As Measure I heads toward a resounding defeat in the March 3 election, Morgan Hill Unified School District officials are preparing to reconvene and consider other options for acquiring funding for long-term facilities construction and upgrades.
With 85 percent of the ballots counted on March 4, the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters reported that nearly 61 percent of the votes cast on Super Tuesday were for “No” on Measure I. Out of 11,051 total votes counted, 6,720 voted “No” and 4,331 voted “Yes” on the school construction bond measure.
The measure, which required a 55 percent majority to pass, would allow the school district to sell up to $900 million in bonds over the next 30 years.
A $15 billion statewide school construction referendum, Proposition 13, also was headed for rejection by California voters.
Morgan Hill school trustees, district staff and other supporters of Measure I argued that the bonds are badly needed to ensure adequate funding is in place to keep the district’s 14 school campuses and other facilities in top shape over the next 30 years. Supporters pointed to the district’s master facilities plan, which lists nearly $1 billion in short-term and long-term construction needs for the school sites.
MHUSD Superintendent Steve Betando said Wednesday morning that supporters are disappointed in the balloting results so far.
“We were hoping we would wake up with an approved measure, and it didn’t happen,” Betando said. “So we will be regrouping to identify our next steps. Our staff, in discussion with the board, will talk about the needs and what we would do next.”
Betando explained the district’s general fund is in good shape to keep up with salaries, curriculum and routine functions. However, without extra funding such as bonds, the district doesn’t have “a huge chunk of the budget set aside” for new buildings, upgrades and other construction.
“So we have to come up with some way that we’re not going to adversely impact our programs and our personnel,” Betando said.
One option could be attempting to seek another, perhaps smaller bond amount. However, part of that process would require the board and district to better inform voters about the tax impact, Betando said. He explained that with a long-term bond such as Measure I, the total amount an individual taxpayer pays in property taxes is capped at the same amount as a smaller bond.
“That tax assessment is the same on a $1 million bond as it is on a $900 million bond. We learned more and more that people had trouble understanding that,” Betando said.
If Measure I were approved, property owners in the school district boundaries would have been assessed property taxes of, on average, 4.7 cents for $100 assessed value for $27.9 million annually—or $47 per $100,000 in assessed value.
Betando added, “What also matters to the public is, research clearly shows that attractive and functional and safe schools also increase the property values of people’s homes.”
Furthermore, with the statewide results of Proposition 13 leaning heavily toward failure on Wednesday morning, Betando said his district could take a “double negative hit” from the March 3 election once all the ballots are tallied. Prop 13 would have allowed the state to sell up to $15 billion in bonds for school facilities construction throughout California. As of 10am March 4, “No” votes added up to nearly 56 percent of the ballots cast statewide on Prop 13, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
When both state bonds and local bonds are available, school districts like Morgan Hill can use the local moneys to leverage a portion of the state bond funds, Betando said. The district has acquired state funding in this way with previous bond measures.
But if both Measure I and Prop 13 fail, as appears likely, that leaves two significant potential sources of funding dry.
Morgan Hill voter Andrea Muro-Little said she voted “No” on Prop 13 and “Yes” on Measure I, placing more trust in local spending than the state. “I think funds on the state level are mismanaged,” Muro-Little said when interviewed by the Times March 3 outside the Morgan Hill Presbyterian Church voting center.
In the months leading up to the election, supporters of Measure I established the campaign committee “Friends of MHUSD” to promote a “Yes” vote. The committee, which collected more than $73,000 in contributions in January and February, was heavily funded by dozens of people and businesses in the construction industry.
Betando and Board of Education Vice President Wendy Sullivan were among the volunteers on that committee.
In February, an unknown vandal or vandals altered some campaign signs promoting a “Yes” vote on Measure I, according to members of the Friends of MHUSD committee. The suspect painted over portions of some signs to make them look like “No” signs, and cut at least one sign into pieces.
