by Kevin Cody
Measure HV, the $28.7 million Hermosa Beach school bond on the November 5 ballot, was foremost among the subjects school leaders wanted to talk about to parents gathered in the bowl at Hermosa Vista School’s Back To School night last Thursday, August 5. But they couldn’t because political campaigning on school campuses is illegal.
Instead, Principal Hillary Overland mentioned how the bowl was part of the school’s remodel, made possible by Measure S, the $59 million school bond passed in 2016.
Newly appointed Superintendent Susan Wildes shared with the parents the sentiment she expressed at the start of the school year, when she told Easy Reader why she came to Hermosa. “Everyone I talked to — teachers, principals, parents — told me they love this district. They don’t just like it. They love it. That strong emotion is what drew me.”
PTO president Jennifer Kucera mentioned how appreciative she was of the parents’ involvement, as evidenced by the number of parents attending the Back to School Night, which appeared equal to the 430 students enrolled at the school.
The final speaker, Education Foundation President Belinda Oakes, raised the sobering fact that state funding falls $3,000 per student short of what’s needed to educate the district’s 1,400 students each year. To help make up that shortfall, she asked every parent to donate $1,000, multiplied by the number of children they have in Hermosa schools.
In an interview off campus, following the Vista Back to School Night, School Board President Quentin Kluthe offered his perspective on Measure HV. (There is no organized opposition to the bond).
From the glass half full perspective, he said, “Parents know they can trust the district with the bond proceeds because the district delivered on what it promised in 2016 with Measure S. We built Vista School and remodeled View on time and on budget.”
From the glass half empty perspective, he said, “People might think the schools are good enough.”
To which he responded, “Vista and View are good. Our third school, Valley, needs help.”
Measure HV proceeds, according to the district website, are for Valley School, and are broken into four categories: classroom modernisation, energy upgrades, athletic facilities and campus safety.
The biggest cost, at $6.8 million, is classroom modernization. That includes $3.4 million for two new science labs to be built next to the gym.
“We want science labs as good as Manhattan Beach Middle School’s,” former Hermosa Superintendent Jason Johson quipped last year, before leaving to become El Segundo’s superintendent.
The second most costly improvement will be $6.2 million for Valley’s athletic facilities. Of that, $3.9 million is for an athletic field, and a running track. The district won’t decide until the bond is approved if the field will be grass, or be artificial grass, Kluthe said.
He noted that improvements to the athletic facilities will financially benefit the district by making the facilities more attractive for leasing by groups like soccer and flag football leagues. The district currently leases gym time to Hermosa Beach Youth Basketball. The district earns roughly $125,000 annually from facility leases.
Energy upgrades, including HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning), and rooftop solar panels are budgeted at $4.7 million. The solar panels will reduce future electrical costs.
And finally, the politically sensitive area of campus safety is budgeted at $6 million.
Half of the $6 million is for moving the check-in office to the campus perimeter, facing Valley Drive. Presently, the check-in office is in the middle of the campus, at the end of a long walkway that meanders past the quad. As a result, intruders can enter campus without administrators being aware of them.
Classrooms that now face Valley Drive will become the check-in and administrative offices. The offices at the center of the campus will become classrooms.
Another $1.4 million is to reconfigure drop-off and parking areas to make them safer and reduce traffic congestion before and after school.
Kluthe pointed out that Hermosa’s school property tax rate of $34.95 per $100,000 in assessed valuation (not market valuation) is approximately one-third the rate of neighboring Redondo’s and Manhattan’s. (Unlike Redondo and Manhattan, Hermosa does not have a high school, nor the associated costs.)
The Redondo school district’s property tax rate is $100 per $100,000 in assessed valuation. Manhattan’s is $87.96 per $100,000 in assessed valuation. Manhattan and Redondo also have school bond measures on the November 5 ballot. Manhattan Measure RLS is $32/$100,000 in assessed valuation, Redondo Measure S is $29.95/$100,000 in assessed valuation.
Hermosa Beach is still paying off Measure J, approved by voters in 2002, and Measure S, approved in 2016.
Measure J, the first bond measure in the district’s history, provided $13.6 million for improvements at Valley, including a new gym, new classrooms and maintenance upgrades at Valley and View.
Measure S, a $59 million bond, built the new Vista School on the site of the long closed North School, and remodeled View School.
The $28.7 million Measure HV is projected to raise $2.6 million annually by adding $13.15 per $100,000 in assessed valuation to the combined Measure J and Measure S property tax rate, according to the measure’s ballot statement. But the tax rate will be held at the current $34.95 per $100,000 of assessed value by phasing in the Measure HV tax as measures J and S are phased out, district bond advisor Jon Isom, of Urban Futures, explained.
Measure J will be paid off in 2030 and Measures S and HV will be paid off in 2050.
The bonds’ tax rate could decline, Isom noted, if assessed valuations increase by more than the 4% projected by the district. He said the district used a conservative projection, rather than the actual 6% appreciation over the past decade, to minimize the risk of having to increase the tax rate.
A poll last June found 66 percent of Hermosa voters would support Measure HV. School bonds need 55 percent plus one to pass.
Kluthe praised the HV campaign’s volunteer effort, led by Hermosa Beach planning commissioner Steve Izant. But he is concerned about “voter fatigue.” Measure Q, the district’s $54 million bond in 2014, failed by 32 votes.
In addition to Measure HV, other issues Hermosa voters will find on the November 5 ballot include the Beach Cities Health District bond (Measure BC), a city of Hermosa sales tax increase (Measure HB), the 66th State Assembly race, the 36th District Congressional race, and the Hermosa Beach council race.
Five candidates are seeking two open council seats. Two of the candidates, incumbent Michael Detoy, and planning commissioner Jani Lange , were at Valley Park Saturday to pick up Yes on Measure HV lawn signs from district volunteers. Both candidates have children in Hermosa schools and said they will campaign for Measure HV while knocking on doors for their own campaigns.
“My daughter started school at View the year after it was remodeled,” Detoy said. “She’ll go to the new Vista School when she enters second grade. And if the Measure HV passes, she’ll start fifth grade at Valley the year the science labs and new athletic fields are completed.
“My wife and I cannot believe how lucky we are with the timing of our children starting at HBCSD. We have seen the benefits of the previous measures first hand,” he said. ER
