The Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District’s proposed bond to pay for campus upgrades was clinging to the threshold needed to pass on Wednesday.
Measure SOS, which would authorize $297.8 million in bonds for school improvement projects, had 55.82% support, with 44.18% opposed, according to the latest results update, which the Los Angeles County registrar’s office posted around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The measure needs 55% to pass.
Measure SOS, if it passes, would levy about $29.49 per $100,000 in assessed property value to pay for the bonds. The district would use shorter-term 20-year bond issues to reduce the interest, which, in turn, would reduce the property taxes paid by residents, according to the PVPUSD website.
“Most classrooms and labs were built for a different era of education,” the district’s website says. “Some science labs have not been updated in 60 years. In addition to repairing what is broken and making seismic and safety improvements, updates are needed to provide access to learning technology and support advanced instruction in all subjects including science, technology, engineering and math.”
During an Aug. 6 Rancho Palos Verdes City Council meeting, PVPUSD Superintendent Devin Serrano and board member Sara Dean addressed a panel seeking the measure’s endorsement.
Many of the school buildings are at least 60 years old, with leaking roofs and plumbing issues, Serrano said at the time. Miraleste Intermediate, she added, had a power surge that melted the campus electrical panel — keeping the school (sixth- to eighth-grades) closed for three days. A generator was put in and it is still powering the school, costing about $150,000 a month.
Measure SOS, supporters have said, is aimed at funding the most critical improvements, including roofs, sewer and gas pipes, electrical systems, failing classrooms and restrooms. It would also pay to replace 30-year-old portable classrooms, and implement earthquake and fire safety measures. The measure, if it passes, would also require independent oversight/audits.
Among those keeping a close watch on the vote returns this week has been outgoing school board member Linda Reid, who chose not to run for another term and will leave the board in December after 10 years of service.
“It’s barely ahead, just a shade over,” she said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
She was up several times Tuesday night into Wednesday morning to check the most recent results, Reid said. “It’s so hard to tell or predict because you don’t know how many people mailed their ballots in the last couple of days.”
“We haven’t passed (a bond measure) since 2005, they’re hard to pass in our community,” she said.
But the schools in the district, she said, “are in such a bad state of disrepair and it’s a dire situation.”
PVPUSD isn’t alone. School Districts across the South Bay had multimillion-dollar bond measures on the Nov. 5 ballot, including Manhattan Beach Unified, Redondo Beach Unified and the Hermosa Beach City School District; all of those were tracking toward passing.
As for Measure SOS, the list of needed upgrades doesn’t include anything fancy, Reid said.
“It’s just fixing things, the plumbing, the drains, the sewage pipes and leaky roofs (in classrooms),” she said. “These dollars stay in our community and people can call the superintendent to see how the money is being spent. The dollars stay here and there’s an accountability.”
It is unknown how many ballots remain outstanding. The registrar is tentatively scheduled to certify the election on Dec. 3.