by Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

Claremont Unified School District’s Board of Education will decide June 18 whether it will advance a proposed 30-year, $77 million bond to the November 3 general election ballot.

The board voted unanimously on June 4 to agendize the question. If it passes, CUSD will ask the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office to include the bond measure on the ballot.

The proposed bond would pay for new roofing, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, plumbing, and electrical concerns across the district’s 10 campuses and at the CUSD offices at 170 W. San Jose Ave., and synthetic turf replacement at Claremont High School. The $77 million would be generated by increased property taxes in the city over the next 30 years.

Last month, CUSD Superintendent Jim Elsasser said the actual total cost of the improvements that would be funded by the proposed new bond could be as high as $102 million due to the shifting cost of goods and services in the four to five years the projects would take to complete. The district has not yet addressed how it might fund the potential shortfall.

Superintendent Jim Elsasser at the June 4 CUSD Board of Education meeting. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

The district is operating at an $10.8 million deficit for fiscal year 2025-26, with additional shortfalls projected for the coming years. In March, The LA County Department of Education put CUSD on notice that it must tighten up its budget or face “difficult decisions.” Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Desiree Reyes said at the time that the county “indicated that if the deficit spending continues at this level, the district may be required to develop a fiscal stabilization plan, identifying areas of expenditure reductions to address the structural deficit and ensure the district maintains the minimum required reserve levels in future years.”

A previous school bond, the $48.9 million Measure Y that voters approved in 2000, will be paid off in 2028. If the proposed new bond makes it onto the ballot and voters approve it, Claremont taxpayers would begin paying on it in 2029 at the same rate as they did on Measure Y, through 2059.

In 2016, Claremont voters approved the $58 million Measure G bond for upgrades across CUSD school sites. That bond sunsets in 2048. Claremont taxpayers also contribute to the city’s Recreation Assessment District fund under the Landscaping and Lighting Act of 1972, which also benefits CUSD.

Voters rejected an additional $95 million school bond, Measure CL, in 2010.

The unanimous June 4 vote came after Elsasser presented a summary of findings from 36 community engagement meetings and follow-up surveys took place over the past two months. The district received about 130 responses over that time.

Elsasser said the surveys indicated the proposed new bond would have the best chance of being approved by voters if the new payment remained the same as the amount residents had been paying for Measure Y.

(L-R) CUSD Board of Education members Richard O’Neill, Kathryn Dunn, and Clerk Cheryl Fiello at the June 4 meeting. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

Elsasser reported those in opposition to the potential bond cited economic hardship due to the war in Iran, tax fatigue, and perceptions that some items on the list of potential projects were not essential. Stakeholders also raised questions about declining enrollment, teacher compensation, and district priorities. Some suggested CUSD could consolidate schools and sell then unused property to pay for its infrastructure needs.

CUSD still has about $5 million remaining from the  $12.25 million sale of the former La Puerta property in 2025. But that money is earmarked for capital improvement projects, not general fund expenditures like those the potential new school bond would cover.

“What happens to our facilities if we don’t do this?” asked CUSD Board Vice President Kathy Archer at the June 4 meeting. “We go from a proactive mode to reactive mode,” Elsasser said. “We’re a day away from a $1 million plumbing problem.”

Board member Richard O’Neill asked Elsasser about the possibility of delaying the proposed bond measure.

“Probably the biggest concern with delaying and revisiting it in two years is everything continues just to get more expensive, and everything gets older,” Elsasser said.

Nine of CUSD’s 10 campuses are 60 years or older. Claremont High opened in 1971.

“I don’t think there’s ever a good time to go out for a bond measure,” said CUSD Board Clerk Cheryl Fiello. “I don’t think there’s ever a comfortable time to ask our taxpayers for more. I would feel comfortable asking for the bare minimum of the $77 million as an absolute this is a necessity … I would hate to have not taken this opportunity to at least talk to our community and our taxpayers and present that as … an absolute urgent, necessary need, and let them decide if that is important to them.”

The board will vote on whether to go forward with the proposed bond measure at its next meeting, 6 p.m. Thursday, June 18 at 170 W. San Jose Ave., Claremont.