A sense of optimism regarding the Culver City Unified School District’s $106 million capital improvements bond with less than a week before the election appears to be settling in among some of its main proponents.
At the same time, they caution that there is still a lot of work to be done in the waning days of the campaign to raise funding for a wide assortment of needs for the district’s infrastructure.
“We’ll be working over the weekend to get the vote out,” said CCUSD board member Katherine Paspalis, one of the bond measure’s early supporters.
The board will be using general obligation bonds? not capital appreciation bonds? to fund the capital repairs bond, which is called Measure CC. In order for the ballot measure to be successful, 55 percent of voters must vote in favor of it.
Board member Suzanne Robins said most of her constituents seem supportive of the bond measure, but there are some who are concerned about “the unknown of or misunderstanding of just what the bond will cost each homeowner. It is my hope that those who are hesitant to support the bond will take the time to find out what their assessed value is and then determine their actual costs,” she said.
“I feel good about our chances,” Paspalis said. “I think the community understands that a good public education system benefits all of us.”
Homeowners will be assessed at $48 per $100,000 of assessed value of their properties, school district officials say. CCUSD Assistant Superintendent Mike Reynolds said. Although many residents seem to understand how general obligation bonds work, there is some confusion on how the annual tax rate per year is established.
Reynolds has been working with the district’s financial advisors on a set of questions regarding the tax rate in an effort to make it more easily understood by the public. “[This] will shed light on how the tax rates change in response to changes in the assessed valuation of property within the city,” Reynolds told the News.
“General obligation bonds, their payment schedules and interest rates are certainly complex but we strive to bring clarity to our process and decisions,” Robins acknowledged.
The tax assessment will vary among homeowners and is dependent upon the value of a particular home. According to Robins, for a residence that is appraised at $200,000, the Measure CC evaluation will be $96 per year. For homes assessed at $900,000, the bond measure assessment will be $432 per year.
Critics of the ballot measure challenge the size of the bond, claim the repair estimates are inflated and say there are no guarantees how the funds will be spent. “I see a ‘no’ vote as support for a future bond, one that is smaller and more cost-conscious in its proposed spending,” wrote John Derevlany on his website www.noccbond.com.
Two groups that some observers think might not be as enthusiastic as parents with children who will soon or currently attend school in Culver City are single residents and senior citizens who might not have school-aged children.
Paspalis said she believes many of Culver City’s seniors who are members of the “Greatest Generation”? men and women who lived through the Great Depression of the 1930s as children and teenagers and went on to fight in World War II or worked in war-related jobs? realize the importance of having good schools, even if they know longer have children in the local school system.
“I think a lot of our seniors understand what sacrifice means because so many of them lived through World War II,” she said. “They understand what democracy means and that strong public schools are a part of that.”
Voter turnout will be the key.
“We’ll be trying to mobilize folks to get out and vote. This election is about our kids’ futures,” Paspalis said.
“The success or failure of the campaign will be known on Tuesday,” Robins added.
Election day is June 3.
