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Bonsall High School to be built in phases despite bond failure

Proposition DD, which would have authorized a $58 million general obligation bond for the Bonsall Unified School District (BUSD), failed to receive the necessary 55 percent of the vote for passage, but the school district will proceed with the new Bonsall High School off of Gird Road despite the failure to have it funded through the bond.

"We'll still have the high school there, but it will be more on a shoestring budget," said BUSD superintendent Justin Cunningham.

A Nov. 19 BUSD board workshop addressed the future high school.

"There were a lot of questions that the board had," said Cunningham. "What we're doing is going forward with preparing the property to be built on. It's going to take two years anyway. We do have funds for that."

Although the new Bonsall High School would likely be phased over a longer period without the bond revenue, environmental clearance rather than funding is the cause of the current period of construction inactivity.

"Right now, it's going into all the different environmental studies and getting the data back," Cunningham said. "We won't even be through that until close to a year from now."

The failure of Proposition DD does not change the plans to open Bonsall High School on its new site for the 2019-20 school year. "That will be everything moving ahead as it should," Cunningham said.

Cunningham noted that delays related to the Environmental Impact Report might not allow the school to open until the 2020-21 school year.

Ten school districts within San Diego County had school bond measures on the November 2016 ballot, and eight of them received the required 55 percent for passage. The other bond measure which failed was Proposition X for the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District; a provision to use union contractors led to an opposition campaign by non-union contractors.

The opposition to Proposition DD focused not only on taxation but also on the impacts to the Sycamore Ranch neighborhood if a high school was added to the area. "That really motivated some people," Cunningham said.

"The logo on their campaign signs was 'no new taxes'," Cunningham said. "They were able to combine the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) issue with the people who wanted no new taxes."

The 50-acre site off of Gird Road was acquired by the Fallbrook Union High School District in 1967 and was intended to be used as that district's second high school once enrollment at Fallbrook High School reached 1,800 students. The Fallbrook district never built that second high school and declared the property as surplus, or not necessary to the district's current or future needs, in 2011.

Voters both within the Bonsall district and within the entire Fallbrook Union High School District approved Proposition BB on the November 2012 ballot to transition the K-8 Bonsall Union School District to a K-12 Bonsall Unified School District while removing that territory from the Fallbrook Union High School District. Had the unification vote failed, the Fallbrook district likely would have sold the Gird Road property at auction, but a California Education Code statute automatically transfers real property to the new district in the event of a school district reorganization.

On March 9, the BUSD board approved a site selection study which evaluated 12 sites and considered the Gird Road site to be the optimal location.

"Proposition 51, the state construction bond, did pass," Cunningham said. "There would be matching funds coming from the state."

The Bonsall district may use other sources of revenue for expenditures on the school, which would constitute the match for Proposition 51 funding. "That Proposition 51 money will not be there five or six years from now," Cunningham said.

The $58 million bond amount was expected to be sufficient to cover the cost to construct and equip a high school but would also have been used for improvements at Sullivan Middle School, Bonsall Elementary School, and Bonsall West Elementary School.

The high school construction portion of the bond would have included physical education facilities and a fitness center which would accommodate student activities and would also be available for community use when not needed for school extracurricular purposes. The joint use concept could make those facilities eligible for County of San Diego funding, which is the case with the Bonsall Community Center on school district property.

Bonsall High School opened in August 2014 and was admitted to the CIF San Diego Section in 2015. The CIF does not require home contests to be held at an on-campus site, and the Legionnaires currently play home volleyball matches in a Pala facility.

Cunningham noted that existing Sullivan Middle School facilities might be used for Bonsall High School athletic events. "That was something that we were exploring," he said.

Even prior to the failure of Proposition DD there were no plans for Bonsall High School to field a gridiron football team, so a stadium is not needed and bleachers may accommodate spectators at soccer or track and field events. The primary capital expenses for outdoor sports fields without stands are land acquisition and grading and the expenses for fencing and goals or bases and foul poles would be relatively minimal.

The classrooms and other non-athletic buildings are planned to accommodate up to 1,500 students, but that is a long-term projection based on future development within the school district. Cunningham expects the high school to have approximately 500 students in 2019, so not all of the classrooms will be needed immediately.

"New developer fees will be going toward that," said Cunningham.

Capacity fees paid by developers will help fund capital needs of the school district. The current fee for residential development is $4.80 per square foot and the fee for commercial development is $0.58 per square foot.

Developer fee revenue may be used as matching funds for a Proposition 51 grant, as may revenue from certificates of participation which do not require voter approval. The school district used certificates of participation to build the two-story building which is currently used for Bonsall High School in its current location on the Sullivan Middle School campus and which will be used to accommodate middle school growth after the high school is in its new location.

"That could be something to get this started," Cunningham said. "We would be able to get some more of that Proposition 51 money."

Repayment of certificate of participation funding would not be covered by additional property taxes. "The district definitely has to add it to its debt," Cunningham said.

Cunningham was with the San Diego County Office of Education when Sullivan Middle School opened in 1994 and Bonsall West Elementary School opened in 2005. Both of those schools were built without a bond.

"High schools are currently more expensive than other schools," Cunningham said.

The school district can also use general fund revenue for capital purposes, including projects eligible for state funding with a local match.

"General fund can definitely be going toward some of this, but we definitely don't want any of the current operations to suffer," Cunningham said.

The Fallbrook Union High School District voters approved a bond in November 1994. When the Bonsall district transitioned from a K-8 elementary school district to a K-12 unified district, the Bonsall property owners were still responsible for their share of the outstanding Fallbrook bond. The Bonsall Unified School District landowners are not responsible for the new FUHSD bond which passed in the November 2016 election. The Bonsall Union School District voters approved a bond in November 2005.

Cunningham noted that a future bond measure not only might not draw the opposition of neighborhood opponents when the school is already under construction but also would be on the ballot after Bonsall residents are no longer paying for the 1994 FUHSD bond.

"That will be off the rolls when we come around next time," said Cunningham. "That will be all paid off."

 

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