Californians to Vote on $10 Billion Education Bond Measure

An elementary school teacher works with her students in Pacoima, Calif., on Feb. 8, 2019. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

A $10 billion education construction measure passed both houses of the California Legislature and was approved by the governor July 3, ensuring it will be placed on the November ballot.

The Senate passed the bill with a vote of 34–3. Republican Sens. Brian Dahle, Brian Jones, and Kelly Seyarto voted against the bill.

It also passed the Assembly 72–1, with only one opposition vote from Republican Assemblyman Bill Essayli.

The bond measure, Assembly Bill 247, originally asked for $14 billion to repair school facilities and invest in modernization. After lengthy negotiations among lawmakers, the bill passed the Senate Education Committee on July 1 with the amended amount.

A climate resiliency bond, Senate Bill 867, was also set at $10 billion. It passed both houses and was also approved by the governor on July 3.

The climate legislation affected the bond amount for education funds, according to Democrat Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, the primary author of the education bill.

“There were discussions on capping the overall bond debt that was going to be proposed, so the combination of the education and the climate bonds led to the education bond being capped,” he told The Epoch Times July 1.

The bond focuses on allocating state funds for repairing school buildings that are at least 75 years old. It also funds testing and remediation for lead contamination in school water systems.

The deadline for placing new measures on the November ballot was the end of July 3, which marks the beginning of the legislative summer recess.

“Historically, school districts have always relied on local bond measures to address facility needs, so this statewide school bond would provide matching dollars for these local school districts,” Mr. Muratsuchi said.

Civil rights law firm Public Advocates argued in a letter addressed to Gov. Gavin Newsom in February that in California, “lower-wealth school districts are necessarily unable to access as much funding for facility modernization as higher-wealth school districts.”

The firm said this “systematically disadvantages lower-wealth districts.”

The current bond measure aims to address this concern by increasing state funding shares for certain districts “based on the district’s ability to generate local funds, the percentages of low-income, foster care, and English learner students, whether the district has fewer than 200 students, and whether the district’s project has a project labor agreement,” according to a Senate analysis.

Republican Assemblyman Bill Essayli cited the state’s gloomy budget problems as a primary factor in his opposition to the measure.

“We’re out of money, and bonds aren’t free money,” he told The Epoch Times.

According to a Senate Education Committee analysis, the bond measure would allocate:

• $3 billion for new construction of school facilities,
• $4 billion for the modernization of school facilities and $115 million for water testing and remediation,
• $600 million for providing school facilities to charter schools,
• $1.5 billion for community colleges,
• $600 million for career technical education facilities.

California voters are largely opposed to issuing state bonds this year, according to a June survey from the Public Policy Institute of California that found 64 percent of likely voters say 2024 is a “‘bad time’ to issue state bonds for statewide programs and infrastructure projects.”

If it passes, the school improvement measure would be the first education construction bond approved by voters since 2016, when Californians passed Proposition 51. That measure authorized $7 billion for the construction and repair of public school facilities.

Travis Gillmore contributed to this report.