Oak Park needs Measure R

Our schools continue to demonstrate excellence in education within the classrooms by the administration and faculty commitment and dedication.

Unfortunately the years have taken a toll on the physical facilities at each of the schools and there is significant deferred maintenance which must be addressed and repaired in order for the excellence to continue within the walls of the classrooms.

The passage of the Measure R facility repair bond is essential in order to fund these necessary repairs that are long overdue. In order to ascertain the extent and expected cost of the required maintenance, I, along with a dedicated committee, met with a building evaluations consultant and personally toured each of the school sites.

Following the consultant's extensive property review and analysis, a comprehensive evaluation and repair report was issued. The recommendations include both immediate repairs which are required today, and also those that will be required and implemented as the useful life of equipment expires in the coming years.

The implementation items within the Measure R repair bond have been fully and completely reviewed, detailed and summarized. This is not a wish list of extras. These are required repairs and maintenance that we must support for our children, our community and our Oak Park schools.

I urge you to vote yes on Measure R. Tom Wulf Oak Park  

I am a parent with a sixthgrader at Medea Creek Middle School and a third-grader in Brookside Elementary School in Oak Park. We are so pleased to have our child attending schools with the highest Academic Performance Index in the county. We are proud to live in Oak Park and have our children attend its schools. We are, however, concerned about repair issues at the schools.

The fire alarm system at Medea Creek malfunctioned during the first fire drill of the school year last month. We have learned the gymnasium roof is known to leak when it rains. We hear this happens at the high school, too, in both the gym and the restrooms. Some doors at the middle school do not lock from the inside and that would be a security issue during a lockdown situation to secure the classroom. I am glad to see the firefighters and sheriff support updating these items.

Oak Park schools are aged, an average of 25 years old. Oak Park has Measure R on the ballot to update safety systems and do some very necessary repairs. It's a very small bond measure as compared to other districts and I know firsthand the repairs are necessary. I also know that every school district in the country has to pass bond measures to repair their schools.

We need to keep Oak Park a strong community by supporting our school district and I urge you to join me in voting yes on Measure R. Nicole Kristensen Oak Park  

The tax rate numbers supplied by Kim Lyon in her recent letter to The Acorn are erroneous. If Measure R to repair Oak Park schools passes, the combined school tax rate for next year will be about $155 per $100,000 of assessed valuation, which is less than the average rate paid by Oak Park homeowners since the passage of the original school bond in 1977. This is because the original school bond is rapidly approaching payoff, so that by 2016, when the original bond is paid off, our tax rate will be only $70/$100,000 of assessed valuation. This is clearly a win-win situation for taxpayers and our schools.

For the sake of our children and our property values, Oak Park must have safe, well-maintained schools. The cost to taxpayers to achieve this will never be cheaper.

As we all know, necessary repairs neglected always result in larger bills in the future, when damage becomes more expensive to fix and labor and materials increase in price.

As a side note, Kim Lyon spends more than $20,000 yearly to send her child to a private high school.

Perhaps this explains her unwillingness to support the public good in Oak Park? Paulette Walker Oak Park  

Measure R is a reasonable measure that will enable us to make much-needed repairs to our schools.

We must provide the district with the resources to complete these repairs and we are happy to see that the school district has provided a detailed list of projects in each site that make up the requested bond amount. Our children deserve safe and well-maintained schools. In our own houses, we would quickly repair a leaking roof or a faulty fire alarm system, and we would be very negligent not to do the same in our schools.

Recent advertisements and letters in these pages sometimes misstate the impact of Measure R. For example, their calculation of the impact of school taxes on a home assessed at $800,000 is almost 40 percent higher than the actual impact, and they fail to mention that this will decrease in future years. We support Measure R and urge your readers to vote yes. Uma Narayanan Oak Park  

In Oak Park we have been blessed with excellent schools. Oak Park student performance levels are the highest in Ventura County and among the best in the state and nation. Our teachers are outstanding.

While our students and teachers are performing at a superior level, local school buildings and classrooms are aging. Basic repairs and upgrades are necessary to meet current safety, health and seismic standards. In some cases roofs, carpeting and electrical systems are just falling apart. This is not surprising since the average age of our schools is 25 years old.

Our existing bonds that were passed over 30 years ago are being paid down rapidly. In fact, beginning next year our rates drop 24 percent. By 2017 our rates drop to one-third of the current rates. This major decrease includes the rates for Measure R.

Rates are dropping, schools need repairs and education is critical to our future. This is a no brainer. Support your community and our future. Vote yes on Measure R. Jay Kapitz Oak Park 

Mr. Kapitz serves on the Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council

Interdistrict students bring in approximately three times as much money as they cost. Last year, interdistrict transfer students brought in $5,279,162 in revenue. The cost of educating these students was $1.71 million, leaving a benefit to the district of approximately $3.5 million.

In addition to covering their own costs, these students are bringing in an additional $3.5 million to the district, money which would otherwise be nonexistent for educating our own Oak Park children.

The district's facilities are aging and in need of basic repairs and maintenance. Roofs are leaking such that total replacements are necessary in some cases. Fire and safety systems are outdated. Portable classrooms need to be repaired—in some instances replaced, other cases removed due to declining enrollment. Parking lots need to be repaved. Bathroom plumbing needs repairs or replacements. The district's high API scores are not an indication of the facilities' status.

A current facilities bond does not exist in Oak Park. Measure R addresses these basic repairs, maintenance and rehabilitations. My understanding is that a complete list of work to be accomplished is available. If delayed further, the repairs will become more costly to the district, as not only will the repairs need to be made, but so will the damage that has occurred from not being able to address the initial repair in an effective and timely manner.

Measure R funds will remain exclusively in Oak Park and cannot be taken by any governmental region outside of Oak Park. If Measure R is passed, the school district may qualify for several million dollars in matching funds from the state that would otherwise be nonexistent. Barbara Laifman Oak Park 

Ms. Laifman serves on the Oak Park Board of Education  

During these challenging times, the last thing we should do is abandon our schools. Education is the future for our communities and our country. You can support safety and high quality education in Oak Park schools while your tax rates are decreasing as the old 1977 bonds are expiring.

Oak Park schools Measure R will make highpriority basic repairs to aging schools and classrooms, including replacing failing roofs and outdated fire systems, bringing buildings up to current seismic codes, and making other basic repairs to meet modern health and safety standards.

Thirty years have passed and Oak Park is the only unified district in Ventura County that has not passed a bond for renovation and repairs.

All projects were determined by an independent consulting firm and detailed project lists may be reviewed at oakparkmeasurer.com.

Projects and spending will be subject to strict local oversight. Local funds for local schools.

Measure R is endorsed by the Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council, Ventura County Professional Firefighters Association, Ventura County Deputy Sheriff's Association, The Ventura County Star newspaper, The Acorn newspaper and most local community organizations.

Contrary to what some letter writers have stated, bond taxes are decreasing to the lowest levels in the history of Oak Park schools even assuming the passage of Measure R.

Go to www.oakparkmeasurer. com to see a rate chart from the Ventura County tax assessors rates.

Now is the time to support our schools and education more than ever.

Please vote yes on Oak Park's Measure R. Deena Parry Oak Park 

Ms. Parry serves on the Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council

There is no money to maintain the schools in Oak Park. School maintenance is a responsibility that the state entrusts to local communities. The state pays for teachers and programs, but communities are expected to build and maintain their own school facilities.

Oak Park is the only unified school district in Ventura County that has not passed a facilities bond measure in the last 30 years. Oak Park Unified School District was formed in 1977 when voters approved the first bond measure in conjunction with the unification measure. Those bond funds lasted 30 years. They are gone, and our oldest buildings are 30 years old. They need maintenance and repair, just as 30-year-old bathrooms in our homes need maintenance and repair.

As of next year, the tax rate on the original bonds starts to drop from $183/$100,000 of assessed value this fall to $89/$100,000 next year, and down to $50/$100,000 in 2016 when the payoff is complete.

The rate on the bonds from Measure R will be $45/$100,000 of assessed value. If Measure R passes, the combined tax rate including C6 will be $158/$100,000 and only $69/$100,000 by 2016.

The community rejected the last two maintenance bonds telling the board that we hadn't done our homework. The board has done that. A committee composed principally of community volunteers familiar with facilities maintenance spent six months determining exactly what was needed to prevent further deterioration of the buildings and to keep kids safe. It is these items that went into Measure R.

You can agree or disagree about interdistrict students or closing a school or eliminating programs. Regardless, none of them will provide the money we need for the deteriorating buildings.

The straight fact is that we need money to maintain and repair the schools in this community. I urge you to vote yes. Marie Panec Oak Park 

Ms. Panec serves on the Oak Park Board of Education

As a parent of a student and yard supervisor at Medea Creek Middle School, my concerns are that the schools are deteriorating and that our students are at risk.

I understand that earthquake, fire and electrical systems are outdated and need to be brought up to date. Our students are getting an excellent education but we should not allow their safety to be compromised. Roofs, asphalt, carpeting, and bathrooms also need repairs.

It has been 30 years since a facilities bond has passed in our community and yet other districts have passed bonds for safety and repairs. Now is our chance to do the same. I am a big supporter for safety in our schools and that is why I am voting in favor of Measure R. Linda Furgala Oak Park