Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District

Measure J - 55% Approval Required

Argument in Favor of Measure J
Vote YES on Measure J to ensure local Fairfield and Suisun students continue learning in safe,

modern schools.

FSUSD has been a good steward of school facilities, maintaining and repairing them as needed. However, most schools are over 35 years old and some are almost 70 years old, and need more than just upkeep.

Our schools require urgent repairs to address the health, safety, and instructional problems that impact thousands of students every day.

FSUSD completed a yearlong assessment of every school and developed a detailed plan with cost estimates to address the most urgent priorities.

Measure J is the solution to ensuring that our schools receive the critical improvements needed to continue keeping students safe and better prepare them for success in college and future careers.

Yes on Measure J:

•   Repairs or replaces leaky roofs, deteriorating plumbing, and sewer systems

•   Updates classrooms for students with disabilities

•   Upgrades old science labs and classrooms for job training

•   Updates infrastructure to improve student access to instructional technology

•   Replaces aging portable classrooms

•   Provides libraries so students have full access to books, resources, and technology

•   Provides education space for music and the arts

•   Modernizes classrooms to meet 21st-century teaching and learning standards

•   Improves campus safety and security

  Measure J Includes Mandatory Fiscal Accountability

•   Independent citizens’ oversight and annual audits ensure funds are spent appropriately

•   No funds can be used for administrator salaries, benefits, or pensions

•   Every penny raised by Measure J will be used for our local schools

•   No funds can be taken away by the State

  Whether or not you have school-age children, protecting quality schools, home values, and our quality of life is a wise investment.

  Join parents, teachers, seniors, and local business and community leaders — Vote YES on J! 

OPPOSITION TO MEASURE J

Suppose your house could use new carpets. The bathroom sink has a small leak. Want new furniture? A flat-screen TV?

Would you mortgage your home to pay for repairs and for things that will be junk long before the note is paid off? Would you expect your children to make the mortgage payments?

We wouldn’t! But the school district wants to stick us with the bill.

Look at the list. See how regularly the words “repair,” “renovate,” and “replace” appear. This is not a school construction measure. It’s a maintenance measure! It’s here because the district has not taken proper care of its facilities for years.

Instead of budgeting for maintenance, to keep buildings and equipment useful for a long time, the district has spent the overwhelming share – around 85 percent -- on personnel: salaries and wages; retirement plans; health care; junkets. There isn’t enough left to take care of the buildings.

California law tries to provide accountability by requiring a Citizens Oversight Committee. That worked very well on the previous bond measure. But this time, there are no specific projects and no estimates of how much anything might
cost. What’s the citizens committee going to oversee?

Since there are no cost estimates, how did the school district come up with the $249 million amount of the bond measure? Simple. It’s just the maximum amount of debt the district could stick us with. Does that sound responsible?

So what are we to do?

Reject Measure J!

Tell the district to budget properly.
Take care of facilities that cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build. Separate the “must-do” from the “nice-to-have.”
Figure what each job will cost.
Then bring us a measure that we can understand and approve.

We’re voting NO on Measure J 

Rebuttal to Argument in Favor of Measure J

Look at your property tax bill for a list of the current school general obligation bonds that you are still paying with interest for the next 25 plus years. Three school bond measures are currently being paid by property owners: FSUSD 2002 Measure C, with two series of refinancing, and two Solano College bonds that property owners and renters will be paying for decades.

Much of the work described in Measure J is deferred maintenance of school properties for which the Education Code requires school districts to pay for from a deferred maintenance fund. Now the District tells us that the schools require urgent repairs and critical improvements. If the District had been a good steward, repairs and replacements would have been completed as needed rather than waiting for a new bond. The cost of new construction and certain replacements are eligible for matching state funds. Many of the listed items do not qualify for matching funds, strongly suggesting that they should not be in Measure J.

Since items listed in Measure J are not specific to any school site, the Measure is bait that gives the District a BLANK CHECK to squander bond dollars on whatever they want.

The FSUSD has the unilateral authority to refinance any portion of the bond amount during the bond term without voter approval or notice to refinance given to the property owner taxpayer.

Join overtaxed property owners—VOTE NO ON J! 

Rebuttal to Argument Against Measure J

The FEW opponents of Measure J frequently write similar arguments against measures to support schools, police, firefighters, and other important local services. Their opposition is ideological and not based on the needs of our schools or our community.

Their comparison of urgent school safety and educational issues to a home needing new carpets and a flat screen TV is an offensive slap in the face to our students, teachers, and families. They misunderstand Measure J and trivialize serious health, safety, and instructional issues.

FACTS:

•   Most schools are over 35 years old and some are almost 70 years old

•   Leaky roofs disrupt instruction

•   Schools need earthquake and fire safety improvements

•   Deteriorating plumbing/sewer systems long ago exceeded their lifespan

•   Fifty year old electrical systems fail because they were not designed for modern

  instructional technology

•   Some classrooms aren’t accessible for students with disabilities

•   Science labs and job training classrooms built in the 1960s cannot prepare students for

  college and 21st-century careers

  Measure J is the result of an extensive, yearlong facilities assessment and addresses the most urgent priorities.

  The District has a proven track record of spending taxpayers’ dollars carefully and responsibly. Mandatory citizens’ oversight and annual audits will ensure Measure J funds are spent on top priorities.

  Protecting quality education and ensuring that students continue to learn in safe, modern schools IS a wise investment.

  Let's send Fairfield-Suisun students a message that we value their education and future success: vote Yes on J!