5 days ago
Chandler Unified Board votes for $271.5M bond ask
A year after voters soundly rejected its request, Chandler Unified School District will ask its residents to authorize borrowing $271.5 million in a bond election this November.
That number is about 56% of the $487.5 million that voters rejected by more than seven points in the November 2024 election.
The CUSD Governing Board on June 11 also authorized asking voters to extend for another seven years a 15% override of its maintenance and operation budget in the same Nov. 4 election.
CUSD board member Kurt Rohrs voted against the $271.5 million bond question. He argued for a strategy of asking for less money, and returning to voters every three years to ask for more.
'I think I like about the whole process is going to a three-year cycle instead of a five-year cycle,' Rohrs said. 'It's more likely to pass at $199 (million) than it is at $271 (million).'
Traditionally, CUSD returns to voters about every five years to seek new bond authorizations to cover its capital needs. Rohrs moved to seek bond authorization for $199.4 million, which was option 3 from the citizen bond committee. That motion died for lack of a second.
Rohrs also argued voters may be overwhelmed by ballot questions this election.
In addition to the two that CUSD is putting on the ballot, City of Chandler voters will be considering six questions from the city, four of which total a $475 million bond request.
The other two questions deal with amending the City Charter.
Board Member Ryan Heap made the motion to ask for $271.5 million.
'In considering the difference between (options) two and three, what I noted … is there's opportunities to do reimagining (projects),' Heap said.
The district has been reimagining education spaces at some of its older schools. Heap said he recently toured some of those spaces and was impressed by the changes and how they are getting students motivated to learn.
Heap said he wants to make sure the right schools are being reimagined, meaning schools that face competition from nearby charter schools.
Board member Barb Mozdzen said the deciding factor for her was the technology budget. She said she saw a noticeable difference between what was offered in the $271.5 million option over what they would get in the $199.4 million option.
'We have not kept up with our technology or device refreshes and a lot of the infrastructure that is needed in these … schools to have adequate bandwidth for all students being on their devices and all teachers being on their devices during the school day,' Mozdzen said.
Board President Patti Serrano said the deciding factor for her was that the larger amount helps the district's Title I schools. Those are schools that receive federal funding to support low-income families.
'That was something that really caught my attention,' Serrano said. 'We are putting ourselves accountable to what we need to do for our Title I schools to provide the appropriate support, driving — and I want to emphasize this — every decision we make is in good faith driving our student outcomes.'
Another reason she pointed to was that there is money to reimagine Santan Junior High School in the larger option. She said that's important because a new housing development has been approved near Perry High School. Once built, those families would be in the Santan Junior High area.
Board member Claudia Mendoza did not make any comments explaining why she preferred the higher option.
Lana Berry, the district's chief financial officer, said they heard from voters and why they rejected the bond request last year. She said a key factor is that they want any money borrowed to be used in the classroom.
The $271.5 million would be split in three categories. There is $4 million for transportation, $80.7 million for furniture, equipment and technology for instructional purposes and $186.8 million for maintenance, improvements and renovations to school facilities, including security enhancements, acquisition of land and new construction.
No money would go to furniture, equipment and technology for non-instructional purposes.
The board did not consider a fourth option that the citizen bond committee gave it, which was essentially a duplicate of the $199.4 million option with one major difference. It did not include the rebuild of Hartford Elementary School, CUSD's second oldest campus.
That option was for $154.4 million.
Residents within CUSD's boundary pay back the money borrowed through bonds with their property taxes. The district says their tax rate will not increase.
If they vote to authorize the 15% override, they will also pay that money through their property taxes.
Voters approved the override in the 2021 election. District voters have only rejected it twice in 10 elections. Those came in 1988 and 2012. In both cases, they approved it the following year.
The override is good for seven years, but begins to lose value in Year 6. For that reason, the district asks voters to renew the override authorization every four years. That gives them the ability to ask again the following year if it fails.
If it fails two straight years, then the district will lose a third of that money in Year 6, and two-thirds in Year 7.
