Olivia Allen-Price: [00:00:10] The obvious answer is money. But whether there’s money set aside to make those repairs isn’t always guaranteed in California.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:00:18] I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra, host of The Bay.
Olivia Allen-Price: [00:00:21] And I’m Olivia Allen-Price, host of Bay Curious. Welcome to Prop Fest. For the next few weeks. Our teams at The Bay and Bay Curious are bringing you breakdowns of each statewide ballot proposition on the California ballot this year, all to help you vote with confidence this November.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:00:38] Unlike most other states, California doesn’t have a permanent funding source for school repairs, things like broken air conditioners or a leaky roof.
Olivia Allen-Price: [00:00:49] Instead, that money comes from state or local bonds passed by voters year to year.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:00:55] And that means if your school needs repairs, the money isn’t always guaranteed.
Olivia Allen-Price: [00:01:01] But this year, California voters have a chance to raise money with Prop 2.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:01:06] In our very first episode of Prop Fest, we’re going to break down everything you need to know about Proposition 2. The school bond measure. That’s coming up right after the break.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:01:23] Today we’re talking about Proposition 2. Here’s how it will read on your ballot.
Voiceover: [00:01:29] Prop 2 authorizes $10 billion in general obligation bonds for repair, upgrade and construction of facilities at K-through-12 public schools, including charter schools, community colleges and career technical education programs, including for improvement of health and safety conditions and classroom upgrades.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:01:51] To understand how this proposition got on the ballot, we hit up KQED’s early childhood education reporter Daisy Nguyen.
Daisy Nguyen: [00:01:59] Thousands of school buildings across California are in poor shape and the state’s school repair fund is almost empty. There was a study by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California that found 38% of students from kindergarten to 12th grade go to schools that don’t meet the minimum facility standards. You may have heard of the recent controversy at Oakland Unified School District.
Newscaster: [00:02:31] Oakland School District plans to install more water dispensing stations at campuses after discovering high levels of lead and some water.
Daisy Nguyen: [00:02:39] A routine sampling of water across the school district found that multiple school sites had elevated levels of lead.
Newscaster: [00:02:47] At last night’s Oakland school board meeting, parents were angry and concerned.
Daisy Nguyen: [00:02:52] That led to schools having to shut off some of their water fountains and replacing water sources with bottles.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:03:05] And you’re talking about a range of problems with facilities and buildings at California’s schools. How do schools normally pay for repairs like these?
Daisy Nguyen: [00:03:18] So unlike many other states, California doesn’t pay for school repairs through a permanent funding stream. The money comes from state and local bonds. Traditionally, the state would match half of a school district’s new construction project and 60% of its renovation projects. And there would be up to local districts to raise funds, usually through a local bond. What winds up happening is that it creates some inequities because wealthier districts can raise more money for repairs through local bonds because their local property values are higher, which means they end up generating more money from local property taxes. Smaller and lower income districts struggle to raise enough bond money to pay for the school repairs. Sometimes they can’t even pass a local bond at all, so they end up relying on state bond money for repairs and maybe not meeting all of their needs. The money from the last successful school bond was passed in 2016, and that’s been spent.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:04:28] What does Prop. 2 do exactly?
Daisy Nguyen: [00:04:32] Prop 2 proposes to raise $10 billion to help fix or improve educational facilities in public schools, including charter schools and community colleges. It proposes to increase the state’s share of the project costs by as much as 5%. And also the state would generally pay a higher share of the costs in those lower resourced school districts, the one with the lower property values. Prop 2 also proposes to provide additional funding to school districts that want to build or renovate transitional kindergarten facilities. As you may know, this study is in the middle of expanding this new grade level for four year olds. But a lot of schools say they don’t have enough classrooms that meet the state standards for TK. Four year old students need to have bathrooms nearby and enough outdoor play area and indoor space to move around because they are going to be the youngest students entering the school system. And Prop 2 would also allow up to $115 million in renovation funds to be used for reducing lead levels in water at public school sites. So directly helping a school district like OUSD resolve its issues.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:06:00] And Daisy, how did Prop 2 get on the ballot and who’s putting it forward?
Daisy Nguyen: [00:06:05] The governor and lawmakers put it on the ballot. They’re saying the money is badly needed to fix the state’s many aging facilities to ensure a safer environment for learning. They say with increasing threats from flooding, heat waves and wildfires, schools really need things like air filters, air conditioners and shade structures to make the schools more climate resilient. And it’s being supported by some major groups like teachers unions, builders, as well as the Association of California School Administrators.
Daryl Camp: [00:06:42] Even though we passed our local bond, there’s still a need for more dollars so we can accelerate our progress.
Daisy Nguyen: [00:06:49] Dr. Daryl Camp is superintendent of the San Lorenzo Unified School District. It’s a small district in the East Bay between San Leandro, Hayward and Castro Valley. He’s also the incoming president of the Association of California School Administrators. Dr. Daryl Camp talked about some kind of unsexy projects, as he calls it.
Daryl Camp: [00:07:12] Things like the roof. You know, no one realizes something’s wrong with the roof until it rains. Our youngest building is 60 years old. We have some buildings that are, you know, been around for three quarters of a century.
Daisy Nguyen: [00:07:24] And he also wants to bring in some HVAC systems, meaning heating and ventilation and air conditioning. In his school district, they have some pretty hot days where they’ve had to either cancel class in the middle of the day or not have it at all because it was just too warm to be in the classroom for students.
Daryl Camp: [00:07:46] And just anecdotally, you know, I was in the public schools in Alameda County growing up. We didn’t need air conditioning. When you go into our classrooms now, if we can combine another local bond with the state dollars, we have a greater likelihood that we’ll be able to have all of our classrooms with air conditioning.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:08:04] And what about the other side? Who’s against this?
Daisy Nguyen: [00:08:08] The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which is a very prominent taxpayers group in California, are opposed to Prop 2. They say taxpayers will have to pay back that $10 billion bond, plus another $8 billion in interest over the next 35 or so years. They say it’s just irresponsible to borrow money, billions of dollars, to pay for more school buildings when enrollment in the state’s K-12 and community college system is declining.
Susan Shelley: [00:08:40] If you keep doing this, you are stealing from the future.
Daisy Nguyen: [00:08:44] Susan Shelley is vice president of communications for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.
Susan Shelley: [00:08:50] Every future budget has to pay these bond payments with interest.
Daisy Nguyen: [00:08:56] She said that local taxpayers will also have to shoulder a bigger burden through those local bond measures that school districts will have to raise in order to match the state’s state funds. And she says in general that it’s just irresponsible to borrow for projects that could have been paid for if the state had better manage its finances.
Susan Shelley: [00:09:19] We know the school buildings are aging. Is that news? Where have they been with all the prior spending? Why did they not address these problems? The government of California should be prioritizing according to the real needs of the people of California. And if they’re not, they should be held accountable and not rewarded with more money.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:09:44] Who’s spending on both sides of this ballot measure. Daisy, what do we know about that?
Daisy Nguyen: [00:09:51] No one is spending money on the no side, but the side that’s spending money to campaign for a yes vote on Prop 2 includes the California Building Industry Association, the Coalition for Adequate School Housing and the School Administrators Association that I mentioned and a couple of other groups. As of now, the yes side has raised $3.6 million. Back in 2020, the school bond was to raise $15 billion. That did not pass. And this time, the governor and lawmakers are hoping voters could stomach a $10 billion bond.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:10:38] Daisy, thank you so much.
Daisy Nguyen: [00:10:40] Thank you.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:10:47] According to polling from the Public Policy Institute of California, 54% of likely voters say they would vote yes on Prop 2, with 44% saying they would vote no. In a nutshell, a vote yes on Prop 2 gives the state permission to borrow $10 billion to build new or renovate existing public school and community college facilities. A vote no means you do not want the state to borrow $10 billion to renovate school facilities.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:11:22] And that is it for our very first episode of Prop Fest. How are we doing? How we feeling? Feeling smarter, Ready to vote? Well, there’s plenty more where that came from. From now until October 4th, the Bay and Bay curious teams here at KQED are going to be dropping breakdowns of each and every one of the statewide propositions on the ballot this year to leave you feeling ready to vote this November. So stay locked in and make sure you’re subscribed to the bay so you don’t miss out on the next ones.
Olivia Allen-Price: [00:11:55] Prop Fest is a collaboration between the Bay and Bay Curious podcasts. It’s produced by Alan Montecillo, Jessica Kariisa, Ericka Cruz Guevarra, Amanda Font, Christopher Beale, Ana De Almeida Amaral, and me, Olivia Allen-Price.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:12:09] We get extra support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Holly Kernan and the whole KQED family. Music Courtesy of Audio Network.
Olivia Allen-Price: [00:12:20] You can find audio and transcripts for this series at kqed.org/prop fest.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:12:26] Our show is made in San Francisco at member supported KQED. If you value podcasts like this one, please consider becoming a sustaining member of KQED. Learn more at kqed.org/donate.
Olivia Allen-Price: [00:12:40] I’m Olivia Allen-Price.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:12:41] And I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra. We will be back tomorrow with an explainer on Proposition 3, an amendment to California’s same sex marriage ban.
Olivia Allen-Price: [00:12:50] We’ll see you then.
