School board to vote on bond measure

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT-MESA -- Residents will have their last chance tonight to voice

opinions on a potential $110-million school bond before the Board of

Education opts whether to place the measure on a special June ballot.

After a month of study sessions, the Newport-Mesa Unified School

District’s trustees are scheduled to vote on the issue during a special

meeting at 7 tonight.

“I expect it to pass,” board member Martha Fluor said. “I don’t have any

concerns, so from my point of view I think it’s pretty clear.”

Before voting, the board will review the fine print on a draft resolution

prepared by the attorney hired to work on the bond measure.

“Staff members are going to present to us both what bond counsel has

indicated needs to be in a resolution, as well as what they interpret was

said by the board during all the different study sessions,” board member

Judy Franco said. “There’s an opportunity for community input and board

comment, then the board will make a decision.”

District study sessions have covered three main topics:

* The first meeting detailed the specifics of a community oversight

committee, which as its sole job would ensure that bond money was being

spent properly.

* Next, board members tackled possible ways to raise money for a reserve

fund for future upkeep of schools once they are renovated.

* Finally, they discussed funding options for the repairs.

That funding source is the potential bond up for vote tonight.

When the district first began looking at the cost of fixing its

deteriorating schools, officials estimated the repairs would cost $15

million. Now, after a year and an extensive study, the repair figure is

up to $163 million.

The state is expected to pitch in $53 million, leaving the district to

raise $110 million.

That final number, along with the list of specific work needed at each

school, was determined by the facilities committee, made up of local

business and community leaders charged with examining each campus and

developing a plan to fix all the schools.

The school board has taken the committee’s recommendations, hired a bond

attorney, added its own insights and boiled the information down into a

bond resolution.

“I’m pretty happy with [the bond resolution],” board member Wendy Leece

said. “We worked hard, and I think what we ended up with is a really good

document. But it’s hard to say how it will be received.”

Parents and community members may speak up at tonight’s special meeting,

but it may be too late to make changes, Leece warned.

“If other people want to come down and look at it they can,” she said,

adding: “I think it’s pretty much a done deal [tonight]. If we’ve left

anything out, it’s pretty much too late.”

Board members say they have heard very little negative comments from the

public and they are very optimistic.

“We’ve already had people ask about being on subcommittees,” board

President Dana Black said. “It’s pretty positive. I’ve got lots of calls

from parents asking, ‘When do we get started?’ ”

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FYI

The school board meeting will begin at 7 tonight at 2985-A Bear St. in

Costa Mesa.