The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab here.

Louise Styles says teaching got easier when she moved into her new classroom at Slater Elementary School. The old room in a portable building lacked the latest technology and didn’t have enough sinks or bathrooms.

“It’s like having a car without air conditioning and now you have a luxurious Cadillac,” she said.

Those features help her transition between subjects faster, she said, leaving more time for teaching.

Her new classroom was built with money collected through local bond measures.

Over the years, school districts across the San Joaquin Valley have leveraged bonds to invest and renovate facilities in their districts.

In March, a dozen of school districts in the region will ask voters to approve more bond money, including six in the Fresno-metro area.

Those districts include:

Fresno Unified School District: $325 million

Clovis Unified School District: $408 million

Central Unified School District: $120 million

Washington Unified School District: $46 million

Parlier Unified School District: $11 million

Kingsburg Joint Union High School District: $17 million

And they’re not alone. Hundreds of California school districts are clamoring for bond money since a statewide bond also was placed on the March ballot, offering districts a chance at big money in matching funds - if they can convince local voters to support district bonds.

After a local bond is passed school districts can apply to get matching funds from the state on a project-by-project basis.

Do bonds help students learn?

Various studies have examined the question and the short answer is that it depends on how districts spend the money.

UC Davis researchers studied the correlation between bonds spending and student outcomes and said he found little evidence investing in school facilities plays a role in student achievement.

“We argued districts get a bigger bang for their buck spending money on teachers or instructional expenditures,” said Paco Martorell, one of the authors of Investing in Schools: Capital Spending, Facility Conditions and Student Achievement.

Martorell said other studies have shown more positive results when the money is spent on things that directly affect students.

“If it’s stuff that’s affecting the learning environment (of students) then you might see more (student) improvement,” Martorell said.

Research from UC Berkeley examined the Los Angeles Unified School District’s $19.5 billion bond used to build 131 schools over a decade. The study found the thousands of elementary students who moved from an overcrowded school into new schools performed better. High School students - who didn’t get new schools - didn’t have the same achievement gain, the research found.

The Bee looked at the three biggest school districts in Fresno County asking for the most expensive bonds to understand how school officials plan to use the money.

Fresno Unified School District

Fresno Unified wants voters to approve a $325 million bond.

Currently, the typical property owner in Fresno pays $188 per year in neighborhood school property assessment fees per $100,000 of property value. If the bond passes, that number would jump to $213, or $25 more, during the first year. In the bond’s later years, that $25 increase could jump to $60.

The new bond money would be used to replace portable classrooms with traditional classrooms, new infrastructure, plumbing, electricity, roofs, and concrete.

“Two-thirds of our schools were built prior to 1970 so we have aging buildings and the community has been very supportive in the past,” said Karin Temple, chief operating officer at Fresno Unified.

The district in 2010 passed Measure Q for $280 million. In 2016, the district passed another bond for $225 million.

The 2016 bond, Measure X, helped replace more than two dozen portable classrooms at Slater Elementary School, Temple said.

One of those classrooms belonged to special education teacher Stephanie Fasulo. “This has been a huge blessing,” Fasulo said. “The building feels safer and I’m more connected to colleagues.”

Many Fresno Unified schools were built in the 50s and 60s during a time when safety wasn’t as much of a priority as it is now, Temple said.

“The board has prioritized spending in Measure M for safety features like fencing and gates,” Temple said. “To make sure we have single access points to campus so that everybody who enters the campus comes through an office.”

If voters approve the latest bond, district officials plan to build new classrooms at Addams Elementary where about 20 portable classrooms remain. The money would also be used to create a new entryway to make the school safer and more accessible to families.

Clovis Unified School District

The Clovis district is seeking $408 million through Measure A.

But while understanding the rate property owners would pay in other districts appears fairly straightforward, things are a little more complicated in Clovis.

The total rate property owners currently pay is about $155 per $100,000 of assessed value (it’s actually $154 and change but they round up to keep it simple). If Measure A passes, district officials could raise the rate by about $60 per $100,000. However, the district officials say they plan to use a series of financial maneuvers to reduce the actual total increase for property owners to about $25 per $100,000.

So, district officials say, the overall impact for Clovis property owners would be about $179 per $100,000. (Remember it actually starts around $154 and change.)

If passed, the money would benefit 48 schools in the Clovis district. It would also be used to build a new educational center and a new school to account for the projected growth in Clovis East.

One of the schools in need of upgrades is Temperance Kutner Elementary School, which has been around since the 1950s.

“TK is one of the older schools in the district. When you go by our schools, nearly half of our schools are over 25 years old,” Todd Cook, a parent in Clovis and a member of the citizen’s oversight committee board, said.

TK needs an extra classroom wing, an additional parking lot, and a bigger amphitheater for theatrical and public speaking events.

In 2018 the citizen’s committee spent six-months looking at this audit list, and they ultimately concluded a bond measure was needed and Measure A was created.

“We have a team of people, business leaders, community members, parents, looking at those standards making sure we are regularly staying on top of that (school needs),” Kathy Blackburn, the principal of Temperance Kutner Elementary said as we were touring the facility.

The $408 million bond requested will not cover all the needs. However, Cook points out if the local bond is passed, they will qualify to apply for matching state bonds, which could help cover more ground.

Central Unified School District

Central officials are asking for $120 million through Measure C 2020.

If at least 55 percent of voters approve the measure, it’s estimated homeowners would be taxed $60 per $100,000 of assessed value on their homes through 2054. Currently, property owners in the district pay about $151 per $100,000. If voters approve Measure C 2020, owners would pay about $211 per $100,000.

However, district officials say they expect that rate to decrease after the first year as other bonds sunset.

The money would be distributed between the 22 schools in Central Unified as well as funding the completion of a high school and building an elementary school. Funds would be used for a variety of upgrades like repairing and replacing heating and air conditioners and replacing portable aging classrooms with permanent buildings.

Funds will also go toward renovating school libraries, replacing roofs, doors, windows, and updating restrooms, classrooms, and playgrounds.

Central Unified trustees found state funds are needed to complete some of the projects, which is not guaranteed.

This bond would cost property owners more than the last bond that was passed in 2016, which was for $87.3 million. Before that, the last time the district passed a bond measure was in 2008, also referred to as Measure B, for $152 million.

But Central Unified wasn’t able to collect $152 million because the value of homes dramatically dropped during the housing crisis in 2008. The district only drew $65 million from Measure B, because the value of homes wasn’t climbing fast enough.

“If it slowly climbs up then (the district) cannot draw money from the bond quick enough,” said Joseph Martinez, director of facilities planning for Central Unified.

Central Unified planned to use funds from Measure B to build a high school but because that funding was slashed it was never completed, according to Martinez.

District officials want to use the new bond to finish the high school.

The rest of the $95 million from Measure B was reauthorized and transferred to the 2016 bond, Martinez said.

Voters decide

This year’s vote for the bond will also be different.

Instead of polling centers, voters can cast a ballot at a vote center, dropping off the ballot at a dropbox, or mailing it in. Each voter will receive a vote by mail ballot.

However, if a voter decided to go to a vote center they can.

There are 53 vote centers and 39 drop boxes, the drop boxes will be placed in between vote centers.

The vote-by-mail period will be Feb. 3 - Feb 25.

You can find all of the measures up for election on the Fresno County website.

This story was originally published January 28, 2020 at 5:30 AM.