OPUSD wants $29.4-million school bond

A new facilities bond measure for the November ballot has been approved by the Oak Park Unified School District (OPUSD) Board of Education.

The $29.4-million bond, called Measure R, is a pared down version of two earlier measures that failed at the ballot. Voters rejected an $89-million bond in June 2006 and a $71million bond in November of the same year.

Critics charged the district with asking too much from the taxpayers in light of declining enrollment. In response, the school board conducted research to address the residents' concerns. A grass roots community group was formed to give advice to the school district.

"We've tried to find out what people's objections were," Superintendent Tony Knight said. "I think we've addressed most of that and won't have to fight that battle."

Tax on the new bond would be assessed next year and would continue for 28 years at a fixed rate of $44.87 per $100,000 of a home's assessed valuation. Senior citizens are not exempt from bond measures.

"A lot of seniors have owned their homes for a very long time. Their assessed value is about $100,000," Knight said.

Because the bond is more limited in scope and the tax is less than $60, the measure only requires a 55 percent majority to pass. The earlier bonds needed a two-thirds vote; had they required less, like the new bond, they would have passed, Knight said.

Each of the school district's six campuses will benefit from the funding, said Martin Klauss, OPUSD assistant superintendent for business services. Carpet, paint, fire and safety systems, cabinetry and asphalt repairs would be addressed at all sites. Other proposed renovations include the plumbing at Red Oak Elementary School and leaking roofs at Brookside Elementary School, Klauss said.

"We are maximizing the dollars, creating the best educational, safest, cleanest facilities we can for the kids," he said.

Measure R represents a long process of community outreach and a "vastly scaled-back, vastly simplified basic needs plan," said Jared Boigon, a consultant hired by the district.

"It's very rare that I've seen this kind of input back and forth with the community," Boigon said.

The next step is to make sure residents truly understand what the needs are; for example, leaking roofs, said Boigon, who called said the school district was taking a "conservative" approach to raising taxes. Said Tony Knight, "People seem to understand that we haven't passed a facilities bond measure since 1977 when the district originally formed. They know we need it."

The bottom line on school taxes

Oak Park residents have three assessments from the school district on their annual property tax bills.

A $40-million bond measure from 1977 is still being charged, and ends in 2016. The rate fluctuates and is currently at $115 per $100,000 of assessed value. It will spike to $193 in 2009, then drop to $89 the following year. It will continue to decrease until the final year when it will be about $50.

A $17.5-million technology bond measure passed by voters in 2006 requires an annual tax of $24 per $100,000 of assessed property and runs for 25 years. The bond is paying for upgrades to the district's computer labs, wireless technology, network infrastructure and teacher training.

The Measure C parcel tax, which voters renewed last month, continues for the next eight years. The tax generates about $1 million annually for academic programs, instructional materials and teacher salaries. The cost each year is $197 per home.

An Oak Park homeowner whose property is assessed at, say, $400,000, pays $753 a year in Oak Park school taxes. The annual school taxes next year- with the increase in the 1977 bond rate- would be $1,065.

The taxes payable in 2010- which would include the new bond and a dip in the '77 rate- would be $825.