Statewide school bond would ease crowding and provide clean, safe facilities

Leaky roofs, broken bathrooms and overcrowded classrooms at hundreds of public schools across California are making it more difficult for students to learn.

Proposition 55, the $12.3 billion school bond measure on the March ballot, will provide the clean, safe facilities they need to succeed.

"To keep public schools improving, we need to offer the kind of environment that fosters learning," says CTA President Barbara E. Kerr. "Students and teachers should not have to deal with leaking roofs and unheated classrooms in the winter. Nor should they be trying to teach or learn in classrooms without air conditioning in triple-digit heat."

The bond money will also allow schools to reduce class sizes at a time when California has the third most overcrowded schools in the nation. "It will build the 22,000 new classrooms we need to relieve overcrowding and deal with increasing enrollment," says Kerr.

Studies show that standardized test scores of students in run-down facilities are as much as 11 percent lower than students' scores at excellent school facilities, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

The Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2004 will provide $10 billion to repair existing K-12 schools and build new ones - $2.4 billion for critically overcrowded schools; $920 million for community college renovations; $690 million for University of California facilities; and $690 million for California State University facilities.

In the effort to pass Prop. 55, CTA is pointing out that:

• Seventy-three percent of California classrooms are more than 25 years old.
• One million children attend schools with bathrooms that don't work.
• Nearly 1,000 school campuses, which Prop. 55 is targeting for assistance, are "critically overcrowded," meaning they exceed by 200 to 300 percent the student density guidelines of the California Department of Education.
• Research shows that students in overcrowded schools score significantly lower on both math and reading exams than other students.

CTA is part of a broad and diverse coalition working on the campaign to pass Prop. 55. In the weeks ahead, CTA members will be called on to help alert the public as to why schools so desperately need Prop. 55.

To help build community support, Kerr is encouraging teachers to go to the campaign website [http://www.yeson55.com/] to find sample resolutions to take to school boards and other community groups for their endorsement. Scores of such groups have already backed the measure.

Many school districts recently passed local bonds to meet renovation needs that are growing month by month. However, they require matching funds from the state, which would be provided by this statewide bond measure.

How big is the need?

The $13 billion in school bonds approved by voters as Proposition 47 in November 2002 is already allocated for school renovation projects.

The new backlog of $120 million in approved but unfunded school modernization projects could grow by as much as $60 million per month, according to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell.

"Now more than ever before, in these turbulent economic times, we must provide a stable funding stream for desperately needed school projects," says O'Connell. "Although California's students have been improving their scores in the past five years, they are doing so in an environment of crumbling schools and crowded conditions."

The California Taxpayers' Association says Prop. 55 is a "fiscally responsible way to finance school repair and construction." Money raised by the bond can only be spent on school repair and construction, not on bureaucracy or wasteful overhead.

The measure is a general obligation bond that will not raise taxes, but will create thousands of new construction jobs and boost the economy.

Attracted to its sound goals and broad scope, the "Yes on 55 - Californians for Accountability and Better Schools" coalition is growing. The coalition already includes CTA, the California Chamber of Commerce, California State PTA, California Business Roundtable and the California Taxpayers' Association, among others.

"Especially in these hard economic times, California can and must continue to invest in education and our students' future," says Kerr. "Prop. 55 is exactly that kind of investment, and it's a strong commitment to the future of our economy and our state."

With its strict accountability language, says Kerr, "Prop. 55 is clearly a prudent investment in California students' future that will pay off for generations to come."