effort to build new schools, modernize older facilities and ensure students have what they need to succeed.
“This is really the only way that districts can get money to make significant investments in facilities,” Sara Hinkley, the California Program Manager for the Center for Cities + Schools at the University of California, Berkeley, said. “They might have a tiny facilities budget that allows you to do things like minor repairs and funds general maintenance, but, you know, there’s no universe in which a district’s general budget allows them to do something like install air conditioning in a school.”
But what exactly is a school bond, and why does it impact property taxes?
“A school bond is a general obligation bond, which means that the school district is able to borrow money,” Hinkley said. “But they don’t use their sort of general funds to pay for that. Instead, they levy a tax on property owners in the school district’s jurisdiction.”
And, Hinkley said, the bond funds can only be used for facilities investments such as building new schools, modernizing old buildings to better serve current student needs and maintenance projects.
The funds from school bonds also allow local districts to ask the state for matching funds, when the money is available, making their dollars stretch even further. In November, California voters will decide the fate of Proposition 2, which would allow the state to take out $10 billion in bonds for this purpose.
But not every school district has the same bond capacity or the amount they’re able to seek in a single bond election. This can be for a number of reasons, including whether the district is a unified district or a high school or elementary district, the amount of debt the district already has from previous bond measures and the district’s property tax base.
“We often say school facility funding is the most regressive form of funding in the education system,” Hinkley said. “California did a lot of work, partly in response to lawsuits, to restructure how overall education funding is done, so that it’s not reliant on local property values.
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“There are still some inequities, because some districts are able to pass parcel taxes, but it’s significantly improved,” she said. “And school facility funding is still the way we did it, you know, 100 years ago. It’s still all based on local property tax.”
In order to pass, a bond measure must receive 55% of the vote, which has historically been a relatively easy threshold for school districts to meet. Since 2014, roughly 77% of local school bonds have passed statewide, according to data from Ballotpedia.
“Californians really do want to invest in education and in their schools,” Hinkley said.
Want to learn more about the 11 Riverside County school districts going out for bond this November? Be sure to check out the stories below.
Banning Unified School District is seeking voter approval for a $74 million bond measure.
“Our education programs have improved over time, our relationships with staff have improved, and now it’s time to improve our physical space,” Superintendent Terrence Davis said when asked why now is the right time for Measure O. “And so it’s just kind of in alignment in moving forward to really provide results and impact to what we’ve been talking about.”
Beaumont Unified School District is seeking voter approval for a $148 million bond measure.
“This is one of those types of investments, where it stays in the community, stays in the school, in the classroom,” Sergio San Martin, chief business official, said when asked why now is the right time for Measure E. “It supports the classroom facility, and if we have adequate learning environments, that’s when our students do best and do better.”
Jurupa Unified School District is seeking voter approval for a $180 million bond measure.
“We’re at the end of Measure EE,” Paula Ford, assistant superintendent of Business Services, said when asked why now is the right time for Measure V. “We know we need to continue to provide for all of our schools and all of our students, and in order to do that, we need to be able to access these funds.”
Lake Elsinore Unified School District is seeking voter approval for a $198 million bond measure.
“Good schools and good facilities provide better home values, better educational experiences for kids and for adults,” James Judziewicz, assistant superintendent for Facilities and Operations Support Services, said when asked why now is the right time for Measure T. “A lot of organizations throughout our area use our facilities on weekends, so not just our schools, but the community gets a benefit from it, and we feel that now is a good time, because we have a lot to do, and this is a good opportunity to try to make some headway on that.”
Menifee Union School District is seeking voter approval for a $205 million bond measure.
“We have just finished our Measure Q commitments, and we’re ready to move on to the next set of schools,” Marc Bommarito, assistant superintendent of Business Services, said when asked why now is the right time for Measure R. “And we’ve laid out a list of additional schools that are needed across the community as we continue to grow, and we really do need those funds to continue building schools to the same level that we have in the last decade.”
Correction: A previous edition of this story misidentified Marc Bommarito, assistant superintendent of Business Services, as Director of Facilities Jim Sellers. The Record apologizes for this mistake
Moreno Valley Unified School District is seeking voter approval for a $240 million bond measure.
“All of our decisions are focused around our students and knowing that this is what’s best for our students by providing campuses that are safe, that are welcoming and that are modern, so that they can focus on the educational portion while they’re there,” Alex Sponheim, interim director of communications and community engagement, said when asked why now is the right time for Measure X. “We have great community support, and what really is the cherry on top is that we are not having a tax increase.”
Nuview Union School District is seeking voter approval for a $15 million bond measure.
“We try to make decisions based on what’s best for kids,” Superintendent John Huber said when asked why now is the right time for Measure K. “And we think that this will provide equity opportunities for our kids and some of the newer schools that might be in neighborhoods, and we want and value providing opportunities for our kids in a first-class learning environment, and we want to keep up and keep modernized.”
Palm Springs Unified School District is seeking voter approval for a $465 million bond measure.
“This is the right time because usually general elections are the best time to go out for bonds since more people vote, and so you have a better opportunity for more people to be able to express their opinion on this bond,” Jeffrey Simmons, assistant superintendent of Business Services, said when asked why now is the right time for Measure S. “And the next general election is obviously not until 2028, and we feel like between those two times is when we’re going to need the money again to continue on with these projects, particularly some of the major ones.”
Perris Elementary School District is seeking voter approval for a $38 million bond measure.
“We have a new superintendent. He’s in his second year, and he’s come with some new and innovative ideas,” Francine Story, chief business official, said when asked why now is the right time for Measure H. “And we had already started moving in the direction of wanting to improve our campuses as much as we could, but now … from a facility standpoint, we want to be able to support that and really give an exciting environment and meet the needs of our staff, our students and our community.”
Romoland School District is seeking voter approval for a $58 million bond measure.
“We’re growing so fast that our resources are exhausted at this point,” Superintendent Trevor Painton said when asked why now is the right time for Measure I. “And, you know, the total money generated from a school bond … can take anywhere from seven to 10 years to get all the proceeds from, so we have to think long-term.”
San Jacinto Unified School District is seeking voter approval for a $78 million bond measure.
“The bottom line is they deserve better than a portable classroom that’s past its useful age,” Seth Heeren, assistant superintendent of Business Services, said when asked why now is the right time for Measure C. “The air conditioning works, the doors work, they’re safe … but [our students] deserve more modern facilities.”
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