Amid declining funds and enrollment, the Capistrano Unified School District is considering several steps to keep operations afloat, including placing multi-million dollar bond measures on the November ballot to make improvements to district schools.
These bond measures include $98 million bond for seismic structure updates at Dana Hills High School, and one $77 million bond for needed repairs and updates at several schools in Aliso Viejo.
The district’s board voted 4–1, with one abstention, to continue discussion on the Dana Hills High School bond, with the final vote likely taking place next month.
Trustee Gila Jones said during the meeting that she voted in favor of the Dana Hills High School bond because construction projects would otherwise be impossible with the district’s current financial capacity.
“I don’t like the idea of bonds,” Jones said. “But the with way California structures school finance, there is no other way to build, replace or refurbish schools, there just is no other way. I call school budgets ‘starvation budgets’ because they allow for salaries and books ... but in order to do the construction work that we need to do in this district, we would have to stop educating kids.”
Dana Hills High School, which opened in 1973, is in need of repairs to its seismic foundational structure in order to meet the state’s updated earthquake building standards.
If voters pass the bond in November, it would qualify the district to obtain an estimated $52 million dollars in state seismic mitigation, as well as matching funds from the general state facility program to support the project, according to a board resolution.
Meanwhile, the Aliso Viejo schools’ bond will undergo another reading.
Eight schools in the city of Aliso Viejo are in need of repairs and upgrades to meet current health, safety, fire, and earthquake standards: Canyon Vista Elementary, Don Juan Avila Elementary, Oak Grove Elementary, Wood Canyon Elementary, Aliso Viejo Middle, Don Juan Avila Middle, and Aliso Niguel High.
If passed by voters, the bond will also bring updates to school facilities and playgrounds and bring technology into classrooms, according to the Aliso Viejo schools board resolution.
This comes as Orange County’s largest school district faces a projected funding shortfall brought on by declining student enrollment.
During the same board meeting, trustees received a budget presentation that projected enrollment would drop by 812 students from the current school year, putting the district at around 42,000 for the 2022–2023 school year.
Because the amount of state funding available is dependent on average attendance and enrollment, it’s likely the district’s funds will also dwindle.
Capistrano Unified has faced underfunding issues for almost a decade after the state established a funding formula based on average daily attendance and prioritizing extra funding for high-need students, including foster youth and students from low-income families.
Because of these criteria, Capistrano Unified received less annual state funding than other districts in the county, even though it serves more students.
Capistrano Unified received $12,700 per student in 2021, while the average amount received by school districts in the state was nearly $15,000 per student.
