School bond inches closer to reality

UPDATE: The school board approved a $41 million bond measure for the November ballot last night, with a 4-1 vote. Board Member Rick McCallum voted against the measure. Check the school district's website for the information about your tax rate.

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A possible $41 million bond measure to help address overcrowding in the Ross Valley School District is about to face its final hurdle before reaching the November ballot. 

Get the basic facts and history of the bond decision here.

The district's board of trustees meet Monday to consider whether to sign off on the resolution after reviewing final bond measure language this week.

If approved, the move would cap years of passionate debate over how to proceed with school expansion and improvements for the four-campus district covering San Anselmo, Fairfax and Sleepy Hollow.

Board president Sharon Sagar said the district has grown by more than 240 students in the past four years with more high enrollment expected in the coming year.

"It is clearly time to take action as these students will be with us for many years to come, and there are still many young children in our community who will need to be served in future years," she said.

The latest steps take place a month after the board voted 3-2 before a standing-room only crowd to expand existing campuses rather than reconstruct a school at Deer Park in Fairfax. Community concern over the proposals prompted district officials to hold off on placing the facilities bond on the June ballot, opting for the fall instead.

Sagar, who voted in the dissenting opinion, said the board was ultimately swayed by a letter from the Fairfax Town Council and vocal opposition from the Deer Park neighborhood to the proposed new school site.

Fairfax Mayor Lew Tremaine said he was pleased with the end result last month. The district's decision came two days after the Fairfax Town Council voted unanimously to oppose the Deer Park site as an option.

"I think that the plan of action they've come up with to add capacity at all their school sites is the best way for them to address the problem they have of overcrowding," he said. "The advantage of addressing each campus is all of the schools get attention."

He said given the increased enrollment, "there's no question (the bond measure) is needed. They just need to make sure to do the right thing with the money."

District Superintendent Eileen Rohan declined to comment on the bond measure until the board made a decision on how to move forward.

If the measure goes before voters and gains approval Nov. 2, the cost for an average household is expected to be at or below $120 per year, according to Sagar. She said the final tally for the bond figure was still being determined, but costs should not be expected to exceed $30 per $100,000 of assessed value over 25 to 30 years.

Sagar said the district needs to replace its stable of 20 aging portable classrooms that was placed at White Hill Middle School in the early 1990s to handle enrollment increases at that time and make other middle school improvement to take on current growth.

Projects designed to address enrollment growth as part of the district's master facility plan included more classrooms and science labs at White Hill, repairing or replacing old equipment and facilities at that campus, upgrading aging restrooms and unsafe playing surfaces and renovating classrooms on all campuses.

Sagar said programs including music classes and daycare that once were housed in dedicated facilities now are run out of multipurpose rooms.

"The programs we offer our students are already being impacted and our fields are getting crowded," she said. "We have reached or exceeded state enrollment recommendations at our sites."

Sagar said the district remained under the gun as young families continued to pour into the region.

"New classrooms will take two to three years to build and we will not be able to run another bond campaign until November 2011 if we are not successfull this fall," she said.

The final date to submit resolutions to be included in the November election is Aug. 6.

The district is expected to post the final draft of the bond measure resolution being considered by its board of trustees on its Website on Friday.

To view, visit www.rossvalleyschools.org