In the run-up to next month’s election, we’re taking a closer look at the 17 measures Californians will be weighing. We start with Proposition 51, which would fund school construction by selling bonds. Reporter Mary Plummer starts our story by taking us inside a school needing help….
Step inside a classroom at Felton Elementary, and at first things seem pretty normal.
Third-grader Jade has just finished a math test, and is taking a break to work on a coloring project.
“I’m drawing Seedot,” she says. “It’s a Pokemon. He’s really cute.”
But spend a little more time at the school and you’ll notice this:
That’s the roar of jet engines overhead. The school is just minutes away from LAX, the busiest airport in all of California. Jade and her classmates are assigned to a portable classroom and they deal with more noise than most other students at their school.
Unlike other buildings on campus, this room doesn’t have sound protection.
There's another odd detail... The classroom doesn’t have any natural light. The windows have been blocked.
“They are covered — there's like a board on the outside part that covers it. I'm not exactly sure how that was was made. It's always been like that.”
That’s Jade’s teacher, Elizabeth Franco. She says in her 14 years of teaching, she’s never had a classroom with a window.
“For me, it’s almost like, just that’s the way it is,” Franco said. “I’ve never experienced anything else.”
Lennox school district’s superintendent Kent Taylor says the windows are blocked both for security and as a cheap way to blunt the airplane noise.
Taylor says there aren’t funds to help sound proof the portable buildings, unlike classrooms for the rest of the school. And that creates equity problems: some kids get to learn in a quiet room, others don’t.
And this problem, brings us to Proposition 51. It’s among the 17 statewide ballot measures that voters will decide on in this election.
If approved, Prop 51 will authorize billions in bonds for construction projects at K-12 schools, community colleges and vocational and charter schools.
Over the roar of a plane overhead, Taylor says this funding would help the school replace portables like this one with permanent buildings, and improve the district’s aging schools.
“So if we get another 10 million because of Prop 51, we’re so excited,” Taylor said. “It doesn’t meet all of our needs, but it certainly helps our students so much. So we’re encouraging the voters, please think about our kids.”
Prop 51 has an army of supporters — many with deep pockets, like the housing developers Brookfield, KB Home and Shea Homes.
In all, nearly $12 million has been raised in support of the bond measure.
But the measure also has high profile opposition. Governor Jerry Brown has said it would squander money that could be better spent in low income communities.
G. Rick Marshall with the California Taxpayers Action Network helped write the arguments against the measure in the state’s voter information guide.
“All this does is add to state debt,” Marshall said. “And it brings a one-size fits all program to school districts. When you have local bond money, locals decide what to do with it.”
Marshall says if the measure passes, developers will benefit. He says Prop 51 would prevent additional fees imposed on new housing developments that need schools.
Across the state this November, more than 100 school districts — including Lennox — have placed local bond measures on the ballot.
Many hope to raise matching funds to take advantage of Prop 51, if it passes it’ll take a simple majority vote of the ballots cast.
At Felton Elementary, officials look forward to the day when students in the portables can be taught without hearing the noise overhead.
Prop 51, however, would come at a price: these third-graders will be well into their 40s by the time the state pays off the bonds in roughly 2053.