The Fresno Unified School Board voted 6-1 Wednesday to approve a project list for the $500 million Measure H bond measure on November’s ballot.

The lone dissenting vote was Board President Susan Wittrup, who said she was voting against it because the project list was finalized after ballots had already been mailed out to voters.

“I do not feel the public has had ample opportunity to participate and ask questions,” she said.

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Paul Idsvoog, the district’s chief operations officer, noted that the list could still be subject to change, since each project will still require approval by the board before contracts are awarded.

“None of these projects get approved until they come forward to the board. So they still have to come forward to the board,” he said.

Islas Urges Board to Stick to Final List

Trustee Veva Islas said she hoped that there would be “fidelity” to the list by the board in its future decisions, especially since some of the schools now targeted for renovations have been pushed off of prior lists when other needs or opportunities arose.

“I would say that we really need to be very critical in thinking about whether we’re going to shift from something that we had, and it has to be for a very critical reason. Not just because there’s been some politicking about this other thing being pushed up for some political reason,” she said.

Not Like Prior Bond Measure Project Lists

The Measure H project list differs from earlier bond measure project lists in two ways.

Each school site was thoroughly assessed to determine its condition, and then a so-called “equity tool” was used to rank the school sites based not only on the school’s condition but also the area’s demographics.

In addition, the district’s contract with the Fresno Teachers Association includes a provision for the union to collaborate on how to spend one-third of the bond measure’s revenues, primarily identifying schools with inferior classroom spaces, overcrowding, or the lack of confidential spaces.

Trustees Keshia Thomas and Claudia Cázares both noted that track, field and lights projects at Edison and Hoover high schools were being sacrificed so funding could go to renovations at Kirk, Centennial, and Pyle elementary schools.

Trustee Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas added a proviso to the motion to approve the project list: If there are funds left over from the turf, track, and lights project at Roosevelt High, those funds would go to Lowell Elementary, which was ranked in great need of renovations.

Trustee Valerie Davis noted that all of Fresno Unified’s bond measures have won approval over the past 20 years, unlike those of neighboring school districts. Fresno Unified would not have the Sunnyside region, which she represents, if past trustees had not voted to build new schools there, she said.

In addition, Fresno Unified’s investment in southwest Fresno has paid off for that neighborhood, she said.

Opposition to Measure H

Davis referred somewhat obliquely to opposition to Measure H by Fresno city councilmembers.

“It is unfortunate that our other counterparts of City Council think that one region should vote against it because there’s not adequate enough resources allocated to it. But I would beg to differ,” she said. “If he got in a car and drove south of Shaw, he would probably see another community with intentional investments, and why this money is necessary.”

Councilmembers Mike Karbassi and Miguel Arias have come out against the bond measure, as have former Bullard region trustees Brooke Ashjian and Terry Slatic.

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Davis, the board’s longest-serving trustee, told GV Wire after Wednesday’s board meeting that Wittrup is not the first Fresno Unified trustee to publicly oppose one of the district’s bond measures.

“Brooke (Ashjian) and Carol (Mills) opposed Measure X before, and our voters saw fit to pass it anyway,” she said.

Measure X was a $225 million bond measure approved in 2016 by a margin of 67%. Bond measures need 55% approval to pass.

Voter Support in Polls

Davis said the district had “double-polled” the Bullard region as well as other regions, and in both polls residents across the district — including the Bullard region — indicated they would vote for the $500 million bond measure.

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District spokeswoman Nikki Henry said Thursday that three polls were conducted for the district on the bond measure. On past bond measures, the district typically would conduct only a single poll, she said.

The Measure H polls were conducted prior to signing off on the project list, which contains $100 million for the McLane region, Roosevelt, $97.4 million; Fresno High, $76.3 million; Hoover, $67.5 million; Edison, $61.8 million; Bullard, $32.7 million; and Sunnyside, $14.3 million.

Several elementary schools have been targeted for major overhauls costing over $30 million apiece, including Calwa, Pyle, and Norseman. All three have been classified as “unsatisfactory” in the district’s assessment.

If approved, Measure H would be the district’s biggest bond measure ever and would raise the tax rate to $238.86, which would be the highest among school districts in Fresno County. Right now Fresno Unified’s tax rate of $213.86 is second only to Central Unified’s rate of $215.60.

Davis said there are no plans for additional polling prior to the Nov. 5 election.