Scotts Valley Unified School District weighs November bond for new stadium, other upgrades

Scotts Valley Unified School District’s governing board is considering placing a bond, for potentially tens of millions of dollars, on the November ballot to help fund a wish list of upgrades to its schools, including a stadium at Scotts Valley High School and modernized classrooms. 

The governing board unanimously adopted an updated facilities master plan at a special meeting Monday, detailing $76 million in needed upgrades across its four schools. Board member Lucia Rocha-Nestler was absent. 

Board president Michael Shulman told Lookout that the district is still considering whether it will place a bond on the ballot in November, and for how much. He said the facilities plan helps SVUSD assess its needs and priorities, but doesn’t mean it will ask for that amount. 

“That’s needed – that’s not necessarily what we’re going to go out for the bond,” Shulman said Thursday. “I seriously don’t expect we’re going to ask for all of that in the bond.” 

Surveys conducted for the district by consulting firm K12 Partners found that staff and community members at both Vine Hill Elementary and Brook Knoll Elementary prioritized new playground equipment, a new multipurpose building and modernizing classroom spaces, among other projects. Each school’s total projects would cost between $20 million and $23 million. 

At Scotts Valley Middle School, the priority projects include adding air conditioning to the gym, security enhancements, technology upgrades and a track and turf field. Security enhancements, depending on the school site, could be adding fencing around a school or installing security cameras. 

The total cost for the projects is more than $4 million. The middle school campus has fewer needs because it was most recently modernized with the help of a successful 2014 bond measure. 

Scotts Valley High School had the greatest number of projects, totaling more than $27 million. Staff and community members prioritized a new stadium with permanent bleachers, press box and restrooms, a new synthetic turf and synthetic track, security enhancements, modernizing classrooms and repairing leaking roofs. 

Cheryl Ruyle, teachers union co-president, said all of the upgrades are sorely needed and that she supports the district looking to a bond measure to fund the improvements. 

“I think it’s absolutely essential to keep the schools updated,” she said. “A lot of the facilities upgrades that they need to do are like health and safety issues for students.” 

Ruyle also said she was happy to see upgrades to the playgrounds at both elementary schools included in the facilities plan as priorities. 

“The Vine Hill [parent-teacher association] has been trying to fundraise for a new playground for over three years without being able to raise that amount that is needed,” she said. 

Schulman said the district hasn’t yet asked voters whether they would support a potential bond measure, but is still considering conducting a survey. He noted that SVUSD has had several unsuccessful bond measure campaigns, in 2001, 2008 and 2020; in 2020, almost 53% voted yes to a $49 million bond measure, just short of the required 55% to pass. 

Schulman and board member Roger Snyder are working with consultants and bond attorneys to figure out what the potential amount for a bond measure could be. Schulman said that, in order to meet the Santa Cruz County elections filing deadline, the board needs to pass a resolution to place a bond on the ballot by late July. 

With that deadline in mind, Schulman said he and Snyder are planning to hold a community meeting sometime in June where they’ll discuss a bond and the financial challenges the district is facing. 

He said that like many districts across the county, and the state, declining enrollment and low federal funding for special education are putting SVUSD in a precarious financial position. 

“I don’t want to use the term crisis yet,” he said. “There’s a lot at stake here.” 

Schulman said he believes a potential bond measure could help the district solve some of its financial issues related to declining enrollment. For example, he said, the district has been hearing from families who leave that one of the deciding factors was that they wanted a district with better athletic facilities. 

“We’re recognizing [athletic facilities] now as actually crucial to our revenue stream,” he said. “Because our discussions with students and parents who are leaving the district often include, ‘My kid needs better sports facilities.’ So if we’re losing students, that means we’re losing revenue because of these sports facilities.”

Schulman said there are many factors that could make placing a bond on the November ballot a challenge. For example, with three board seats up for reelection in November, he said, it’s possible a candidate could be against new taxes. He added that postponing placing a bond measure on the ballot could be a bad idea because construction costs are only going to go up over time.

Schulman’s seat is among the three on the five-person board that will be on the ballot in November. Schulman, who’s been on the board since 2008, said he’s undecided on whether he’ll run for reelection. 

“It’s a high-risk decision not to do it this November. It’s a high-risk decision to do it in November,” he said. “It’s a high-risk decision at the end of the day.” 

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