What's at stake?
FUSD trustees will vote on a final project list later this month.
Fresno Unified unveiled drafted plans for how they are planning to allocate November’s Measure H bond money, focusing on aging infrastructure and upgrading existing facilities.
During the FUSD board meeting on Aug. 28, Paul Idsvoog, the chief operations and classified labor management officer, presented how Fresno Unified’s $500 million bond could be allocated.
Currently, Fresno Unified’s $500 million bond is divided as follows:
- $167 Million: FTA (Fresno Teachers Association) Partnership/Reducing Classroom Overcrowding
- $37 Million: Remaining Measure M
- $80 Million: Deferred Maintenance and Small Capital Projects ($10M per year for eight years)
- $80 Million: Turf, Track, Lights, and Stands at five comprehensive High Schools ‐ Bullard, Edison, Fresno, Hoover, and Roosevelt
- $15 Million: Aviation
- $20 Million: Unforeseen and Escalation ($2.5M per year for eight years)
- $101 Million: Additional Projects to be approved by the board based on feedback
“There’s a lot of need; we’re not going to make everybody happy; there’s not enough money to go around to do that,” Idsvoog said. “We just want to make sure that what we do is responsible and at least addresses where we’re going to try to go.”
Idsvoog explained that the district currently has $2.5 billion in needed funding. A large amount is required to renovate aging infrastructure or reconstruct it outright.
On top of this, the final $101 million for additional projects is in contention. Two options for allocating the last $101 million were presented to the board, one based on site-specific priorities and the other based on an equity tool to represent all district areas fairly.
While the allocation plans are still only drafts, reactions to both options were mixed, with several board members voicing concerns about how the $101 million could be better allocated.
“I recently had a conversation with a voter in the district, and one of the first things out of her mouth was, ‘Fresno Unified asking for more money, but South Fresno doesn’t get anything, so why should I give more money?'” said Trustee Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas.
Rosas explained that, though it needed work, she supported an equity-based allocation of the bond money, saying that an option that allocates the funding based on site specific needs would only enlarge the inequity across the district.
Trustee Claudia Cazares also supported an equity-based allocation, saying that though she initially supported dividing it by area, she knows other areas with deteriorating structures may need more funding.
“I’d rather do an ethical decision that benefits our children for the next several years versus making it look like we’re doing a political decision,” Cazares said.
Trustee Valerie Davis had a different outlook on the allocation options. She suggested that Fresno Unified’s $500 million bond could be split evenly between all trustee areas, where they could independently decide how to spend their funding.
“I believe if you gave us $500 million and split it seven ways, we could prioritize what we want to do, and our communities, I think, would feel very empowered,” Davis said.
Susan Wittrup, president of the board, objected to the equity-based option.
“I know that there’s equity issues that we need to address, but there are also failing facilities that didn’t make the equity list in the Bullard region, simply because the community is seen as higher functioning or higher socioeconomic,” Wittrup said.
Wittrup specifically mentioned a gym in Bullard High School that has been neglected for around 20 years, arguing that the gym would’ve been prioritized if it were located in a different area in Fresno.
The board will vote on finalized, revised options for Fresno Unified’s $500 million bond at a board meeting on Sept. 25. The equity tool used to create the additional project options was created by a group called RSSC, according to spokesperson Nikki Henry.
