Vallejo school board begins work on possible 2018 bond measure

The Vallejo school board will spend up to $50,000 to prepare the district for a possible run at a school bond in 2018.

A cadre of parents, educators, and community members attended the school board meeting Wednesday night recommending the trustees support the move, which includes working with bond counsel and district financial analysts, and advertising a Request for Qualifications (RFP) for qualified bond polling/information services, and communications/strategy consultants.

In the 4-1 vote, with Trustee Marianne Kearney-Brown opposed, the board further authorized district staff to “develop and initiate a plan of action with regular board updates and authorizations” regarding updating the facilities master plan and an implementation plan. Staff will also determine the type and amount of any possible bond as well.

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Several members of the short-lived Bond Task Force cited a need for the Vallejo City Unified School District to provide up-to-date and repaired facilities to foster a positive learning space for the city’s students.

“The look of the school district, the look of the facilities and the schools, that really matters,” said task force member Shiyama Clunie.

Clunie works for Kaiser Permanente as the public affairs director for the Napa/Solano area.

The task force was created at the end of June with the specific goal of exploring possible funding options, including a general obligation bond, to repair the district’s dilapidated schools.

Another task force member, Jon Riley, who serves as executive director of the Napa/Solano Central Labor Council, urged the board to approve the item for the health of the city and schools.

“Whether you have no kids at all, whether you have kids in the district, or like myself, my kids, I sent them to private school, this bond is going to be critical because the health of our city depends so much on the health of our schools,” Riley said.

Trustee Bob Lawson said he supported Wednesday’s action “very strongly.” He also offered some advice.

“There is a big constituency out there that has to get on board with this too,” he said. “M-O-W-P: mean old white people.”

Board Vice President said now was the perfect time to begin work on placing a bond before the city’s voters in 2018. Worel referenced Measure A — the $133 million general obligation bond Vallejo voters approved in 1997. He said campaigning for Measure A started at the start of that year.

He noted work on Measure E in 2014, and the attempted placement of a bond on the 2016 ballot was too late.

Despite receiving 61 percent approval from Vallejo voters, Measure E — calling for $239 million to address district facilities — failed to attain the 66 percent required by law in 2014.

In July 2016, a divided board failed to reach the required four ‘yes’ votes to place two companion $139 million bonds on the fall ballot to repair school facilities in the district. One measure was reserved for middle and high schools facilities, while the second was intended to assist the district’s elementary schools.

Worel said improved facilities will allow the district to retain teachers.

“We have a problem retaining teachers, and part of that problem is (because of) our facilities,” he said. “Why would somebody want to come work in this district, where the facility is falling apart?”

Worel further expressed that the district didn’t need to spend money on polling services.

Trustee Marianne Kearney-Brown argued the need for a “holistic plan” to addressing the district’s facility needs.

“We need to have better facilities, we need to make the repairs, but I think we need to do it in an holistic way where we are looking at everything we need,” she said.

Mitchell Romao, the district’s chief operations officer, said the task force ultimately determined something needs to be done about the state of the district’s schools.

“The overwhelming concern was that our facilities are in such a challenged condition — we need to do something to address this,” he said.

In an interview last year, Romao said the district needed about $750 million at the time to address its facility needs.

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