Clovis Unified is asking voters in November to approve a $400 million bond measure that will have millions of dollars for upgrades and modernization at schools such as 67-year-old Nelson Elementary, where district leaders met Thursday afternoon to kick off the district’s bond measure education campaign.

The district can’t spend public funds lobbying for the bond measure but is allowed to provide information about what the $400 million will pay for. Thursday’s tour was part of that education campaign.

Assistant Superintendent for Facilities Denver Stairs led a group through offices, classrooms, the kitchen, and the teachers lounge at Nelson, pointing to ceiling tiles, wiring, tight spaces, and aging equipment.

The district’s goal is to provide all of its students — whether they live in older neighborhoods like Pinedale in northwest Fresno where Nelson is located, or in the southeast part of the district where newer schools are being built — access to the same high-quality facilities, Superintendent Corrine Folmer said.

Students should be able to have pride in their schools, she said.

The community has shown its continued commitment in its support for bonds that enable all students access to a high-quality education, Folmer added.

Tax Rate Extended, Not Raised

The $400 million bond measure that the Clovis Unified trustees unanimously voted to put on the November ballot will extend the current tax rate of $155 per $100,000 of assessed valuation, a rate that has been the same for the past 12 years and which is significantly lower than the property tax rates of neighboring school districts.

Stairs said that each school will get some piece of the bond measure pie through a school safety initiative and replacing current lighting with LED lights that will lower operational costs. The school safety initiative will include adding bollards on campuses to prevent cars from driving onto them, new security camera systems, and safety film for windows, he said.

Nelson is in line to for significant improvements that could cost $24 million. But the biggest chunk of the bond measure — $180 million — would pay to complete the Clovis South High School project on the Terry Bradley Educational Center in the southeast portion of the district. The school will open to students in grades seven through nine in August 2025, and additional classes will be added in subsequent years.

What the bond measure will not contain is money for a new elementary school on the Terry Bradley campus.

“That is enrollment dependent. So as enrollment starts to grow in that southeast area, then we’ll plan for that,” Stairs said.

Both Clovis Unified and Sanger Unified are impacted by the city of Fresno’s waffling over the South East Development Area, whether to allow housing growth to continue, and at what pace.

Multiple Bond Measures for Fresno Voters

The bond measure has not gotten a letter designation yet from the Fresno County Registrar of Voters, although the district’s resolution requests that it be affording the letter A as in past elections. More information about the bond measure projects, tax rates, and findings of the Citizens Committee are online at cusd.com/2024bond.

Clovis’ is one of three and possibly four bond measures that will be on the November ballot. The Fresno and Sanger School Boards voted last month to put bond measures on the ballot, and the Central Unified School Board could vote next week on a bond measure.

Fresno’s is $500 million and Sanger’s is $175 million, and both would result in higher tax rates. Central’s proposed $109 million bond measure would maintain the district’s current tax rate, which is currently the highest among Fresno County school districts.

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