Find out how Long Beach Unified plans to pay for air conditioning upgrades to schools

The Long Beach Unified School District adopted a $896.7 million budget for the 2016-17 school year Thursday night – and will ask voters in November to approve a $1.5 billion bond measure to pay for campus upgrades in the district.

The ballot measure comes eight years after the 2008 passage of Measure K, which gave the LBUSD $1.2 billion in property taxes in order to pay for construction and campus upgrades. That has included the construction of three new high schools, as well as significant renovation to Newcomb K-8 Academy and Jordan High.

“This November, local voters will have an opportunity to decide whether LBUSD schools will receive needed improvements to meet 21st Century safety and environmental standards,” LBUSD Superintendent Chris Steinhauser in a statement.

On Thursday, Steinhauser stressed that about $750 million of the bond would go toward the immediate implementation of air conditioning across the district, a subject that caused parents to circulate a formal petition in the fall of 2015. He also said that there is still a more than $3 billion need in construction funds to carry out the LBUSD’s facility master plan.

The board voted unanimously to place the bond measure on the November ballot, where it will need a 55 percent voter approval to pass. Measure K received over 70 percent voter approval in 2008.

The adoption of the budget for the upcoming school year took place unanimously in about five seconds, with no discussion. The LBUSD will receive almost $28 million more from the state of Califoia for the 2016-17 school year than it did for the previous year, as the state continues to raise its funding levels year by year with the goal of reaching pre-recession funding by 2020-21.

The nearly $900 million budget includes $693.7 million in Local Control Funding Formula money, which requires a Local Control Accountability Plan per state regulations, with input from parents and community members. The board also approved the upcoming year’s LCAP unanimously.

Other business

In addition, the meeting contained a half hour of presentations on items not on the agenda, including four speakers who wanted to petition the board not to change the name of Inteational Elementary to Jey Oropeza Elementary.

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Fired Poly baseball coach Toby Hess once again had a large contingent of supporters on hand hoping to convince the board to take action in defending Hess. After several speakers on other items, however, time was only left for three speakers. The Poly crowd left protesting loudly, with Jeaine McManigal-Ball making the claim that the speakers were not brought up in the order they submitted paperwork to speak.

The meeting was conducted with only four of the five board members present—according to board vice-president Jon Meyer, board member John McGiis was absent due to illness.

The next meeting of the Board of Education will take place on July 18.