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Dublin Unified School District board members discussed and voted on possible facilities bond measures for the November 2024 election.
After reviewing staff research and survey results during its Dec. 12 meeting, the board voted in favor of working on two separate bonds addressing needs on the east and west sides of Dublin, respectively, and voted to no longer look into a districtwide bond.
“The district recently worked with a consulting firm to conduct a survey to gauge community interest in a $180 million bond that would address some of the district’s facilities needs not covered by existing funds,” district representatives said in the staff report.
“Potential projects included replacing aging portables, addressing enrollment growth at our middle school sites, and repairing and replacing aging HVAC systems,” they added.
Trustee Dan Cherrier expressed strong support for having separate bonds, saying it would be easier to approve and address specific issues within the district.
“There are especially a lot of needs, we have a middle school that is significantly large. We have some unmet needs at the Emerald High School too. We’re not meeting those needs,” Cherrier said.
“We should keep the door open to exploring an east side-only bond that only east side residents have to pay into, and money that can only be spent on the east side,” continued Cherrier. “Right now the majority of the needs are on the east side.”
Other board members agreed with this sentiment, expressing that a districtwide bond would likely not receive voter approval.
“I would not support a full city bond,” Trustee Kristin Speck said. “I feel very confident that a full city bond would fail and would be a waste of our money.”
Superintendent Chris Funk informed the board the deadline for placing a bond on the November ballot would be in August, and that the option to place one on the spring ballot is no longer available.
The board unanimously approved a motion by Cherrier to continue exploring separate bond measures, for east or west side, to be placed on the November 2024 ballot.
The board then voted 4-1 to no longer look into a districtwide bond. Board President Kristin Pelham was the lone dissenter.
Funk proposed scheduling a full study session on the potential bond and also defining a line between east and west.
“It just seems to me that it (possible bond options) deserves our full attention, as opposed to trying to cover all that in a normal board meeting,” Funk said.
The board agreed with Funk and planned to address the bond item at a future meeting.
I can’t say I’m a fan of dividing up subareas of districts on bonds – there’s already a long history of school district breakups to keep minorities out.
But my understanding is that in September the DUSD board put Emerald’s theater ahead of higher ranked projects at other schools – as if it was Emerald’s money specifically – which directly fed into this east-vs-west problem. Why should the public trust that the money will be spent per the District’s plans if the board ignores their own plans when funding becomes available?