Dos Pueblos High School’s Chargers Association is moving forward with a fundraising campaign for its stadium project with the Santa Barbara school board’s support.
The first phase of the Stadium Master Plan would cost $1.2 million to resurface the track and replace the turf field, and the Santa Barbara Unified School District expressed support to pay half of that with Measure Q bond funds. The district will make a final decision at a future meeting, board member Ed Heron said, and it won’t pay until the Chargers Association has a certain amount of their half in hand.
Any future funding participation from the district for other phases of the stadium plan would not happen for many, many years since none of those projects were included in the last bond issuance, Heron said.
Board members previously voted to sell the rest of the Measure Q & R general obligation bonds, so $55 million more is available for capital improvement projects.
The board also discussed the Proposition 30 funds expected in June for the 2012-13 year. SBUSD expects $2.7 million, which assistant superintendent of business services Meg Jette said is all being used to avoid teacher layoffs.
“Hopefully we’ll get it; we’re going to wait until it hits the bank account to count on it,” she said.
The Prop. 30 money isn’t expected to bring any additional money, since the state will reduce other funding in return. Jette said district officials are budgeting for the same amount of revenues next year as the district received this year, but they don’t know what to expect.
“It’s May 15, and I have no idea how I’m funded next year,” she said. “Isn’t that nuts?”
The proposition raises the sales tax statewide by a quarter-cent through 2016 and raises income tax for those earning more than $250,000 through 2018, with revenues going to K-12 and community college districts.
The state is expecting about $6 billion per year for the five fiscal years when both tax increases are in effect, according to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office.
Proposition 30 funding levels are based on current funding, which is under a 22 percent deficit, so the districts won’t be made whole even with that initiative passing last November, she noted.
“When we hit 2020, we will be at the level we would be at today had we not had a deficit,” Jette said, “and we’ll go all those years losing cost of living adjustments and all that.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.