School board approves bond measure

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT-MESA -- The school board will ask residents to pass a

$110-million bond to repair deteriorating schools -- the first of its

kind in the history of the 35-year-old district.

In a unanimous vote Tuesday night, the Newport-Mesa Unified School

District’s Board of Education decided to put the bond measure before

voters June 6 in a special election.

If passed, the bond would fund major repairs to all of Newport-Mesa’s 29

schools, including the replacement of leaky roofs and outdated plumbing,

upgrading electrical systems and stabilizing buildings against the threat

of earthquakes.

“It doesn’t take a genius to take a look at our facilities and see that

we have serious needs,” said Supt. Robert Barbot. “This is the best

option for fixing those needs.”

School board president Dana Black said if the bond measure passes,

students will be able to learn in a safer, healthier environment.

“I’m just thrilled for our kids, our teachers and our community,” she

said.

District officials decided on a June 6 special election rather than

waiting until November so they can apply as quickly as possible for $53

million in state matching funds.

The passage of the bond would not ensure the additional $53 million from

the state, however.

Newport Heights resident Kurt Yeager gave a sigh of relief following the

7-0 vote and said the bond measure is a sound plan that will renew

residents’ investments in their homes and their community.

“We’re out of excuses,” Yeager said. “The board and the community know

what is needed. Now it’s time to do it.”

In light of the district’s marred financial history -- including

borrowing $47 million to invest in the Orange County pool just before the

bankruptcy and a multimillion-dollar embezzlement -- the board felt it

needed to include safeguards in the proposed bond to gain community

support.

The measure created holds the district to several key commitments:

* All proceeds from the bond must be used for the specific purposes

outlined in the district’s facilities master plan.

* Prior to the bond election, a citizens’ oversight committee must be

created to oversee spending of the funds.

* If the bond passes, the district must establish a reserve fund within

five to seven years, equaling 4% of the district’s annual budget, for the

upkeep of schools once they are repaired.

The district will go ahead with the election regardless of the passage of

Proposition 26. That initiative, which will appear on the March 7 primary

election ballot, would lower the voter approval requirement for school

bonds from a two-thirds majority to a simple majority vote.

The type of bond that has been chosen by the board would be paid off in

25 years with level payments, Barbot said, with the average payment being

$23 for a home that has an assessed value of $100,000.

With some Newport-Mesa schools as old as 70 years, talk of repairing the

crumbling buildings has been going on for decades.

The district began to take a serious look at the issue two years ago.

With the completion of a district master plan last year, a facilities

committee comprising 30 local business and community leaders was created.

The committee was charged with determining the specific needs of the

schools and recommending a plan of action to the board.

As those community members walked the schools and detailed the problems,

the price tag for fixing them continued to rise.

The group’s co-chairman, Mark Schultheis, presented the committee’s final

report in January with funding needs totaling $163 million. The committee

recommended the board put a bond of $110 million before the voting

public.

Before the school board’s vote Tuesday night, Schultheis was one of a

dozen speakers who urged the board to put the decision in voters’ hands.

“That resolution, if passed tonight and enacted by the voters in June,

contains the blueprint for rebuilding schools,” he said. “It contains the

hopes of this community for better schools for our children.”