School Bond Issues

I voted against both recent Conejo Valley Unified School District bond issues, my first such votes ever. While I believe strongly in education, I am also a professional economist and the material I saw in the press to support the bonds left me cold.

After that election, I wrote a lengthy letter to Dr. Jerry Gross, superintendent of the Conejo Valley district. Almost immediately, I was invited to meet with him and Gary Mortimer, assistant superintendent for business. I came away from that meeting with a changed mind and the following observations:

The district has done a much better job of planning and budgeting than of marketing. For example, projects for “air-conditioning” really incorporate many other items in the way of long-lived improvements in school systems, with future cost savings to help offset the capital and bonding costs.

Part of the need for such massive retrofitting comes from the failure of the state to meet its obligations earlier in the 1990s. District expenditures now are needed to get the state funds that have become available with the recovery of the California economy.

Another part of the need for retrofitting comes from various state and federal mandates [such as] those stemming from the Americans With Disabilities Act. The question here is how to comply, not whether, and I believe that the district is doing a credible job in making the best of the situation.

RONALD PROMBOIN, Westlake Village