Holguín Lends Support to Call for State School Construction Bond Measure

MVUSD School Board member Jesus M. Holguín, who also serves as president-elect of the California School Boards Association (CSBA), joined supporters of a proposed state school construction bond measure at a news conference in Sacramento Monday, explaining that the measure has the support not only of Republicans and Democrats, labor and business, but also school boards across California. Assembly Bill (AB) 2235 will call for a state bond to raise as much as $5 billion to help local school districts complete important construction projects. Supporters say it would create construction jobs and note that it would prevent housing-developer impact fees from automatically doubling. Voters would consider the measure in November. Holguín said the bond represents the partnership between the state and local school districts. “It’s also a partnership between the education community and the business community; between labor and management. It is critical for schools statewide to have this partnership continue,” Holguín told reporters. “With all of this support,” he continued, “all we can ask now is for the opportunity to let us ask voters statewide if they will continue to support school facilities.” Voter approval of a new state school construction bond measure also would stave off a state-mandated automatic doubling of housing-developer impact fees, which, both labor and business groups agree, would raise the price of new homes, reducing home building, home buying and local construction jobs. The most notable voice of concern about putting a bond measure before voters is that of Gov. Jerry Brown, who has been especially cautious about the state taking on debt just as it is lifting itself out of recession. Supporters of a new school construction bond measure, however, including Holguín, say this is exactly the time for the state to join local districts in reinvesting in public school facilities. The MVUSD School Board voted in June to place Measure M before local voters in November. Measure M, the first school construction bond measure proposed by the district since 2004, and only the second in the past 25 years, would generate $398 million to build and modernize school facilities across the district. “Most people don’t realize that the state has been completely out of school construction money for two years,” explained Holguín. “With our economy improving, many districts, including MVUSD, are placing local construction bond measures before their communities. A state bond measure could double the amount of money available if our Measure M is approved by local voters.”