The El Monte City School District is asking voters to approve a property tax increase to fund $105 million in renovation and repair projects.
At least 55% of voters need to approve Measure ME for it to pass.
Official title on the ballot: El Monte City School District Measure ME
You are being asked: Can El Monte City School District borrow $105 million to fund repairs, renovations and construction?
Understanding Measure ME
The El Monte City School District serves about 7,000 students across 15 schools. The district says it plans to use bond funding to modernize classrooms, expand outdoor learning and green spaces, improving performing arts facilities, and make repairs, among other things.
School districts rely on voters to approve statewide and local bonds to pay for repairs, renovations, and new construction. This year, El Monte voters will decide whether to support one of each: the district’s Measure ME and the statewide Proposition 2. (We’ve got a voter guide for that one too.)
A bond is basically a loan that a school district takes out, and which property owners in that school district pay back through property taxes.
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If at least 55% of voters approve Measure ME, the El Monte City School District can issue up to $105 million in bonds to finance specific school facilities projects.
LAist asked the district to name its top priorities for bond funding, but representatives have yet to respond.
The district estimates the bond would cost property owners that live within the school district’s boundaries an average of $30 per $100,000 of assessed value. There’s also a possibility that El Monte City School District could get additional state funding if Prop. 2, the statewide school facilities bond, passes.
Districts cannot spend bond money on employee salaries and are required to commission independent audits of bond spending.
What supporters of school bonds say
Research links higher student achievement to better quality schools — it’s easier to learn in clean, climate-controlled, well-lit classrooms.
In California, there’s no dedicated stream of funding to support the upkeep of the 10,000 public K-12 schools attended by 5.9 million students. The majority of the money schools receive from the state every year supports students, staff salaries and other day-to-day expenses.
Throughout the state, 38% of K-12 students go to schools that do not meet the minimum standard to be considered clean, safe, and functional.
If the state and local measures fail, the need for funding will remain.
“Those buildings are not going to magically renovate themselves while we’re waiting for a better bond,” said Sara Hinkley, the California program manager at the Center for Cities + Schools at UC Berkeley.
El Monte City School District Superintendent Maribel Garcia submitted an argument in favor of the bond to the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder.
Read more:
Read More: Measure ME: El Monte City School District facilities bond