Fresno voters will be asked to approve Measure H on the upcoming November ballot, a $500 million school construction bond – the largest in Fresno Unified’s history.
The cost of the bond will add, on average, $50 to Fresno Unified residents’ annual property tax bill, according to Paul Idsvoog, FUSD’s chief of operations.
“It’s a little over 4 bucks a month,” Idsvoog said. “So, my pitch is that you can’t even get a typical Starbucks drink for that.
“The bond money will help us for future years to lower class sizes to what they are right now,” he added. “We are going to be able to increase classroom space and increase music spaces and confidential [spaces].”
The stakes are high. Fresno Unified, California’s third-largest school district, faces $2.5 billion in infrastructure needs. Two-thirds of its schools were built before 1970. And existing bond money is expected to run dry by next spring, according to an FUSD staff report.
The $500 million will keep the district’s tax base “as low as possible,” Idsvoog said, while helping to meet the district’s infrastructure needs.
Measure H’s spending plan, backed by the Fresno Teachers Association (FTA) and top district officials, would target over three-quarters of the most dilapidated school sites. An analysis of district facility data shows Roosevelt High School and its feeder schools have the most pressing needs, totaling over $410 million.
Fresno Unified Trustee Susan Wittrup, representing the Bullard area, is the only district official not supporting the spending plan. “I do not feel the public has had the opportunity to participate and ask questions,” she said before she voted against the spending plan at FUSD’s Oct. 9 board meeting.
It’s elementary schools that are crying out loudest for attention, according to a recent district staff report. The $500 million bond, while substantial, represents just a fraction of the district’s true requirements.
“We have our project list to address every school that’s unsatisfactory [the district’s worst designation for a school site],” Idsvoog said. “All of those [projects] meet our need and the needs of FTA.”
How would the bond money be used?
A summary of the initiative from the school district speaks of the need “to repair and upgrade schools.”
Goals also include “protecting students from extreme heat (HVAC, shade structures)”, “replacing outdated portables” and “expanding meeting and learning spaces.”
Projections call for about $500 million that “will be leveraged alongside grants and matching funding that would otherwise go to other districts.”
The bond’s major focus is divided into four major funding areas:
- $164 million to reducing classroom overcrowding
- $46.5 million for turf, track, lights at Bullard, Fresno High, and Roosevelt
- $9 million for an agricultural program near Sunnyside High
- $201 million in deferred maintenance and projects
Under the spending plan approved by FTA and FUSD officials, which accounts for all $500 million of future revenues from Measure H, one of the major issues addressed is overcrowding.
District addresses history of overcrowding
Between 1985 and 2005, Fresno Unified had two lost decades. The district’s enrollment exploded by 60% over that span, according to district data, but its tax base didn’t grow at all. By the early 90s, some classes ballooned to over 50 students, according to Fresno Bee archives, and Roosevelt High began operating at 150% capacity. State officials called Fresno Unified the most overcrowded school district in the state. Landlocked in every direction, Fresno Unified has been trying to find ways to crawl out of that hole ever since.
At first, the district coped with the strain in the 90s by transforming almost every elementary school south of McKinley into a year-round schedule, according to Bee archives, upending the traditional academic calendar for thousands of students and their families. The district also started adding portables to many campuses. By the early 1990s, over 30,000 kids got crammed into a sea of drab, metal boxes.
In search of a permanent solution to its stagnant funding, the district embarked on a series of school bond measures beginning in the mid-1990s. Over the last 30 years, these initiatives have injected more than $1.5 billion into the system.
Today, the district’s funding per kid has gone up more than 200% from 1990s levels, adjusted for inflation. But Fresno Unified never fully recovered from its lost decades.
Some schools, like Bullard High School, have had portables replaced with brand-new buildings. But despite the district’s budget and bonding boom, the number of portables in the district is nearly identical as 30 years ago. Alex Belanger, FUSD’s head of facilities planning, said that the district has approximately 1,096 of these temporary structures—a mere 13 units more than in 1993.
Since the pandemic, the district has “taken a deeper dive” on the needs of existing campuses, Belanger said, which culminated in a report to the Board of Trustees in May 2023 outlining $2.5 billion in assessment needs.
“There was a huge push for [replacing] portables during that time. However, they didn’t really fully understand what it meant to do facility condition assessments. So you could replace 10 portables, but you didn’t move the needle on improving the campus,” he said.
According to the report, Roosevelt High School’s feeder schools need over $410 million in upgrades to meet district standards, with the high school alone having 50% more infrastructure needs than any other high school in the district.
Edison and Sunnyside’s high schools and feeders had the least needs, totaling $240 million and $300 million, respectively.
With the help of FTA, the operations department put together a spending list for the proposed bond from those needs. With only $500 million to spend on $2.5 billion in overall needs, the district appears to have focused on schools with the most concentrated dilapidation. Out of more than 100 facilities, nine of the top 10 schools with the most infrastructure needs per square foot would get funding under the proposed bond program.
Under the list, Yosemite MS (Mclane), Birney ES (McLane), Norseman ES (Mclane) and Calwa ES (Roosevelt) would get upgrades like new classrooms, cafeterias and libraries.
Bond aims to meet post-pandemic challenges
The district’s facilities have aged rapidly, said Idsvoog, the district’s operations director. “Two-thirds of our schools were built prior to 1970. Most of our schools are more than 50 years old.”
In October 2023, the Fresno Teachers Association was poised to strike until a last-minute deal resulted in pay raises for educators. But it didn’t just result in pay hikes. Like a similar strike at Los Angeles Unified, teachers gained more input into bond spending decisions, according to FTA president Manuel Bonilla.
“Did our negotiation process lend itself in regards to teacher voice in bond-related items? Absolutely,” Bonilla said.
At LA Unified, teachers unions used their leverage to focus bond spending on improving green space on playgrounds. In Fresno, the collaboration between the union and the district has led to a different focus.
The spending plan for Measure H reflects this new dynamic. It includes an unprecedented 33% spending bucket dedicated to school projects identified through a partnership between FTA and district operations and facilities experts. This cooperative approach has resulted in a heightened focus on addressing overcrowding issues, a longstanding concern in the district.
“If you were talking to any of our elementary music teachers, a lot of them are having to do instruction in the cafeteria or other places that are being used simultaneously, which is not beneficial to the students or anybody else,” Bonilla said.
The FTA-approved list includes portable replacements at six schools, aiming to create a “long term strategy to reduce our class sizes,” according to Bonilla.
Air quality issues persist
Despite the FTA’s influence on bond spending, air quality improvements in Measure H remain largely overlooked, even as a recent study showed proper air filtration can reduce children’s sick days by up to 20%. This oversight persists despite nearly $800 million in COVID-19 relief funds which have failed to provide filtration meeting federal standards.
A Fresno Bee investigation found that the district’s initial primary investment in 2020—a shoebox-sized UV light machine experts deemed inadequate for virus mitigation—left air quality filthy inside classrooms and gyms during 2021’s severe wildfire season. Measure H will not address this issue for most schools. Measure H will upgrade the HVAC system at one school: Yosemite Middle School, according to the approved project list.
District efforts in recent months to provide clean air using the last remaining COVID relief funds still fall short. This summer, according to a memo from district official Drone Jones, the district allocated $11.8 million for 7,800 new air purifiers. These machines fail to meet federal recommendations.
According to a 2022 Bee report, federal regulators recommend HEPA filtration at 624 cubic feet of air per minute (CFM) for a standard classroom. Fresno Unified’s new purifiers achieve only 375 CFM, according to device specs —about 60% of the recommended rate and a mere fifth of neighboring Clovis Unified’s 8-feet-tall air machines that blast 1,500 CFM of clean air.
In 2021, former district facilities chief Karin Temple had promised MERV-13 filtration – high-end air filtration enjoyed by students in Palo Alto – for every classroom by the end of 2024, but it remains unclear if the school district came close to that goal.
Measure H important for district’s future, says top official
Bond measures have dramatically reshaped Fresno’s educational landscape. Sunnyside High School, once slated to be a campus of portable classrooms, was built into a permanent campus using bond revenues. The power of bond funding can also be seen at Gaston Middle School near Edison High School.
Idsvoog hopes that with new leadership and a fresh bond measure, the district’s ambitious goals in the next few years can set off on the right foot.
“I love the fact that we’re down to two goals – double-digit gains and customer service, right?” he said. “How do you do that when that classroom door closes? And there’s just the teacher and the student, what is that experience?”
Endorsements
Fresno Teachers Association
Fresno Unified Trustee Veva Islas
Fresno Unified Trustee Andy Levine
Opposition
Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias
Fresno Unified Trustee Board President Susan Wittrup
Former Fresno Unified Trustee Brooke Ashjian
Granville Homes CEO Darius Assemi
Lincoln Club of Fresno County
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
Oversight
Measure H spending will be overseen by FUSD’s Citizen’s Bond Oversight Committee.
The 10-person committee meets at least quarterly, and each January, the group presents an annual report at a public school board meeting detailing the district’s compliance with spending requirements and summarizing the committee’s activities over the past year. The committee’s review ensures bond funds are spent only on voter-approved projects and not on staff salaries or operating expenses.
Spending list
| SCHOOL | HS Region | TOTALS | Upgrades |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bullard HS | Bullard | 25,600,000.0 | Turf Track Lights & Stands $15,500,000. South Gym Locker Room Upgrades $6,900,000. Concrete Tennis Courts $3,200,000 |
| Bullard Talent K-8 | Bullard | 5,000,000.0 | Theater Improv. /Fire & Life Safety Access Improv. $5,000,000 |
| Malloch ES | Bullard | 1,050,000.0 | GN Restroom – ADA Compliant $1,050,000 |
| Kratt ES | Bullard | 1,050,000.0 | GN Restroom – ADA Compliant $1,050,000 |
| Addams ES | Edison | 10,000,000.0 | Portable Replacement $10,000,000 |
| Lincoln ES | Edison | 1,050,000.0 | GN Restroom – ADA Compliant $1,050,000 |
| Computech MS | Edison | 24,248,438.0 | Partial Renovation $24,248,438 |
| Kirk ES | Edison | 16,550,000.0 | GN Restroom – ADA Compliant $1,050,000. Partial Renovation $15,500,000 |
| King ES | Edison | 10,000,000.0 | Portable Replacement $10,000,000 |
| Roeding ES | Fresno | 1,050,000.0 | GN Restroom – ADA Compliant $1,050,000 |
| Del Mar ES | Fresno | 10,120,000.0 | Portable Replacement $10,000,000. 0 Intrusion Upgrade $120,000 |
| Fort Miller MS | Fresno | 26,698,594.0 | Partial Renovation $26,698,594 |
| Fresno High | Fresno | 38,428,500.0 | Two-Story Cafeteria plant coordinator facility ROTC relocation $21,000,000. Turf Track Lights & Stands $15,500,000. 0 Pool Locker Room Shade Scoreboard and seating Renovation $1,928,500 |
| Viking ES | Hoover | 1,050,000.0 | GN Restrooms – ADA Compliant $1,050,000 |
| Pyle ES | Hoover | 35,861,344.0 | GN Restrooms – ADA Compliant $1,200,000. 0 Cafeteria Reconstruction $9,000,000. 0 Portable Replacement $13,000,000. 0 Intrusion/Fire Alarm Upgrade $250,000. 0 Hydronic Sewer Water and Gas Replacement $1,500,000. Renovation $10,911,344 |
| Wolters ES | Hoover | 10,000,000.0 | Portable Replacement $10,000,000 |
| Hoover HS | Hoover | 7,000,000.0 | Admin Replacement $7,000,000 |
| Centennial ES | Hoover | 13,550,000.0 | GN Restrooms – ADA Compliant $1,050,000. 0 Cafeteria Reconstruction $9,000,000. Library $3,500,000 |
| Norseman ES | McLane | 35,031,250.0 | Intrusion/Fire Alarm Upgrade $350,000. New EL Classroom Bldg. $8,500,000. 0 Library $3,281,250. 0 New Classroom Bldg. & Site Improvements $15,900,000. 0 Admin Relocation / Access Improvements $7,000,000 |
| Birney ES | McLane | 24,400,000.0 | New EL Classroom Bldg. $8,500,000. 0 Cafeteria Reconstruction $9,000,000. 0 Library / Admin Relocation $2,800,000. Library $3,750,000. 0 Intrusion/Fire Alarm Upgrade $350,000 |
| Hidalgo ES | McLane | 1,050,000.0 | GN Restroom – ADA Compliant $1,050,000 |
| Leavenworth ES | McLane | 1,050,000.0 | GN Restroom – ADA Compliant $1,050,000 |
| Yosemite MS | McLane | 27,229,375.0 | Office Replacement $4,062,500. 0 Partial Renovation $19,166,875. 0 Classroom HVAC/EMS and Central Plant Replacement $4,000,000 |
| Ericson ES | McLane | 11,245,000.0 | Intrusion Upgrade $120,000. Portable Replacement $10,000,000. 0 Parking Lot Improvements $1,125,000 |
| Calwa ES | Roosevelt | 44,781,250.0 | Library $3,281,250. 0 Admin Relocation $7,000,000. New EL Classroom Bldg. $9,000,000. 0 New Cafeteria $11,000,000. 0 New Classroom Bldg. & Site Improvements $14,500,000 |
| Farber South | Roosevelt | 2,031,250.0 | Building B $2,031,250 |
| Balderas ES | Roosevelt | 1,050,000.0 | GN Restrooms – ADA Compliant $1,050,000 |
| Roosevelt HS | Roosevelt | 29,500,000.0 | Modernization Phase II – Completion of Auditorium Mod $7,000,000. Admin Replacement $7,000,000. Turf Track Lights & Stands $15,500,000 |
| Lane ES | Roosevelt | 18,975,000.0 | Intrusion/Fire Alarm Upgrade $350,000. Library / Admin Relocation / Access Improvements $8,500,000. 0 Campus Wide Mod $10,125,000 |
| Jefferson ES | Roosevelt | 1,050,000.0 | GN Restrooms – ADA Compliant $1,050,000 |
| CTE Agricultural Farm | Sunnyside | 9,000,000.0 | CTE Ag Farm Facility – Phase 1 Infrastructure $9,000,000 |
| Storey ES | Sunnyside | 1,050,000.0 | GN Restrooms – ADA Compliant $1,050,000 |
| Sunnyside HS | Sunnyside | 3,200,000.0 | Concrete Tennis Courts $3,200,000 |
| Ayer ES | Sunnyside | 1,050,000.0 | GN Restrooms – ADA Compliant $1,050,000 |
Who is funding the campaign for Measure H?
Contractors, mostly – although labor has kicked in a bit.
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