School Bonding to Be on Ballot

Voters in Moorpark will decide in November whether to tax property owners to pay for numerous technology and building projects for their local school district.

By a unanimous vote, trustees Wednesday night approved placing a $16-million bond measure on the Nov. 4 ballot.

Shari Prosser, assistant superintendent of business services for the Moorpark Unified School District, said if two-thirds of Moorpark’s voters approve the measure, owners of single-family properties will pay about $29 a year per $100,000 of their home’s assessed value.

The tax would be used to update technological equipment at all nine schools, as well as pay for classroom and other building projects at most schools.

“We are taking this to the voters because these are projects over and above what the district is funded for,” Prosser said.

The district has, for the most part, relied on state funding for its building program in the past, Prosser said.

“But there comes a point when we have to ask the community to get behind us on some of the projects we want,” Prosser said.

In the past, Prosser said, the state routinely paid the entire cost of building projects.

But as the demand for schools increased statewide, the state began requiring districts to come up with 50% of building costs. With the average school costing $8 million, it has been a particular burden for smaller districts, Prosser said.

To raise their share, many districts have turned to voter-approved bonds.

Voters in five school districts in Ventura County passed bond measures this year, including $57 million in the Oxnard elementary district and $81 million in Ventura.

Moorpark is one of four others in the county that have been considering such measures.