Morgan Hill Times: February 21, 2020

No on Measure I

Measure I, sponsored by the Morgan Hill Unified School District, asks the voters for $900 million in bonds, to be spent over the next 30 years on new construction, technology and capital upgrades at the district’s 14 school sites. This measure needs a 55-percent majority to pass.

We recommend voting “No” on Measure I.

Measure I would hand a $900-million check to the school board and administrators to build whatever new facilities and renovations they feel like approving over the next 30 years. That is an astounding amount of money for a 14-school, 9,000-student district. According to the ballot measure text, local property owners could be paying off the bonds (at a total cost of nearly $2 billion) until 2090, long after many of us have left this earth.

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The Mercury News

San Jose schools are asking voters for more than $600 million. What will they do with it?

The schools plan to use the funding to build staff housing, upgrade security and renovate schools

By Maggie Angst 

February 7, 2020  

Faced with declining enrollment, mounting pension liability and insufficient state funds, nine school districts serving San Jose students are asking residents for a total of more than $600 million to help keep them afloat.

On March 3, voters who live within the boundaries of these nine school districts — East Side Union, Berryessa Union, Campbell Union Elementary, Campbell Union High, Evergreen, Franklin-McKinley, Moreland, Oak Grove and Union school districts — will see bond measures or parcel taxes on their ballot.

While each district plans to spend the money raised by the proposed measures for different projects — from upgrading security systems to building a housing development for its staff — they each cite similar reasons for pursuing the additional funding.

Most school districts across California receive a combination of local, state and federal funding. Unlike some other states across the country, California schools rely heavily on statewide property tax revenues — and the state ranks far below the national average for funding per student.

To make up for dwindling funds, schools for years have relied on leveraging bonds and parcel taxes to help pay for construction projects and new education programs.

Pierluigi Oliverio, a former San Jose city councilman and director for the Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association, said that districts across the state should focus on demanding more funding and accountability from the state rather than placing an increased burden on local taxpayers.

“If the local school districts spent as much time trying to raise taxes locally and instead focused that time on lobbying their locally elected members in the state legislature, they’d have the money they need,” Oliverio said.

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San Jose Spotlight - January 2, 2020:

More than 20 measures headed to Santa Clara County voters

With the March election just a couple months away, the final list of countywide ballot measures that voters will decide include 21 initiatives, asking voters to weigh in on everything from a new property tax in the Bay Area’s largest city to a slew of school bond measures.

Here is a look at ten of the biggest measures on the ballot this year.

by Carina Woudenberg


Mountain View Patch: 10/19/16

Measure B: Santa Clara Co. Voters To Decide Half-Cent Sales Tax For Transportation Projects

Plans include extending BART, repairing roads and easing congestion.

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA – Voters will decide next month on a measure that would raise billions of dollars to help address many public transportation issues throughout Santa Clara County.

Measure B, a half-cent sales tax for 30 years, would raise between $6 billion to $6.5 billion for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority to extend BART into Silicon Valley, reduce crowded freeways and
repair roads throughout Santa Clara County.

To read the entire piece, click here.


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