---

---

The school board pulled the plug on a facilities bond measure, noting that with COVID-19 and other tax initiatives likely to be on the November ballot, the odds of it succeeding were slim.

After speaking with Jon Isom, of Isom Advisors, the Del Norte County Unified School District on Wednesday decided to focus their efforts on 2022. Trustees plan to use the next two years to convince voters that a $25 million to $30 million bond measure is needed to address a long list of repairs at local schools.

“I would love to show the community, ‘This is why we need it,’” said Angela Greenough, who represents Del Norte County District 2 on the Board of Trustees. “It’s not just the bathrooms — it’s the walls, it’s our classrooms, it’s our facilities, it’s our piping, it’s the places you don’t really see like the edge of the baseboards of buildings, it’s eaves — it’s everywhere. You can just go to any school and just see that this needs help, but I don’t have the funds to just fix it, which is really frustrating.”

Greenough and her colleagues had been considering placing a bond measure on the November 2020 ballot to address the roughly $280 million in repairs needed at Del Norte schools.

On Thursday, Isom told them the likelihood of a measure succeeding wasn’t strong based on the results of a community survey conducted in March. Only 50 percent to 51 percent of those surveyed indicated they would vote yes if the election “were held today.” Factoring in a 6 percent margin of error was necessary to get to the 55 percent voter approval threshold required for a bond measure to pass, Isom said.

Lowering the resulting property tax assessment from $60 to $36 increased the likelihood of a yes vote to 56 percent without a margin of error, Isom said. But, he noted, a lot has changed since March not including the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic uncertainty.

“Most notably, would you vote for our school measure if you also knew there was a city tax, a county tax (and) a fire tax?” He said. “That’s new information we didn’t have at the time and that’s information that (I) would argue would take away some of the support you may have otherwise enjoyed.”

Isom pointed out that when his firm conducted the community survey in March, Del Norte Unified and the Del Norte Teachers Association had been butting heads for more than a year over salaries and benefits. Getting buy-in from its certificated and classified staff would be necessary for DNUSD’s measure to succeed, he said.

Though he noted that if the relationship between the district and teachers union has changed, survey results, if conducted today, may be different. But, Isom said, his firm has surveyed other school districts during the COVID-19 pandemic, and while people weren’t necessarily opposed to support school measures, there was a sensitivity to taxes.

“When we asked the question of voters — ‘Of all the things that you’re worried about with coronavirus, education of children, health, death, jobs, economy?’ — economy was No. 1,” Isom said. “Interestingly enough, education was No. 2, and health was the least important. I do think most of the districts we’ve worked with have opted to sit it out and come back in two years.”

One component in a local school bond’s favor would have been support from the Crescent City Council and the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors. But, after meeting with city and county representatives, trustees Frank Magarino and Charlaine Mazzei told their colleagues Thursday that partnering with them on their joint tax efforts wouldn’t be possible.

The Crescent City Council and the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors last week voted to move ahead in November with separate 1 cent sales tax initiatives to benefit public safety. The Crescent Fire Protection District is also placing a property tax assessment on a special ballot within its jurisdiction in September or October, according to DNUSD Superintendent Jeff Harris.

“We had to make sure everybody behind a bond measure was in lock step with us if we were going to make it work because the initial poll had come out 56 percent in favor of education at the highest margin of error,” Harris said Wednesday.

Another obstacle against a local school bond measure on the November ballot, according to Isom, is a state initiative, California Tax on Commercial and Industrial Properties for Education and Local Government Funding Initiative (2020), that, if approved, would require most commercial and industrial properties to be taxed based on their market value.

Isom said in March a statewide school bond measure had failed because people had confused it with the 1978 landmark Proposition 13 initiative that restructured property taxes.

“In November we will have an ‘attack on Prop 13,’ where there is this whole split-roll concept altering how the 1978 landmark tax methodology could be changed,” Isom said. “And so, candidly, that probably concerns me more than any local tax.”

According to Isom, to run a traditional campaign advocating for a bond measure would cost about $20,000 to $25,000, but those dollars couldn’t come from the school district. DNUSD could spend money on providing information about the bond, disclosing both the pros and cons of the measure, but it couldn’t encourage voters to support it, he said.

Staff, including administration and teachers, as well as school board members, can support, and advocate, for the bond measure, but on their own time, Isom said.

On Thursday, trustees also considered whether placing a bond measure on the ballot would help DNUSD apply for state facility hardship and financial hardship dollars even if the effort failed.

Del Norte Unified has received a total of roughly $700,000 so far in state facilities hardship dollars to replace three fire alarm systems at local schools, Director of Facilities and Construction Steve Morgan said. The most recent check the district received was for about $212,902 for the fire alarm system at Smith River School, he said.

DNUSD is “somewhat pre-approved” for a total of $1.8 million to replace seven fire alarm systems at its schools with the state footing the bill for about $1.2 million, Morgan said. Facilities hardship dollars can be used to pay for 60 percent of a project cost, while the financial hardship dollars can pay for other 40 percent, he said. But, those dollars have to be used to fix something that’s in “imminent danger” to students, staff or the community if it fails, Morgan said.

“Or you have to exhaust all your money, which we haven’t — we aren’t on bond two or three,” he said. “But there is a slight possibility we could get some financial hardship money if we went out for a bond now and it didn’t pass. It’s really hard to get, and it wouldn’t be just for anything and everything we’re spending bond dollars on.”

Representatives for the unions that represent district staff — the Del Norte Teachers Association and the Great Northern Chapter of the California School Employees Association — also said that while campuses are in need dire need of repairs, DNUSD should consider the relationship they have with staff while asking them to campaign in favor of a bond measure.

Sarah Mitchell, vice president of the local CSEA chapter, brought up negotiations between administrators and the union she represents about “maintaining the integrity of the salary schedule” in reference to California’s minimum wage increase to $14 an hour.

“This has to do with relationships and where we’re at, and how we’re seen as valued in this district,” Mitchell told trustees.

Del Norte Teachers Association President Marshall Jones said while he hasn’t polled his members, the economic uncertainty’s prevalent in Del Norte County. Plus, he said, after spending 15 months negotiating over salaries with the school district, rebuilding relationships is also important.

Jones argued that a campaign to ensure the California Tax on Commercial and Industrial Properties for Education and Local Government Funding Initiative has support in Del Norte County may be more worthwhile.

“The restructure to Prop 13 would be a good thing for Del Norte County,” Jones said of the November 2020 state initiative. “We don’t have a lot of big Disneylands in our county that would be affected by that. That would be the best road to take at this point rather than backing a bond.”

Though she’s a teacher with the school district, Mary-Michelle Cupp spoke to trustees as a “corrections family.”

“Something you need to keep in mind is corrections is a huge (employer) and corrections officers are all taking a pay cut with a new contract coming out, with the new budget,” she said. “I don’t know how many people are going to be behind a ‘yes tax me more,’ I do think schools need to be refurbished and repaired. I’m sad to go to work and see how crappy the buildings look, but I don’t think this is the right time now.”

Harris noted that for a bond measure to move forward, the district would have had to engage legal counsel that would draft a resolution to be voted on at the school board’s July 9 meeting. If it passed, that resolution would be given to the Del Norte County Elections Office in August for the November general election.

Isom noted that Del Norte Unified could place a bond measure on the June 2022 ballot at the earliest.

---

SHARE →