August 24, 2017

On August 23, Don Ulrich, Deputy Superintendent of the Clovis Unified School District and Chair of the Coalition for Adequate School Housing, joined education officials from the California School Boards Association, the Association of California School Administrators and other education focused organizations at a press conference on the West Steps of the State Capitol to urge the Legislature and the Governor’s administration to increase the speed and size of school construction bond sales.

In November last year, voters passed Proposition 51 authorizing the state to sell $9 billion in school facility bonds to help address the accumulated multi-billion-dollar backlog in K-12 construction projects waiting on state funding and to help chip away at the projected K-14 future facility’s needs. Nearly a year later, the state has only authorized approximately $400 million in bond sales for 2017.

Following is a published opinion editorial that was in the Sacramento Bee on August 23, 2017.  This states the CASH position on selling school bonds.

BY DON ULRICH AND LISA GONZALES

Special to The Bee

AUGUST 22, 2017 1:00 PM

Major school construction projects require vision and patience to plan and appropriately budget, but pay off in student performance and teacher job satisfaction. Typically, school districts invest years in planning and in raising the funds to pay for them.

So the state’s decision to sell a minimal amount this fall of school bonds – which provide a significant portion of funding for most school construction projects – is disappointing.