SCHOOL BOND NIXED:
WUSD cites poor economic climate
Copyright News-Ledger 2008
By Steve Marschke
News-Ledger Editor
The Washington Unified School District has dropped the idea of asking voters to help raise $49 million by extending their payments on a couple of current school bonds. District Superintendent Steve Lawrence had hired campaign consultant Mark Capitolo to poll local voters on their potential support for such a measure.
School board president Barry Kalar told the News-Ledger that the polling results are in, and the bond idea has been put back on the shelf.
“Basically, the decision has been made, after looking at the tenor of what’s going on in the economy, that this isn’t the time to go back to the voters and ask them to extend these two bonds,” said Kalar.
The district is in the middle of major campus reorganization, including converting most of its kindergarten-through-sixth grade schools to K-8 campuses. Can it do without the money?
“We’re okay – it’s just that we really needed the influx of funds to fully implement the K-8 program, rather than using portable buildings and so forth. And we’d like to finish the rehabilitation of schools that still have needs on their campuses, like multi-purpose rooms, for example. We’re just going to have to delay that.”
A new high school, partly paid for by a school bond, will open this winter in Southport.
The district tried to pass a $59 million bond last November, but voters defeated the measure.
Kalar said there is no firm timetable for the school board to revisit a new bond, but one possibility is to try again during the midterm elections in two years.
Return to: 'SOME RECENT ARTICLES'