With enrollment declining, LA Unified no longer needs to build new campuses. However, the district plans to continue rebuilding and updating aging buildings.
Los Angeles school officials said in a staff report that the district’s needs are “tremendous. More than 60 percent of school buildings are over 50 years old and in dire need of renovation. “This means that students are attending school in dilapidated and dilapidated facilities.” It does not meet today’s learning and safety standards. ”
The district has a budget for maintenance, but major repairs and upgrades like replacing the roof, updating the Wi-Fi network, replacing an asphalt playground with grass and trees, and installing air conditioning in the cafeteria kitchen are not available. Usually paid for from public bonds. .
LA Schools Seniors Alberto Carvalho and Alina Palos, 6, sample food prepared in the new kitchen at Belvedere Middle School in East Los Angeles just before the start of this school year. This is an example of an upgrade made in a previous bond.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Projections call for about $5 billion for “large-scale modernization, upgrades, and reconfiguration of school campuses.”
Other funding areas include $75 million for electric buses, $461 million for cafeteria upgrades, $258 million to create accessible spaces for people with disabilities, and $70.5 million for surveillance cameras. It will be.
Approximately $1.25 billion will be earmarked for school greening projects. These include planting trees, removing asphalt from playgrounds, installing outdoor classrooms, and constructing shade structures.
The $9 billion bond would be the district’s largest in total, but not when compared to the $7 billion bond passed in 2008, adjusted for inflation.
But that’s a lot of money, approaching the size of the $10 billion state education bond that will appear on ballots across California. The state bond includes $1.5 billion for community colleges, and with school districts separately contesting their own $9 billion in bonds, $8.5 billion for all K-12 schools across the state, including L.A. Unified. You will be left with dollars.
