The campaign to convince Culver City residents to vote in favor of a capital improvements bond that would add to homeowners tax bills but would rehabilitate the city’s schools is in full swing now that the municipal elections are over.
Supporters of Measure CC, the initiative to repair the infrastructure of the Culver City Unified School District, walked the city on April 12 in an effort to inform the public about the importance of upgrading local schools.
The $106 million bond measure will be on the June ballot and with less than two months before the elections, advocates of the facilities bond say they are pleased thus far with the campaign.
“I think the campaign is off to a great start,” United Parents of Culver City President Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin said. “I’m impressed at the level of commitment, passion and community spirit of the bond committee, and of course United Parents of Culver City supports Measure CC 110 percent.”
United Parents of Culver City is a parent organization that formed two years ago to advocate on behalf of students and support candidates for office that support their positions on educational matters.
“People from every corner of the city are joining together to get the word out about the urgent need to repair and upgrade our facilities,” Wisnosky Stehlin continued. “They understand the need for the bond. Health and safety are top priorities for everyone, of course, but even people without children in the district recognize that the caliber of Culver City’s schools has a real bearing on property values and the local economy.”
Culver City Unified School District Board of Education member Suzanne Robins thinks voters will now have time to concentrate on the school bond campaign.
“The electorate is able to focus on the June ballot now that the City Council election is over and we are seeing rapid growth of interest and strong support for the bond,” she said.
While there has been some public opposition to the bond initiative, the voters that Robins and other supporters of Measure CC might want to pay attention to are residents like Tom Supple. Supple, a Sunkist Park resident for more than 25 years says he has not heard much about the school bond or the case to vote in favor of it. “I heard some about [Measure CC] during the school board race [in November] but I haven’t heard much about it since,” he said.
Supple says Culver City voters have been willing to vote on a variety of tax measures over the last three or four years during difficult economic times, including the parcel tax school–related Measure EE in 2009. This time he isn’t so sure and he would need bond advocates to answer a few questions in order to convince him. “How did the schools get in the condition they are?” Supple asked. “And where will [bond revenue from Measure CC] go and what happened to the money from the last bond?”
Supple was referring to Measure T, a school facilities bond passed by Culver City voters in 1996.
Robins says Measure CC is as essential now as the 1996 initiative was 18 years ago.
“Measure T helped us to do the critical upgrades that were necessary at the time, nearly 20 years ago,” she said. “Now, additional repairs are required for the health and safety of our students and we must upgrade our classrooms, science laboratories, arts, sports and career technical education facilities to prepare our students to compete academically with students nationwide.”
Wisnosky Stehlin said a grassroots approach to turning out the vote and convincing the electorate to vote in favor of Measure CC is necessary and her group can provide that component. “We proved last summer and during the November election that we know how to engage the whole community,” she said. “We are in a good place: both bond surveys showed that people across all demographics here in Culver City support the school facilities bond. They recognize that our children deserve to be educated in facilities that are clean, safe and up to date.
“One of [the parent organization’s] strengths is its ability to engage parents at our schools,” Wisnosky Stehlin explained. “Now that the bond is on the ballot we’ll start our outreach to them to get out the parent vote.”
Robins recognizes that supporters of Measure CC should not take voters like Supple and others who are undecided for granted, nor those who have expressed opposition to the bond measure.
“There will always be more than one perspective on any issue in the public sector and the Measure CC school bond campaign is no different,” the board member acknowledged. “Most of the very small number of concerns expressed to us are based on insufficient or inaccurate information, in which case, we strive to provide accurate information.
“It is important for Culver City residents to understand that extensive outreach, research and consideration of options regarding the bond, its structure and the amount requested were undertaken before the board voted unanimously to put Measure CC to the voters,” Robins added. “We believe that the Culver City residents will choose to vote yes on Measure CC, to support our students and teachers, their property values and the development of the Culver City business community.”
The CCUSD (www.ccusd.org) as well as the initiative’s site (www.culvercitykids.com ) have information on Measure CC.
The election is June 3.
