OXNARD : Debt Jeopardizes Schools Unification

The discovery that the Oxnard Union High School District owes $41.5 million in long-term debt may sound the death knell for a possible merger with Oxnard Elementary District, the elementary district superintendent has said.

A third of the debt represents lifetime health benefits for retired high school teachers and their families, a liability that is expected to escalate significantly in future years, Norman Brekke, superintendent of the 12,500-student elementary district, said Thursday.

He said administrators were dismayed when they learned of the size of the debt in the draft report of an education consultant.

“We’re terribly disappointed about this,” said Brekke, who has supported the merger idea, which would involve removing one of the high schools from the high school district and adding it to the elementary district.

“I think that this is the death knell for unification,” Brekke said.

The draft report was reviewed Wednesday by an elementary district advisory panel, which will give its recommendation to the district’s board of trustees on Tuesday.

Almost all of the high school district’s debt must be paid from general revenues, said Sandra Herrera, head of finances for the elementary district. By contrast, 90% of the elementary district’s $21.5 million in long-term debt will be retired by voter-approved tax revenues, she said.

In the draft report, Terry McHenry of Educational Research Consultants in Sacramento said it was unclear what proportion of the high school debt would be the responsibility of the elementary district if the merger proceeded.

More than one-third of the high school district’s 11,000 students attend elementary schools in the Oxnard district, the study noted.

Brekke said the size of the debt, especially the retirement benefits that are expected to rise over time, would “create a rather considerable barrier” to unification.

“We were aware of the lifetime benefits, but we did not know until this study the dimension of the cost,” Brekke said. “It exceeded our expectation by a mile.”

The elementary district has refused to extend health benefits for its own retirees beyond age 69, Brekke said.

The consultant’s report may have put an end to a promising idea, Brekke said.