At its July 17 meeting, the Clovis Unified Governing Board voted to place a $400 million, citizen recommended facility bond on the November ballot letting voters decide whether to continue unchanged the current tax rate to fund school facility needs in the district.

The decision followed a recommendation in June by a Citizens Committee to Study Capital Facility Needs, a 40-member group of volunteers that met for six months to inventory and research necessary maintenance and construction projects among the district’s more than 50 schools and campuses. The group also studied the district's finances and available resources to fund these needed projects.

The committee identified critical needs at several existing schools for repairs, modernization, safety and technology improvements; and for construction of additional classrooms and academic space necessitated because of continued enrollment growth and current overcrowding.

Without a bond measure, Clovis Unified does not have the money to pay for these needed projects.

If approved, the bond would provide funding for:

• Updates and modernization of older schools (Many Clovis Unified schools are 40 to 80 years old and need repairs and modernizations. Top among them is a $21 million overhaul of Nelson Elementary in the Clovis West Area that was built in 1957.)

• Completion of the final phases of Clovis South High School (The planned budget of which was significantly impacted by unprecedented escalation of construction and labor costs following the COVID-19 pandemic.)

• Improvements to school safety, technology and energy efficiency features on every Clovis Unified campus (The district has 53 school sites and funds would be used for features like improved safety of classroom windows and LED lighting and AV technology at every school.)

The list of critical facility improvement/construction projects identified by the Citizens Committee to Study Capital Facility Needs totaled an estimated $550 million. To allow the tax rate to remain unchanged, the committee prioritized the list to bring the number down to $400 million.

Facility bond sales generate money that is then repaid over time by local property taxes. Clovis Unified’s tax rate has been $155 per $100,000 of assessed value for the past 12 years. The proposed bond measure would not increase the current tax rate but would extend it.

Clovis Unified’s rate is the lowest it has been in the district’s history. Property owners in Clovis Unified’s boundaries pay less than their counterparts in Fresno, Central and Sanger unified school districts, whose tax rates are currently $213, $215 and $203 per $100,000 of assessed value, respectively.

Some have questioned seeing multiple lines for Clovis Unified on their annual property tax bill. In fact, more lines does not mean more taxes but actually indicates more savings. Under Fresno County’s records system, a new line is added each time Clovis Unified refinances bonds to lower rates in order to lower the amount paid by taxpayers in interest on the bonds.

No matter how many different lines are on your tax bill, Clovis Unified’s total tax rate has been $155/$100k of assessed value every year since 2012. A “yes” vote on Measure A in November wouldn’t change that rate.

While California Proposition 2 – a state bond for construction and modernization of school facilities – will also be on the ballot for voters to consider in November, if approved, those funds would only be accessible to districts that have matching dollars available from their local communities. 

In order for Clovis Unified to tap into any of the potential state facility funding, the local Clovis Unified bond measure would need to pass to make the required matching dollars available. If Clovis Unified’s bond does not pass, the district would not be able to access state facility bond funds. Since 1986, voter approval of past bond measures has helped leverage local dollars to bring an additional $760 million of state funds to benefit our community’s schools.

Passage of a local facility bond ensures that the money is controlled locally and cannot be taken by the state. A group of independent citizens called the Citizens Oversight Committee would monitor the district’s use of bond dollars, conduct a yearly audit and provide an annual report to the community.

Clovis Unified, because of its previous successful financial stewardship with bond funds, holds the best credit ranking from among California’s 20 largest public school districts. (Standard & Poor affirmed this year the district has a rating of AA/Stable.) “That means we are going to get a better rate of interest for bonds that we sell, and our community and district will see benefits as a result of having a better interest rate,” said CUSD Associate Superintendent of Administrative Services Michael Johnston. “That allows us to ultimately maximize funds and maximize their impact for our students.”

Previous outcomes of bond funds, reports and information about usage can be found on cusd.com and also on each school’s website. (Go to the “About” tab and select the “Impact of Facility Bonds” to learn about funding usage at your neighborhood school.)

In 2020, the community supported building Clovis South High in order to ease overcrowded conditions in the district’s southeast. Plans and a budget were developed for Clovis South (located on the Terry Bradley Educational Center along with Sanchez Intermediate) before the COVID-19 pandemic. No one could have known that an unprecedented post-pandemic inflation of construction prices – more than 40% jumps in some material and labor costs – would create a funding gap, but it did.  

The construction industry, like so many others, was hit hard. (See chart below.) When costs began to soar, planners scaled back in many areas and focused on completion of critical buildings that will help to ease severe student overcrowding in the district’s southeast area.

In order to complete the final phases of construction for the high school campus, funds from this bond are necessary.

All previously approved facility bonds have been used for projects already completed or currently underway around the district. If the November 2024 bond measure doesn't pass, the district's ability to maintain its schools, modernize aging campuses (like the planned project at 67-year old Nelson Elementary), and construct new classrooms to avoid overcrowded conditions will end.