Voters in the Coronado Unified School District will be asked in Tuesday's election to approve a measure that would authorize issuing $29 million in bonds to pay for modern classroom technology and repair classrooms and equipment.
Proponents of Proposition E say using bond funds for these kinds of expenses would free up general fund dollars to pay for reducing class sizes and avoiding teacher layoffs. Opponents of Proposition E say bond measures should be used to pay for capital expenses, such as building new schools, but this one would go for operating expenses.
Coronado schools superintendent Jeff Felix said the funds from the proposed bond measure would help reverse deep cuts the district made during the recession.
Felix said state guidelines that were adopted last year for school funding also stipulated that more money go for groups of disadvantaged children, such as those who do not speak English as a first language or who come from lower income households. That hurts the Coronado district, he said, because the city doesn't have a lot of those types of children.
“That creates a serious imbalance in the amount of money that Coronado receives versus the amount of money that, for instance, just across the bay, San Diego Unified receives,” Felix said. “Therefore, that creates a disparity in what we can pay our employees and the type of materials and resources that we can receive, thus creating an inequity in our two school systems.”
School officials have said the bonds will be paid off within 10 years.
Opponents of Proposition E said in their ballot argument that by issuing bonds "primarily for operating costs," the school board is avoiding making the difficult decisions about how to curb expenses.
To pass, Proposition E needs approval from 55 percent of those who cast ballots in Tuesday's election.
