The Abridged version:
- Voters in parts of Placer, Yolo and Sacramento counties will decide this fall on a handful of school bond measures. Funding from the bonds goes strictly toward facility-related expenses.
- School officials from Rocklin to Winters say they need the money to repair things like leaky roofs or upgrade classrooms for more modern learning environments.
- The Los Rios Community College District is also asking for $1.1 billion, and two school districts are proposing parcel taxes, which are distinct from bond measures.
Leaky roofs and aged plumbing systems. Decades-old classrooms that do not fit modern courses. Portable buildings still keeping space for more permanent structures.
School districts across the Sacramento region share many of the same to-do list items. The sum cost of addressing all needed repairs and renovations can land in the nine- to 10-figure ballpark.
So, this November, officials from a handful of districts are turning to voters for assistance.
There are six school bond measures on the ballots for parts of Sacramento, Placer and Yolo counties. One of those is a $1.1 billion proposal from the Los Rios Community College District. (Parcel taxes, which Sacramento City Unified and Tahoe-Truckee Unified have each proposed this year, are distinct.)
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Approval for these measures allows education leaders to take out loans that would then be repaid by property taxes. Bond funds are strictly required to go toward facility-related expenses like upgrading HVAC systems, replacing dilapidated fencing or constructing new school buildings.
Except, most districts are past the point of needing new campuses, said Kevin Gordon, president of the consulting group Capitol Advisers. With enrollment declining statewide, including in much of the Sacramento region, attention is mostly on fixing up what they already have.
Up and down California, school bond measures are commonplace and tend to fare well, especially since the turn of the century when the threshold for approval dropped from two-thirds to 55%.
No funding is allotted to school districts specifically for facilities. The state frequently offers a matching amount for districts that first put up their own local funding. But the cost of building, repairing and maintaining campuses tends to outweigh what is available in the budget — thus, bond measures.
‘Problems will only become more pressing’
One of the largest proposed bonds for a TK-12 school district is on the ballot in Natomas, where the school district serves nearly 17,000 students.
Natomas Unified leaders are asking for $300 million in funds. It is estimated to cost homeowners $60 per $100,000 of assessed property value.
Projects like fixing outdated plumbing systems, upgrading fire safety equipment and replacing portable classrooms would likely take precedence, according the ballot measure text.
“The (school) Board concluded that if these needs are not addressed now, the problems will only become more pressing and expensive to fix, as facilities continue to age and construction costs continue to rise,” the measure reads.
Districts of varying size need similar fixes
Similar priorities are on the docket for Rocklin Unified, Galt Joint Union High School District, Winters Joint Unified and Center Joint Unified, which straddles Sacramento and Placer counties.
Leaders from each district point to aging facilities across their elementary, middle and high school campuses.
In Rocklin Unified, a district of about 12,000 students, most schools are more than 20 years old. Two sites have been around for more than 60 years. Officials there are looking for $288 million in funds to make repairs and modernize classrooms. It would cost taxpayers $59 per $100,000 of home value.
Education officials in Galt and Winters are overseeing fewer schools and asking for relatively smaller bond amounts. Both districts serve roughly 2,000 students.
The proposed measure in Winters is $29 million and would come out to $49 per $100,000 of assessed value. Galt leaders are aiming for $43 million, a cost of $30 per $100,000 in home value. (Galt voters approved $27 million in bonds for their elementary school district, a separate entity, in 2024.)
Center Joint Unified, which covers Antelope, Elverta and Roseville, has approximately 4,000 students. But the district is part of a rare contingent in California that is anticipating growth in coming years.
School board members there unanimously called for a $197 million measure on this year’s ballot. Homeowners would pay $60 per $100,000 in property value.
Facility funding would go toward repairs as well as expanding building capacity at current campuses, according to the ballot measure. Construction on a new school is underway in Roseville using money from prior bond measures. Sierra Vista Elementary School is expected to open in 2029.
Community colleges address age
The largest bond measure on the ballot this year belongs to the Los Rios Community College District, which is seeking $1.1 billion. Those additional funds represent about a third of the district’s overall facility needs, according to staff.
The project list is lengthy, touching on all four main community college campuses and most of the district’s additional satellite sites. It includes fixing roofs and HVAC systems, constructing new buildings, expanding athletic facilities and more.
Opponents of the measure — including some of the district’s own trustees — have criticized officials for limiting it to a subdistrict. Los Rios includes most of Sacramento and El Dorado counties, Yolo County’s eastern stretch, and small slices of Placer and Solano counties.
However, voting on and paying for the bond measure is restricted to Sacramento and Yolo counties.
Careful calibration of odds
Bond measures tend to come up in areas where leaders have already estimated decent odds of succeeding, said Gordon, a well-known expert in education funding.
“Every district has to calibrate what their chances of winning are,” he said.
The proposals are rarer in communities where voters — and school leaders themselves — tend to be more conservative and less likely to approve additional taxes. But, Gordon said, if trustees and other district leaders are fully on board, that is a good indicator of community support.
In June, Rocklin Unified trustees approved putting their district’s bond measure before voters. The decision was unanimous.
“As someone who generally approaches government spending with caution, I do not support every tax proposal that comes along,” board member Rachelle Price said. “I support this school bond.”
