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LAKEPORT, Calif. – At the end of a brief special meeting on Monday night, the Lakeport Unified School District Board passed a resolution to place a new school bond measure on the June ballot.
The resolution, approved by a unanimous vote at the end of the 22-minute meeting, orders an election to authorize the issuance of general obligations bonds totaling $24.5 million.
Superintendent Matt Bullard outlined the process the district followed in bringing the ballot measure forward.
“This is a conversation that’s been ongoing,” he said during the discussion.
A year and a half ago, the district completed a master plan which, Bullard said, led to the potential scope of work the bond measure would finance, including new construction, and upgrades and repairs of existing facilities. It also will allow the district to potentially capitalize on some state revenue sources.
“We have aging facilities. I don’t think that’s a surprise to anybody,” said Bullard.
Regarding the bond’s timing – placing it on the June 2 statewide primary ballot – Bullard explained that Lakeport Unified “is in a pretty unique position.”
The district’s current bond, approved by voters in November 2014 as Measure T, is retiring in July.
If the new bond measure is approved a month before the end of Measure T, it would offer the district a new source of funding and keep the tax rates flat. Bullard said not a lot of school districts have that option.
If they waited until the Nov. 3 election, the tax rate would be recalculated. There would be a dip after the old measure ended and then that dip would be erased. Bullard explained.
Taxpayers currently pay $52.42 per $100,000 of assessed property value under Measure T. Bullard said the new bond would be at $53 per $100,000 of assessed property value, generating an estimated $24.5 million.
Bullard said that funding can be used to leverage state funding for programs such as transitional kindergarten, after school programs and extended learning, and remodeling career technical education space.
He pointed out the need for more facility space. At Lakeport Elementary School, if they have a school assembly, they need to go to the Marge Alakszay Center, or MAC, because they don’t have a facility on campus where all of the students can gather.
The new bond funding also would address portables, the district campus’ roads and parking; electrical, HVAC and security systems; and would repair leaking roofs, and replace flooring and windows, Bullard said.
He said anybody who drives through the district campus can see the roads and parking need to be addressed. “They are definitely in need of repair.”
Bullard said the district’s Maintenance, Operations and Transportation Department, or MOT, puts a lot of tender loving care into campus maintenance.
The district isn’t facing the need for bond revenue because of neglect, Bullard said. “In fact I would argue we are on the other end of the spectrum.”
Rather, Bullard said they need to undertake upgrades because they have kept things up so well.
At its regular meeting in January, the board got a draft resolution to consider for the bond measure. Bullard said it was the same draft election resolution they were considering on Monday night.
Along with that resolution, the board considered the 75-word question – approved by the district’s bond counsel – to be placed on the ballot.
The ballot question says:
“Lakeport School Repair, Safety, and Career Education Measure. To improve Lakeport schools; construct career technical education and other facilities; repair aging classrooms, roofs, plumbing, and electrical wiring; upgrade disabled access; and improve security and fire safety; shall Lakeport Unified School District’s measure authorizing $24,500,000 in bonds at legal interest rates be adopted, with projected average levies of $53 per $100,000 assessed valuation ($1,500,000 annually) while bonds are outstanding, no projected increase to current tax rates, oversight and audits?”
The bond also was discussed at the board’s regular meeting on Feb. 11. At that time, Bullard said they decided to move a special meeting to approve the bond to Monday evening, a day earlier than originally planned.
The vote couldn’t wait until the next regular board meeting, as there is a March 6 deadline in order for the bond to be placed on the June 2 ballot, Bullard said.
He also outlined how long the bond measure has been under discussion. Beginning at the district’s back-to-school night in August, families were asked to complete a survey.
Bullard said the district partnered with some organizations that have conducted three or four different information campaigns on the measure via phone and postcard surveys.
Due to that thorough canvassing, the district received about 3,500 survey responses through the district newsletter, summer fliers, public opinion responses and social media responses, said Bullard, who didn’t have immediately available the total number of people who got the surveys.
Trustee Scott Johnson suggested there was likely overlap across those different campaigns, which was confirmed by Trustee Carly Alvord. “I got four,” she said of the surveys.
Concerns about previous bond dissatisfaction over Westshore Pool
In 2014’s Measure T, one of the key projects the district promoted as a possible bond-funded project was the renovation of the Westshore Pool.
The district, however, never pursued that pool project, with the pool later found damaged. In August 2023, the district awarded a contract to demolish the pool. After 50 years, the pool was no more.
On Monday, Bullard acknowledged that the district has received some responses regarding the demise of the pool and the history with the previous bond.
“I think the district has definitely learned a very valuable lesson regarding their ask for bond projects,” said Bullard.
“And I would say this potential question" – referring to the question to be placed on the ballot – “has intentionally been crafted in a very different way,” he said.
The way it’s been written is to make sure that what’s on the ballot is deliverable, Bullard explained.
With Measure T, which could only generate a maximum of $17 million, its ballot question was as follows: “To improve the quality of education with funding that cannot be taken by the State; increase student access to computers and modern technology; replace outdated heating and air-conditioning systems; modernize classrooms, restrooms and school facilities; and improve/renovate the Westshore pool for school and community use; shall the Lakeport Unified School District issue $17,000,000 of bonds at legal interest rates, have an independent citizens’ oversight committee and have NO money used for administrative salaries?”
Bullard said the projects in that ballot question are estimated to have totaled more than $100 million.
“That is not the approach that the district is taking this time around,” he said.
Trustee Jennifer Hanson, who for years led the Lake County Channel Cats swim team and was a staunch supporter of efforts to renovate and save the Westshore Pool, offered her support for the new bond measure.
“I have faith this time,” she said. “I think we’ll do the right thing. I know we’ll do the right thing.”
“When we finalize the scope of work, that’s what we go after,” said Bullard. “It has to be something we can turnkey in 36 months,” in order to show the community that it’s what the district asked for and what it can do.
Hanson said what’s included in the proposed bond measure’s priorities is what the community asked for, too.
Both Hanson and Alvord were among a slate of candidates who successfully ran for the Lakeport Unified School Board in 2018 in part because of the pool, which Alvord noted during Monday’s meeting.
Alvord said Hanson was skeptical of the new bond measure, with Hanson adding, "My mind has been changed.”
Bullard recommended approval of the measure.
Hanson moved to approve the resolution calling for the election, with Johnson offering the second. They were joined in the unanimous vote by Alvord, Board President Jennifer Williams-Richardson and Clerk Cat Dunne.
The bond measure will now be submitted to the Lake County Registrar of Voters Office, who will place it on the ballot, Bullard said.
Bullard said he expected the ballot measure to cost the district about $30,000. He said he will have the exact amount once the elections office has the measure and calculates the final cost.
Email Elizabeth Larson at elarson@lakeconews.com. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, and on Bluesky, @erlarson.bsky.social. Find Lake County News on the following platforms: Facebook, @LakeCoNews; X, @LakeCoNews; Threads, @lakeconews, and on Bluesky, @lakeconews.bsky.social.
