Nearly $2 billion dollars in bond measures for Fresno-area school district and the community college district that stretches across four counties, including Fresno, were on Tuesday’s ballot.

Unlike elections for candidates that require either a simple majority, or in the case of multiple candidates, a plurality of votes to achieve victory, bond measures for schools and community colleges require a 55% majority to pass.

Why so many on the ballot? Districts want to be ready with their share of project funding in the event California voters approve the $10 billion Proposition 2 for school and college facilities improvements.

Based on early vote totals released Tuesday evening, three of the six local bond measures on the ballot were winning with 55% or more of the vote, and two others were close to 55%.

The largest bond measure on the ballot was Measure Q, a $698 bond measure for State Center Community College District, which was failing with 52.38% approval in Fresno, Madera, Tulare, and Kings counties in early vote counts.

The district said Measure Q is needed to improve job training opportunities for nurses, first responders, technology, engineering, and clean energy as well as make basic repairs. The bond projects would be spread across the district’s four main campuses in Fresno and Madera counties and its education centers. The district’s last such election was the $485 million Measure C, which voters approved on the primary ballot in June 2016.

Measure H Battles Opposition

Fresno Unified School District’s $500 million Measure H, the second-largest in the county, had 60% voter approval with 28% of the votes counted.

Measure H is noteworthy in part because of its size but also because it would boost the district’s property tax rates to the highest among school districts across Fresno County. Voters approved the $325 million Measure M on the primary ballot in March 2020 after trustees decided not to seek a bigger bond measure that would have raised the district’s tax rate.

Measure H opponents, including School Board President Susan Wittrup, Fresno Trustee Area candidate Emma Villa, former School Board President Brooke Ashjian, and GV Wire publisher Darius Assemi, said the lack of public input in the bond project list and the district’s poor academic performance were reasons why voters should reject the bond measure.

Ashjian’s opposition included using his largely self-funded Guardians of Growth PAC to pay for media buys and text messaging in opposition of Measure H.

The third-largest bond measure was Clovis Unified’s $400 million Measure A, which was failing with 54.8% voter approval with 38% of the votes counted.

District officials assured voters that Measure A would not result in a tax rate increase, but even so it garnered opposition. The district’s history of gaining voter approval is somewhat mixed. In the March 2020 primary Clovis Unified failed to get voter approval for a $408 million Measure A. The district trimmed it to $335 million for the November 2020 ballot, when it passed overwhelmingly with 60% of voters in favor.

Central Unified School District’s $109 million Measure X had approval from 61% of voters with 31% of votes cast.

The district asked voters to approve the Measure X to fix aging schools. Although it’s Fresno’s third largest school district, Measure X was smaller than its Measure D, a $120 million bond measure that voters approved overwhelmingly on the November 2020 ballot. Measure X would extend but not increase the district’s current tax rate, which up to now had been the highest in the county among school districts.

Sanger Unified’s $175 million Measure M bond measure was failing with 54.83% approval with 31% of votes cast.

Measure M is slightly larger than Measure C, which was approved by 58% of Sanger Unified voters on the November 2020 ballot. Measure M’s projects include building new facilities as well as upgrades at its existing schools, some of which were built seven or eight decades ago.

Sierra Unified Tries Again

Sierra Unified’s Measure U had a commanding margin of 66% yes votes with 56% of the votes counted.

Measure U was the smallest bond measure on Tuesday’s ballot at $24,150,000. Sierra Unified bond supporters hoped for better success this time around, as two previous attempts to pass a bond measure have ended in failure in 2008 and 2012.

The bond campaign had focused on the needs of the 100-year-old Sierra High School, which serves students from surrounding K-8 school districts as well as Sierra Unified.