EAST COUNTY – East County voters will decide in November on a $417 million bond measure for major high school projects.
The Grossmont Union High School District's governing board voted 5-0 Thursday to seek approval of a bond that would raise property taxes for 25 years.
The board had been divided over the issue but reached a compromise after last-minute changes were made to the bond language.
“We have found a way to unite,” board President Larry Urdahl said.
The board unanimously voted to add language ordering that a school in Alpine not be built until enrollment in the district reaches 22,500.
Officials realized the next morning that the district's enrollment is currently 23,245 and plan to set the target figure at 23,745. The board will meet at 2 p.m. Monday at the district's headquarters in El Cajon.
Enrollment in the sprawling district is projected to decline over the next 10 years, however.
Superintendent Robert Collins vowed to boost enrollment by attracting new students to district schools. “No one is opposed to building a school in Alpine if enrollment justifies it,” he said.
Alpine residents who attended the meeting Thursday were visibly disappointed by the board's decision to delay building a high school in their community. They said they have been promised a school for more than 10 years and have been let down repeatedly.
“It might be another 10 years now,” said George Barnett.
“We were sold down the river,” Bill Weaver said. “They did this with no thought, no analysis.”
If approved by voters, the $417 million bond measure will authorize a tax increase of $27.90 per $100,000 of assessed property value for 25 years. The average homeowner will pay an additional $65 a year.
In 2004, East County voters passed Proposition H, a $274 million bond measure to repair and renovate existing schools and build a new one. Board members said the new high school was proposed to relieve overcrowding, which is no longer an issue in the district.
The district has raised more than $450 million from the sale of the Proposition H bonds and state matching funds, but increases in construction costs eroded its purchasing power.
Collins in May proposed a second bond measure to build the new high school and complete projects that Proposition H could not cover, as well as some new ones, including upgrading facilities for career technical programs.
The bond measure had been surrounded by uncertainty, however.
Four votes were needed to place a bond measure that could pass with 55 percent voter approval instead of the traditional two-thirds majority.
Urdahl and trustees Priscilla Schreiber and Richard Hoy indicated earlier that they supported a second bond measure. Trustees Jim Kelly and Robert Shield did not publicly disclose their position.
On Thursday, Kelly said he was against seeking a bond measure that could pass with only a 55 percent voter majority and cited his concern about declining enrollment.
But then he offered a compromise that proposed waiting until enrollment reached 25,000 to build a high school in Alpine.
The five board members broke for what turned out to be a 90-minute recess to discuss Kelly's proposal. When the meeting reconvened, Shield proposed waiting until enrollment reached 22,500 to build the high school. Kelly agreed.
Collins said he does not believe any state open-meeting laws were violated during the 90-minute recess. He said the meeting on Monday will address any concerns.
Leonel Sanchez: (619) 542-4568; leonel.sanchez@uniontrib.com
