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A proposal to place a $116.5 million school bond and a special maintenance tax on the November ballot will be considered tonight by the Berkeley Unified School District Board of Education. 

The bond would allocate funds for construction and renovation projects at several school sites, including Berkeley High, King and Willard middle schools, Franklin School and Berkeley Adult School. 

The special tax, meanwhile, is designed to ensure that the BUSD has enough money to keep its newly constructed and newly renovated buildings looking good – and safe for students and staff. 

Tonight’s recommendation follows a presentation two weeks ago by Paul Goodwin from Santa Monica-based GLS Research, which conducted a survey of Berkeley voters to determine the level of community support for a bond measure and/or a special tax. 

GLS found that nearly 80 percent of voters surveyed would be willing to support a $125 million bond, and about 70 percent would support a special tax. If both measures appeared on the ballot, 47 percent would support both, 12 percent would vote against both, 21 would support only the bond, and 9 percent would support only the tax. 

Current state law requires a two-thirds approval for any bond or tax measure. 

The survey of 600 randomly selected registered voters was conducted May 29 through June 1, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent. 

That survey also attempted to gauge which potential BUSD projects were most important to voters. Building new classrooms ranked at the top, followed by repairing floors, walls, windows and roofs; replacing portable classrooms; improving seismic safety; and improving fire safety. 

At the bottom of the list – though not entirely without support – were building new athletic fields; improving gyms; improving the theater at BHS; and finally, provide a new administration building. 

“What we attempted to do was mesh what we see as the highest priorities for the district, with what the survey identified as the projects most supported by voters, which really are their highest priorities,” said Catherine James, associate superintendent for business services. 

Proposed tax 

According to the staff report prepared for tonight’s meeting, the special tax would yield more than $3.8 million annually for maintenance needs around the district. 

The BUSD currently spends about $2.4 million annually on maintenance personnel, supplies and equipment. A report prepared by a citizens advisory committee in April advocated significantly increasing allocations for maintenance, citing serious safety issues around the district and an overall trend toward facilities in disrepair. 

If approved by voters, the special tax would allow the BUSD to increase maintenance spending to around $4 million annually. In addition to the $3.8 million in revenue from the tax, the district projects income from the Hillside School site maintenance and food service maintenance. 

The tax would be based on the square footage of a home or business – residences at a rate of 4.5 cents per square foot, commercial at a rate of 6.75 cents per square foot. That means the owner of a 1,700-square-foot home would pay $76.50 per year. 

The staff recommendation calls for the special tax to last for 12 years. 

Proposed bond 

In 1992, Berkeley voters approved Measure A, a $158 million school bond measure that has funded a host of projects around the district. But in the eyes of school district leaders and other community members, many vital projects remain outstanding, creating the need for a new bond measure. 

The staff recommendation for $116.5 million comes in just below the $125 million mark that generated strong support in the GLS survey. 

Berkeley High would get the biggest chunk of funds from the bond: more than $28.1 million. About $19 million would be used to add classrooms and renovate space in the old gym complex, located along the east side of the campus. The city is already moving forward on a $3 million bond measure to pay for upgrading the warm water pool, part of the old gym complex. 

Other allocations for BHS would include about $7.6 million for improvements to other buildings and about $1.2 million for an improved campus communication system. 

If voters pass the bond in November, it means that more than $80 million will have been invested in construction and renovation projects at the high school over a 20-year period, said Lew Jones, manager of facilities planning. That’s more than most school districts would spend to build new high school campus. 

The staff recommendation calls for nearly $7.8 million to be used for projects at King Middle School. About $5 million would be designated for construction of a new cafeteria – exact details of where it would be built have yet to be determined – and the rest would finance modernization of the science building and the gymnasium. 

The BUSD will soon get under way with nearly $20 million in other improvements at King Middle, which will be funded through Measure A. The two wings of the main building will be seismically retrofitted, and electrical and technological systems also will be updated. 

Other proposed allocations from the school bond include: 

• Willard Middle School, $3.85 million for improvements 

• Franklin School site, $5.5 million for improvements 

• Berkeley Adult School, $8.15 million for improvements 

• Child Development facilities, $6.12 million for improvements 

• Sprinkler improvements around the district, $5.37 million 

The bond also would set aside about $1.1 million for improving “the property north of Derby Street,” an apparent indication that some staff members feel there is not enough community support to pursue construction of a regulation baseball field at the Derby-Martin Luther King Jr. Way site. That amount of money wouldn’t finance a baseball field but could pay for a softball-soccer field. Of course, the board still will have its say on what is done with that property. 

In their report, district officials said the school bond would be structured in such a way that the tax impact on a household wouldn’t exceed the current peak levels from the 1992 bond measure. That strategy was endorsed by the school board during its discussions earlier this month, and it would give bond supporters a key tool in their attempts to pass the bond this fall. It’s much easier, one could argue, to convince voters to OK a bond that won’t require them to pay higher taxes than they currently are paying, than a bond that will increase their tax burden. 

Tonight’s recommendations, if approved by the board, will be brought back at the first meeting in July, when the school board would likely formally place the measures on the November ballot. 

The deadline for getting ballot measures to the county doesn’t arrive until August, but the district wants to allow enough time for an effective campaign to emerge. 

School district employees cannot publicly advocate passage of either the bond or tax – at least, not while wearing a BUSD “hat.” They are allowed to campaign for or against any measure as a private citizen. 

The school board meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. and will be held in Board/Council Chambers in Old City Hall, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

The meeting is scheduled to be broadcast on 89.3-FM, KPFB, and broadcast over Cable Channel 25, B-TV.