A look at 2 Solano school bonds proves informative – Daily Republic

By John Takeuchi

Important things come and go. It’s wise to review them, to learn for the future.

Let’s take a look at two very expensive local school bonds: Fairfield-Suisun School District’s Measure C ($100 million) and Solano Community College District’s Measure G ($150 million), approved by voters in 2002.

Both measures used state Proposition 39 (passed in 2000), that allowed school construction bonds to be approved with 55 percent Yes votes. Among its rules, bond revenues could only be spent on constructing and rehabilitating school facilities. In addition, the ballot text was required to show the specific projects to be funded; that lets you estimate whether the amount of the bond is legitimate. Later legislation added an “independent citizens’ oversight committee” to assure the public that bond funds were being spent properly.

Source: A look at 2 Solano school bonds proves informative

Solano College to fete auto tech program milestone in Vallejo – Daily Republic

By Daily Republic Staff

The Solano Community College Automotive Technology Program has moved into a new 30,000-square-foot facility at the college’s Vallejo Center with the start of the current academic year and celebrates a grand opening this week.

The project is funded by voter-approved Measure Q. The project doubles the size of the automotive technology facility and allows student enrollment to grow.

Source: The Week Ahead: Solano College to fete auto tech program milestone in Vallejo

VUSD leaders poised to OK $35M in Markham upgrades – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

After a community outreach meeting Tuesday, Vacaville Unified leaders appear poised to approve $35 million in Measure A dollars to modernize and upgrade Markham Elementary, one of the oldest schools in the district.

Their decision, expected during the Sept. 21 trustees meeting, will come after more than a year of discussion, including an August facilities planning workshop, of how to improve facilities at the aging Markham Avenue campus and how much to spend doing it.

District administrators scheduled the meeting because time is running out to adhere to preferred deadlines — for design and landscaping plans, heeding city regulations, and approvals by the Office of the State Architect, for example — before planned groundbreaking in summer 2019.

Source: VUSD leaders poised to OK $35M in Markham upgrades

SCC leaders to condemn hate and violence, consider new library – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

A resolution condemning hate and violence, several Measure Q-related items, and the proposed 2017-18 budgets are on the agenda when Solano Community College leaders meet tonight in Vacaville.

Trustees are expected to approve a resolution that condemns the Aug. 12 violence in Charlottesville, Va., which resulted in injury and the death of anti-hate demonstrator Heather Heyer, but, at the same time, go on record that the school is a place where free speech is respected, encouraged and shared but opposes racist and “intolerable views that impede a safe environment where teaching and learning can occur for all,” according to the resolution’s wording.

The governing board also is expected to approve more than $42 million in Measure Q and state funding to begin building a Library/Learning Resource Center at the main Fairfield campus, at 4000 Suisun Valley Road. Measure Q was the $348 million bond approved by county voters in 2012.

Source: SCC leaders to condemn hate and violence, consider new library

Measure S director: Finishing touches being put on Benicia High stadium – Benicia Herald

By Nick Sestanovich

The renovation of Benicia High School’s George Drolette Stadium has just a little more work to be done before it can be opened for use, according to an update provided by Measure S Bond Director Roxanne Egan on the voter-approved initiative at Thursday’s school board meeting.In 2014, Benicia residents voted to approve a ballot initiative that would provide $49.6 million in bond funding for improvements at each of the Benicia Unified School District’s seven schools. One of the largest projects to be funded was a remodel of Benicia High’s football and soccer stadium and track & field, including such changes as a new 8-lane all-weather track, upgraded lighting and new bleachers.

The previous stadium had been demolished in July 2016, and a groundbreaking ceremony for the new facilities was held one month later. Construction was expected to be completed in the spring, but several delays in construction— including one of the wettest winter seasons in a long time— pushed its potential opening back to the fall. A grand opening ceremony was slated for August, but Egan said more work remains to be done.Further work includes completing painting on the team room buildings— including blue striping and yellow trim, painting a Benicia Panthers logo on the backside of the press box, custom painting the restroom building and applying stucco to the concession building.However, Egan noted that a lot of work has been done in the last couple of months, including applying stucco to the restroom building, adding color to the press box and adding lettering to the track. Egan said the last item was a good symbolic representation for the current stage of the project.

Source: Measure S director: Finishing touches being put on Benicia High stadium

Impact of Measure A projects seen on first day of school – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

The herald of the day was not the first bell, but white-painted letters on the back windshield of several cars — “Seniors c/o 2018” and “Seniors 2K18” — headed at 7:40 a.m. to Vacaville High, one of several campuses in Vacaville Unified undergoing major physical changes under Measure A, as the first hours of the new academic year began on a sweetly blue and cloudless Thursday.

The nearly 2,000 students at the West Monte Vista Avenue campus were in their seats by 7:50 a.m., including several hundred in the brand-new $10 million, 15-classroom English building, literally a stone’s throw from a similar building, for mathematics classes, to be completed by the December holiday break. Both projects, including earlier expansions and relocation of the school’s main parking lot and tennis courts, are funded by the $194 million bond measure passed by Vacaville Unified voters in 2014.

Source: Impact of Measure A projects seen on first day of school

School board to kick off 2017-2018 year with Measure S update – Benicia Herald

By Nick Sestanovich

Benicia Unified School District schools are nearly back in session for the 2017-2018 year, and so are the Governing Board meetings. As is usually the case, one of the items on the agenda is devoted to providing an update on the status of Measure S bond projects.

Measure S is an initiative approved by Benicia voters in 2014 to provide $49.6 million in bond funding for renovation and upgrades of school facilities. Bond projects completed to date include upgrading the technology infrastructure at all seven schools, playground enhancements at all four elementary schools, exterior painting at Benicia High School and repairing the roofs at Benicia Middle School and Mary Farmar Elementary School.Bond Director Roxanne Egan will deliver an update on items that were discussed at the July 25 BUSD Citizens’ Oversight Committee meeting, as well as updates on items being funded by Measure S.

Source: School board to kick off 2017-2018 year with Measure S update

Measure Q contracts, DoD grant are on SCC board agenda – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

Several contract change orders related to Measure Q, a Department of Defense grant, an agreement with the Bay Area Clean Water Agencies for classroom instruction are on the agenda when Solano Community College leaders meet tonight in Fairfield.

Trustees will review and likely approve some half-dozen small Measure Q contracts before considering a significantly larger one with Pacific Gas & Electric for electric service facilities for intersection improvements at the Vacaville Center on North Village Parkway. The contract is nearly $68,000 to relocate a junction vault out of a classroom building driveway. It does not include related trenching work, according to agenda documents. (Measure Q was the $348 million bond passed by Solano County voters in 2012 to improve and modernize college facilities.)

Source: Measure Q contracts, DoD grant are on SCC board agenda

Trustees review Measure J oversight panel report – Daily Republic

By Ryan McCarthy

Former Fairfield-Suisun School District trustee Perry Polk is among four people recommended for the Measure J Citizens’ Oversight Committee in a report school district trustees reviewed Thursday.

The school board established the committee in 2016 and appointed members, but one panel member resigned and another was recommended for removal after three unexcused absences, a school district staff report said.

Polk is recommended as a member at-large, while Sylvia Robertson would represent parents. Jennifer Stephenson would be a member at-large and Claudia Wilde would represent local businesses.

Source: Trustees review Measure J oversight panel report

Trustees table to Aug. 3 Measure Q Citizens Oversight Committee resolution – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

Dixon Unified leaders on Thursday tabled until their next meeting, Aug. 3, a resolution to establish the Measure Q Citizens Oversight Committee, the decision coming after nearly three hours of discussion, by turns rancorous, repetitious and frustrating.

The lengthy discussion on the first new business agenda item came as a surprise to some, given the seemingly routine nature of such matters in other school districts, but committee members, who have already been meeting over the past several weeks, objected to the addition of five pages of bylaws, committee procedures and an excerpt from the California Constitution attached to the three-page resolution.

Source: Trustees table to Aug. 3 Measure Q Citizens Oversight Committee resolution

Fairfield-Suisun School District seeks bond panel members – Daily Republic

By Ryan McCarthy

Residents are sought to serve on the Measure J bond oversight committee that reviews Fairfield-Suisun School District spending of bond funds and issues an annual report on their findings.

The school district seeks a member representing a senior citizen’s group and a member-at-large from the general community.

Meetings are held every other month on the second Monday at 5:30 p.m.

Source: Fairfied-Suisun School District seeks bond panel members

Vacaville school trustees face light agenda Thursday – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

With new LCAPs and annual budgets sent to county offices of education, California school districts tend to face light midsummer agendas in July and August and that will be the case Thursday, when Vacaville Unified leaders meet.

In what likely will be a short meeting, concerned mostly with financial matters, trustees are expected to approve a revised 2017-18 salary schedule for classified, or school-suppport, managers, an unrepresented employee group that ranges from custodial manager and public information officer to director of maintenance and technology coordinator, with monthly pay, depending on which of five steps they fall under, that ranges from (all Step 1, or beginning, salaries, for example) $5,340 and $7,524 to $8,925 and $9,167.

There was no indication in agenda documents about why the salary scheduled was revised.

Source: Vacaville school trustees face light agenda Thursday

Measure Q Citizens Oversight Committee to meet – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

Dixon Unified’s Measure Q Citizens Bond Oversight Committee will meet in Wednesday in Dixon.

Members will hear an overview of existing bond projects from John Calise, the rural school district’s director of facilities and operations.

They also will hear from a guest speaker Anton Jungherr on organizational guidance.

Gary Riddle, a committee member, will offer a report and the committee may take action, according to agenda documents.

Calise will present information about the committee’s website content.

Source: Measure Q Citizens Oversight Committee to meet

Measure A projects continue apace, on time and budget – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

School is out, and it is high season for Measure A-related construction projects across several Vacaville Unified campuses, where, at two sites on Thursday, small hand-operated, gas-powered compactors rapidly thudded and packed soil, portable electric saws buzzed and cut wood, and shovels crunched gravel.

Measure A was the $194 million bond Vacaville voters passed in 2014, to upgrade and modernize the school district’s many aging campuses, more than half of them 50 years old, and, of those, several more than 60 years old.

On a tour of new construction at Vacaville High and remodeling at Willis Jepson Middle School, Dan Banowetz, the district’s director of facilities, said the Division of State Architect is still reviewing some plans for other Measure A projects but work continues apace, on time and on budget, for existing projects.

 

Source: Measure A projects continue apace, on time and budget

Measure Q Citizens Oversight Committee to hold organizational meeting – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

Dixon Unified’s Measure Q Citizens Oversight Committee will hold its organizational meeting Wednesday at Dixon High School.

The committee, formed in May, will review procedures, policies and guidelines; Brown Act provisions that stipulate the state’s open meetings laws; elect officers (chair, vice chair, secretary, etc.); and set dates for future meetings.

The $30.4 million bond, which will pay for upgrades to the district’s aging schools, passed by more than 55 percent of district voters in November. The money will be used to upgrade the district’s eight campuses, but especially the oldest, such as Old Dixon High, built in 1940, and Anderson Elementary, built in 1949. By law, none of the bond money can be used for administrator or teacher salaries or school operating expenses.

Source: Measure Q Citizens Oversight Committee to hold organizational meeting

Bond committee will discuss possible future Measure S projects over summer – Benicia Herald

By Nick Sestanovich

Benicia Unified School District trustees heard an update on Measure S projects completed to date and potential projects for the future at Thursday’s school board meeting. The presentation was delivered by Roxanne Egan, the Measure S bond director.

Measure S was a ballot initiative approved by Benicia voters in 2014 to provide $49.6 million in bond funding for projects for the district’s seven schools. The bond funds were initially going to be issued in three series: Series A, B and C. Due to low interest, Series B and C were consolidated into one bond issuance. Series A projects were announced in 2014, and 11 have been completed so far: technology infrastructure upgrades at all the schools, phone system upgrades at all the schools, renovated playgrounds at all the elementary schools, fixing the roofs at Benicia Middle School and Mary Farmar Elementary, fixing the softball field bleachers at Benicia High School, repainting the exterior at Benicia High, installing new camera security systems at all the schools, upgrading the fire alarm system at Benicia Middle, upgrading the IT server and replacing the clocks, bells and PA systems.

Two projects are currently in construction at Benicia High: a renovation of the George Drolette Stadium and fire alarms. The former is expected to be completed over the summer while the latter is estimated to be completed by October, Egan said.

Source: Bond committee will discuss possible future Measure S projects over summer

School district eyes project labor agreement for Fairfield-Suisun Measure J projects – Daily Republic

By Ryan McCarthy

A project labor agreement with the Napa-Solano Counties Building and Construction Trades Council goes to Fairfield-Suisun School District trustees Thursday for projects funded by Measure J.

Eric Christen, executive director of the Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction, said Tuesday that the 23-page pact is from the union template for such agreements, a description Danny Bernardini, business manager for the building and construction trades council, disputes.

“It’s all the standard stuff,” Christen said.The pact forces workers to pay union dues and pensions, he said.

Source: School district eyes project labor agreement for Fairfield-Suisun Measure J projects

Fairfield-Suisun school district agenda: Measure J contracts, 2017-18 budget update – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

Several large construction contracts, some of them related to Measure J, and an update on Gov. Jerry Brown’s “May revise” state budget are on the agenda when Fairfield-Suisun Unified leaders meet tonight in Fairfield.

The seven-member governing board is expected to approve a $131,000 contract, funded by Measure J, with All Commercial Fence, a Waterford-based firm in Stanislaus County, for a fencing project at Green Valley Middle School.

But trustees will reject a $317,000 bid, because it was the only one, to refurbish Armijo High lockers, and re-bid the project, also funded by Measure J, at an unspecified date.

Measure J was the $249 million school bond measure passed by voters in June 2016, to upgrade aging schools in the sprawling district, the largest in Solano County, with more than 21,000 students across more than two dozen campuses.

 

Source: Fairfield-Suisun school district agenda: Measure J contracts, 2017-18 budget update

Dixon school leaders to add another member to Measure Q oversight committee – The Reporter

By Richard Bammer

Dixon Unified leaders, when they meet tonight in a special meeting, are expected to approve the addition of one new member to the Measure Q Citizens Oversight Committee, Tad Smith, a scientist.

During a regular meeting last week, trustees approved a list of five members to serve on the committee. They are Julie Mustard, an administrative coordinator; Gary Riddle, a retiree; Robert Strong, a computer network specialist; Andrea Kett, a business owner; and Jack Caldwell, a local manager.

When school bond measures pass in California, citizens oversight committees usually are formed to comply with the requirements of the bond and state law. Its members are appointed volunteers, often from various organizations, in accord with state law, Basically, oversight committees, independent of a school district’s governing board, try to make sure the bond money is being spent wisely on construction projects and is accounted for, by providing period updates to trustees.

Source: Dixon school leaders to add another member to Measure Q oversight committee

Benicia High School informational meeting draws concerns over new graduation requirements, funding for PAB – Benicia Herald

By Nick Sestanovich

Parents, students and teachers packed the Benicia High School Performing Arts Building for an informational meeting Monday night about the new school board-approved graduation requirements where they voiced their concerns about their potential impact on art and elective courses.

At the March 16 school board meeting, the board held a discussion and first reading of the proposed new requirements to go into effect for the class of 2022, which Superintendent Charles Young said were modeled after the University of California and California State University requirements, although with some modifications. The required amount of units for graduation would remain at 220, but some of the units would be redistributed to additional requirements. The proposed changes were as follows:

* Health and the semesterlong elective that accompanied it would be replaced by a new yearlong course titled “Get Focused,” intended to help freshmen be successful by identifying their life and career goals early on and develop a pathway to prepare for that field, according to its description in the 2017-2018 course catalog.

Source: Benicia High School informational meeting draws concerns over new graduation requirements, funding for PAB