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Vote for Measure F in March election
By Sheila Sanchez
Anyone interested in education should vote for Measure F, the $423 million bond issue that will give the San Jose Unified School District funds to repair and renovate its 44 schools, including those in Willow Glen.
If approved by voters March 5, the measure will allow the district to replace aging portables, upgrade inadequate plumbing and electrical systems, and renovate student restrooms in schools constructed more than three decades ago. Improvements would begin in the summer of 2003.
Haunted by memories of old heating systems with cold winters in district classrooms, District Superintendent Linda Murray says the measure is desperately needed to upgrade schools' open fields, which Charles E. Corr, the district's director of facilities and construction, says have been beaten to death. Such open spaces are currently used by the community and the city's parks and recreation department. In fact, these fields represent a major piece of San Jose's open space--approximately 65 percent of park land is made up of schoolyards.
The district started an ambitious modernization program in 1997 with passage of Measure C, the $165 million bond, which financed the first phase of the district renovation project. Prior to Measure C, Murray says schools were in horrible condition. With 74 percent of voter approval, the measure funded only initial improvements, but more work needs to be done.
To pass the measure the district will need 55 percent voter approval. District officials say funding for school improvements are primarily a local responsibility, even if it costs homeowners $60 per $100,000 of assessed property value. The money will be tax-deductible.
Money generated from the bond will also mean the district will have additional classrooms, make health and safety repairs, improve heating and ventilation systems, remove asbestos and repair leaky roofs.
District officials say if the bond measure fails, maintenance costs for its schools will continue to escalate. They promise that once the work is done they will set a good preventive maintenance schedule, setting aside a percentage of the district's general operating budget that will keep the bond investment in schools up to standard.
Measure F is being endorsed by Friends of San Jose Schools, a volunteer campaign committee whose members include Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors member James Beall, San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce President Jim Cunneen and San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales, to name a few.
Meri Maben, the committee's chairwoman, says Measure F makes sense because when a community has well-maintained schools, its neighborhoods have a sense of pride. "Seeing is believing," Maben says. "It's really eye opening. You can see the work that's been done. Now we see what can happen and we want it to be completed. We don't want the schools left halfway done."
Murray says the district has shown the community it responsibly handled Measure C funds. She says an independent bond oversight committee of San Jose citizens has studied the district's expenditure and has documented everything it promised.
So far, the only group against the measure is the Libertarian Party, which has written a ballot statement opposing it.
Another reason to approve the bond is to bring equality to the north and south parts of the district. All district families must enjoy equitable standards. For example, Empire Garden Elementary School, in northeast San Jose, is an all-portable school sitting on an acre of land. Such a situation is not equitable to what students at Willow Glen Elementary School enjoy. With bond money, the portable school will be replaced with a new school.
A poll last September indicated that 68 percent of voters are likely to vote in favor of the measure, although most voters who live in the district's boundaries have no children in school. Only 18 percent of the registered voters in the district boundaries have children in its schools and only a portion are likely to vote.
So voting favorably for Measure F becomes a bigger issue. It becomes about schools being the cornerstone of the community. It's about how much we value education not just for children enrolled in schools now but for children who will attend those schools in the future. It will be about whether we are committed to children. The community has an obligation to step up, since there's no other way to fund these projects. It becomes the local community's responsibility and it has to decide whether it's going to make an investment in public education.
The benefits to Willow Glen are great. When schools are in good shape and look good, property values increase. Everyone wins. The benefits are directly tied to the community.
Sheila Sanchez is the editor of the Willow Glen Resident. She can be reached at ssanchez@svcn.com, or at 408.200.1051.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
