The Bonds, Prop 39 and the 10th Site

This week's closed session begins at 5:00pm. The board will reconvene for open session starting around 7pm in the LASD Board Room.  The entire agenda and supporting documentation can be found here.  

Every year, representatives from each LASD school present at a board meeting.  Oak Avenue Elementary School will present this week regarding their work with the Writing Workshop.

We start our Action and Discussion items off with the Audited Financial Report for the 2017/2018 school year presented by Randy and LASD's auditor Chavan & Associates.  This is an action item. The auditor's presentation and the District's financial report for the 2017/2018 school year may be found using the link above under agenda item I.1.  The auditor "finds no exceptions" (in plain english that means the auditor found nothing wrong).  

Next up Randy will present the 2019/20 State Budget.  This is a discussion item and Randy's presentation can be found under agenda  I.2.  According to Randy, the only "contribution" LASD will receive from the state this coming year and the next is a 1% reduction in our contribution to CALSTRS (teacher pension).  This means that the District will have roughly $250,000 more a year to work with than expected.  As we are a locally funded district (in large part funded by property taxes), any monies we receive from the state is really a bonus for us.  However, it is important to note, that even with this "bonus" our schools are not fully funded.  Some years our bonus is over $1 million, some years it is not.  It depends on the economic health of the state and the Governor's priorities in any given year.  

The Citizens Advisory Committee for Finance (CACF) will present a Mid-Year Report.  This is a discussion item and their presentation and a letter in support of the presentation can be found under agenda I.3.  CACF is recommending that the District establish a $10 million sinking maintenance fund for our facilities from the Measure N proceeds as soon as possible.  They believe that it is the best course of action considering we have nothing left in Deferred Maintenance as of this year and we have aging facilities.     

Speaking of Measure N, LASD's bond financial advisor asks that we approve Selection of Underwriters for the the Sale of Bond Anticipation Notes.  This is an action item and his presentation can be found under agenda item I.4.  Mr. Olson is asking us to approve the selection of two underwriters, Raymond James as the lead underwriter and Barclays as the co-manager.  

Now we get to the reason you are even reading this blog or want to come to the meeting Monday night.  Randy will present the Preliminary Offer of Facilities to Bullis Charter School for 2019/20 that is due February 1, 2019 to the charter school.  This is an action item and a copy of the draft offer and staff's presentation and recommendation can be found under agenda item I.5.  I highly recommend you read both documents. Please note, LASD absolutely prefers a long term agreement with BCS to the Prop 39 process.  Prop 39 leads to angst and uncertainty for LASD, BCS and the entire community from year to year.  A long term agreement is in the best interest of everyone who lives in the LASD boundaries and will bring back the peace and certainty we enjoyed under the five year agreement.  However, we must go through the Prop 39 process until a long term agreement is reached. For our Preliminary Facilities Offer staff recommends that based on the fact that we don't have enough lead time to manage the handover a campus and displacement of an entire school community, we can't fit any more students at an already overcrowded Egan, and that it is not fiscally prudent to place short term facilities on the flood plain that is Blach, it is in the best interests of all LASD and BCS students that we place the 220 more in-district BCS enrolled for the 19/20 school at a third (elementary) campus.  The presentation evaluates each and every elementary school campus considering traffic, disruption, cost, and whether it could be part of a multi year solution to hold BCS's projected unilateral growth to 1,200.  Based on those factors, the district staff recommends that the 3rd campus be Loyola Elementary School.  Staff requests the Board approve the Preliminary Facilities Offer to BCS and determine which elementary school campus should house the 220 more in-district BCS students.  Please come and give us your input or email us at [email protected]. We value your opinions and will consider them while making our final decision regarding the Preliminary Facilities Offer to BCS for 19/20 school year.

Are you still reading?  Well, you are in luck. Next, the Board is asked to authorize the superintendent to execute the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with City of Mountain View.  This in an action item and the MOU can be found under agenda item I.6.  This agreement memorializes the structure of the Transfer of Development Rights program already approved and signed by the City of Mountain View.  This agreement gives the District the ability to sell the development rights it will acquire with the purchase of the 10th site parcel to already willing buyers for $130/square for a grand total of $79.3 million. This does not include the Joint Use Agreement (JUA) with the City of Mountain View, which will come back to us at a later time (and will memorialize our sharing agreement with the City of Mountain View of the fields and gym in consideration of their contribution of $23 million to the purchase price of the 10th site).    

Please note, this is just the highlights of what is on the agenda for the 1/28/2019 meeting.  You can inform yourself about the rest of the agenda at the link provided above.  As always, feel free to email me with any questions.