School bond issue is clarified

On April 13, The Acorn ran an article about the Oak Park Unified School District bond measures B6 and C6, which will appear on the June 6 ballot. Some statements were unclear and left many readers with impressions that are not accurate.

The Acorn referred to the project defined by the Facilities Master Plan as a "$115-million face-lift." While this process will certainly improve the appearance of our schools, I would hardly characterize the projects as a "face-lift."

Safety issues are preeminent, including fixing leaky roofs, replacing aging plumbing, repairing damaged building foundations, improving earthquake safety, and replacing deteriorating portables with permanent structures. The plan also includes updating science labs and modernizing classrooms, and much more.

Also, the wording "new annual school tax" could be misconstrued as adding an estimated $1,600 to our existing taxes. Actually, B6 is structured to continue our historical average of taxes over the past 18 years. It does not increase the historical tax rate. Measure C6 does constitute a new tax, but at the rate of $24 per $100,000 of assessed value. This amounts to only $83 per year for the average home. Ted Dahl Oak Park