Posted on 10/03/2006 10:54:56 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
SAN FRANCISCO — Raising their voices above a few noisy tractors hauling dirt at George Washington High School in San Francisco's Richmond district, California and Bay Area education officials stumped for a $13.5 billion education construction bond on Monday, saying it will make school buildings throughout the state more modern, less crowded and better equipped to withstand natural disasters, including earthquakes.
If voters approve Proposition 1D in November, Bay Area schools stand to get $1.5 billion to replace portable classrooms with permanent ones and retrofit aging structures.
The bond also earmarks money for career and vocational programs, and for schools to bewired for current technologies. The state's public colleges and universities will get $3.1 billion.
Supporting this bond "is absolutely critical for the educational needs of our children and our economy," State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said at the campaign kick-off.
School districts that recently passed local school construction bonds of their own will be eligible for extra money from the state if Prop. 1D is approved.
The bond will provide at least $129 million for Alameda County schools and at least $250 million for schools in Contra Costa County. San Mateo County schools are slated to receive $3.8 million and San Francisco schools should get about $38 million.
"Yes on 1D is an investment in our schools, our children and in California's future," said Barbara Kerr, president of the California Teachers Association. "To prepare for the jobs of the future our children need to learn the latest technology."
California school districts depend heavily on local and state bonds to build new schools and renovate existing ones. But even in school districts where local construction bonds pass handily, it seems as if there is never enough funding to go around.
In urban districts, such as Oakland, and even in some suburban ones, school buildings are falling apart, roofs leak and campuses are in desperate need of a paint job.
But the California Taxpayer Protection Committee warns voters against approving Prop 1D simply because they think their local schools need help.
"Most schools got nothing from the last statewide bond and they will get nothing from this one!" Thomas Hudson, executive director of the committee, wrote in the ballot argument against Prop. 1D. "Unless you live in a wealthy district with surplus cash to supply the matching funds, your schools will never see a penny from this bond."
O'Connell said Monday that school districts that haven't passed local construction bonds of their own may be eligible for so-called hardship funding.
Local districts should fund school capital spending. Here in Santa Barbara, the local JC wants to build a couple of big new buildings - only problem is, more than half the students come from outside the local district. Cut the student population, and the need for the new buildings and parking goes away - as do the traffic problems and the crowded rental housing market.
Bonds are free money!
If there weren't enough reasons to Just Say NO!, here's another one for the list.
A total misuse of 30-year "infrastructure" bonds.
SBCC is a statewide, babe magnet.
The only solution would be to close UCSB, removing the lure; well educated, upwardly mobile, single, undergarduate and graduate division males.
I'm a local and the traffic, etc. from SBCC is insane. Half the town lives in rentals, so cutting demand (via cutting enrollment at SBCC) should reduce prices for those who are left.
I say CA should scrap all the bonds plans, the state income & corporate taxes, and just switch to a nice 15% sales tax on everything. Might as well force the illegals and drug dealers to pay something into the system too.
Time is to eliminate all public funding of schools. Education is the responsibility of the parents, not the State.
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