In the last ten years SFUSD has lost 10,000 students. Few claim that education happens in these racist driven schools. Girls are not safe in the showers or bathrooms and no teacher is safe in the bully/gang controlled hallways. Love America—you are in trouble.
Now they want a $790 million bond, over $1.5 billion including interest to “fix” the classrooms—but not the education.
“The district initially planned a $1 billion school bond for the March ballot, but Board of Education commissioners backtracked, noting that previous bonds’ shortcomings would have to be addressed before proposing the largest public-school bond in The City’s history.
Despite the delay, commissioners agreed that the funds are sorely needed to repair district property amid declining enrollment and planned school closures.
“SFUSD’s commitment to educational excellence must be supported by well-functioning schools,” Board of Education President Lainie Motamedi said in a statement. “SFUSD’s bond program is absolutely essential to fund the critical improvements needed to provide quality education and safe learning environments.”
Like the rest of San Fran government, they are willing to flush tax dollars down the bidet.
SFUSD says $790M bond not enough to fix all aging facilities
By Allyson Aleksey, SF Examiner, 5/6/24 https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/education/record-setting-sfusd-bond-could-head-to-november-2024-ballot/article_109cda68-0bfa-11ef-a0f7-27061bf4bfc4.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axioslocal_sanfrancisco&stream=top
San Francisco Unified School District officials admit the $790 million bond measure being prepared for placement on the Nov. 5 ballot still wouldn’t provide enough money to fix the district’s aging facilities.
The district initially planned a $1 billion school bond for the March ballot, but Board of Education commissioners backtracked, noting that previous bonds’ shortcomings would have to be addressed before proposing the largest public-school bond in The City’s history.
Despite the delay, commissioners agreed that the funds are sorely needed to repair district property amid declining enrollment and planned school closures.
“SFUSD’s commitment to educational excellence must be supported by well-functioning schools,” Board of Education President Lainie Motamedi said in a statement. “SFUSD’s bond program is absolutely essential to fund the critical improvements needed to provide quality education and safe learning environments.”
The board adopted a facilities master plan last year dictating where 2024 bond funds will be directed. It addresses the need for mechanical, electrical, plumbing and air-ventilation systems in all schools. The plan also identifies Rooftop Elementary and Middle School’s Mayeda campus, Mission High School, Balboa High School, Everett Middle School and George Moscone Elementary School — all projects deferred from a 2016 bond — as needing improvements the most.
District officials claimed the bond measure will not raise tax rates.
“The bond program is a responsible steward of public funds and remains committed to transforming the state of our school facilities without increasing taxes,” Motamedi said.
The bond will need 55% of voters’ support to pass. Superintendent Matt Wayne said in a statement that the proposal “will allow [the district] to invest in the places that need it most and need it now.”
But district officials said that $790 million, which would be the district’s largest bond to date, is still not enough. SFUSD Executive Director of Capital Planning Karen Sullivan said that $6 billion is needed to repair all schools, and Wayne noted at an April board meeting that the district has “way more needs than we’ll address in one bond.”
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The district is not proposing a larger bond because district leaders “need to demonstrate to the community [their] ability to manage resources well,” Wayne said.
“The bond program has been managed very well, but the confidence in the district’s ability is one we need to restore,” he said.
Parents have vocally criticized the district for delaying needed improvements after voters passed a $744 million bond to fund repairs in 2016.
In recent years, students at Buena Vista Horace Mann have dealt with lead in the plumbing, rodents and a gas leak, prompting parents to file a Williams complaint over unsafe learning conditions. SFUSD approved $40 million for repairs in 2021, and district officials said renovations will begin next year.
SFUSD also pledged $100 million of the $744 million bond toward Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts and construction of an arts center. Money to build the center went toward pandemic-related needs, delaying repairs and construction.
Seventy-nine percent of voters approved the 2016 bond, and district officials said they are hopeful that a 2024 bond will pass to address repairs.
“SFUSD’s debt burden and tax rates are relatively low when compared to other large school districts in the state,” district spokesperson Laura Dudnick said in a statement. “SFUSD spends down bonds efficiently and general obligation bond tax rates have always been lower than what was presented to voters in the bond measure at election time.”
Fitch Ratings, one of three nationally recognized credit-rating agencies, reversed SFUSD’s issuer rating from negative to stable in January. The agency noted that SFUSD worked to address errors within an ongoing structural budget imbalance that prompted intervention by the California Department of Education over a multiyear failure to address large projected deficits.
The district will present the proposed $790 million general-obligation bond measure resolution at the May 14 Board of Education meeting.
