Paramount Unified to place $106M school bond measure on the ballot

PARAMOUNT >>The Paramount Unified School District will ask voters in November to approve a $106 million bond measure to help fund upgrades and repairs across its 19-campus system, officials said Wednesday.

Superintendent Ruth Perez said many of the 15,500 students enrolled in the district attend campuses equipped with aging facilities, some built over 50 years ago.

While many campuses are in need of repairs and upgrades, she said, top priorities include replacing outdated portable buildings at Paramount High School and other large campuses, upgrading school security systems and facilitating access for disabled students and faculty.

“Our local schools need basic safety improvements,” Perez said. “Children deserve and need safe, clean schools so they can learn, including basic repairs and upgrades to electrical, plumbing, security and technological systems.”

The school board is asking for the money now because it has run out of funds from a $100 million school bond voters approved a decade ago. That money went toward new athletic facilities, science labs and a number of classroom upgrades, she said, but there is still work to be done.

Also on the list of plaed projects is a push to expand wireless access across the district and technology enhancements in several classrooms, said Ruben Frutos, assistant superintendent of business services.

Paramount is the latest school district across Southern California to take a bond measure to voters this year. Two months ago, Long Beach voters approved an $850 million bond measure for Long Beach Community College, not too long after the Long Beach Unified School District aounced it would place a $1.5 billion bond measure on the November ballot. Measure K would be used for campus improvements, including $750 million slated for air-conditioning upgrades.

In addition to local initiatives, voters also have a $9 billion California school bond measure to contend with.

Proposition 51, the Public School Facility Bonds measure, asks for funding to help build new K-12 facilities and modernize existing ones. If approved, funds would also be earmarked to expand charter schools, construct, renovate and expand community college facilities and enhance career technical education.

Opposed by Gov. Jerry Brown, the initiative is also the first education-related bond measure successfully brought forward by citizens and the first statewide initiative on the ballot since 2006.

Advertisement

Although the ask is $9 billion, the initiative comes a hefty price tag, according to the state’s legislative analyst, which estimates voters could ultimately be on the hook for $17.6 billion.

However, Paramount leaders say they are not discouraged by the proposed state measure. In fact, they believe it could prove beneficial for the district.

“The district has historically been very good about leveraging state funds by combining available money with local funds and should both measures pass, we are going to try to do that again,” Frutos said. “We would use every dollar as wisely as we can.”