The LGUSD board commissions a group to assess bond chances
District needs to repair, expand its five campuses
Pollsters to start soon
By Leigh Ann Maze
With few places to turn for funds for badly needed renovation and expansion at its five campuses, the Los Gatos Union School district is examining if the Los Gatos community would support a local school bond.
Hoping to take the pulse of the town, the LGUSD's board of trustees voted to spend $14,000 on a professional pollster at their meeting on June 13.
A school bond is a yearly tax charged to homeowners per $100,000 assessed value of their home, usually over 30 years. A school bond must be approved by two-thirds of the voters to pass, and can only be used for constructing new facilities, and renovating and upgrading existing facilities.
Sometime this summer, the Evans McDonough Company Inc. will poll about 400 Los Gatos residents representing a cross section of the community. Pollsters will ask if they would support a bond; if so, how large of a bond; and what kinds of improvements community members would like to see in the schools.
With the results of the poll, the LGUSD board members will decide by December if they want to put a school bond on the ballot next spring.
Community responses from the poll will also be incorporated into the district's facilities master plan, which is in the works.
At previous board meetings, some parents expressed concerns that it will not be easy to pass a school bond in Los Gatos, where the community already gives so much to the schools. LGUSD superintendent Mary Ann Park said that she is exploring all the options she can, including a school bond, to provide the millions of dollars needed for facilities.
"All of our schools are very old and overcrowded," Park said. Van Meter school is 50 years old and still has the original bathrooms, multipurpose room and floors, according to Park. Lexington needs its ancient lighting fixtures and boiler room replaced, and Fisher Middle School's science classrooms badly need renovation and repair, which are just a few of the problems.
"And in order to provide the facilities our children deserve, we are going to have to look for outside funding," Park said.
The neighboring Saratoga Union School District passed a $40-million-dollar school bond measure on June 3, 1997, and the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District passed a $79-million-dollar school bond measure on June 2, 1997.
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
