Tam Union school district sends $289M bond measure to ballot

Voters in the Tamalpais Union High School District will decide whether to approve a $289 million bond measure in November.

District trustees voted unanimously on Tuesday in favor of placing the measure on the Nov. 5 ballot. If approved by 55% of voters, the annual tax would be $18 per $100,000 of assessed valuation per property.

“This is the sum that I think all of our district can get behind,” trustee Karen Loebbaka said before the vote. She said the bond would pay for only the most critical repairs in the district’s five high schools.

“If we don’t get it, we would immediately have to pull thousands of dollars from our general fund budget to pay for these items,” she said. “The changes that would result in our district would leave it unrecognizable.”

The new, twice-scaled-down measure is about 45% less than the $517 million Measure A bond measure that failed by 564 votes in March. It is also significantly less than the $440 million option that trustees rejected earlier this year after polling results showed only a 55.7% likely approval rating.

Superintendent Tara Taupier, in a statement on Wednesday, said the schools need repairs.

“It has been almost 20 years since a dedicated funding source for improvements to our local high schools was approved,” she said. “Since that time, we have educated a generation of students — and our classrooms now show it!”

The repairs would include new roofs, replacements for worn and potentially dangerous synthetic athletic turf fields and deteriorating swimming pool surfaces. Also, the district would improve heating and cooling systems, disability accommodations, plumbing and information technology systems, said Corbett Elsen, an assistant superintendent.

“It will also include removal of dilapidated and condemned portable classrooms,” Elsen said.

Leslie Harlander, president of the district board, said, “The need to repair our classrooms hasn’t gone away, and the longer we wait to address this need, the more expensive repairs will become.”

“Many of our classrooms, labs and schools are 60 to 100 years old and need updates to technology and infrastructure to help our students gain the skills to lead in a competitive world,” Harlander said.

The newly revised bond measure reduces a project to replace the Redwood High School arts and music buildings and expand the cafeteria from about $104 million to $72 million. It now includes an expanded multi-purpose eating area, but not the new cafeteria and student commons area proposed in the $517 million measure.

“It will still address the most urgent needs of expanded kitchen, serving and sheltered eating areas for students, while reducing $32 million in overall costs,” Elsen said. “On a rainy day, we don’t have room for all the students to eat in a sheltered area. We have kids eating in the hallways, or in their cars. That’s unacceptable.”

Redwood would also receive $22 million for roof replacements and new heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.

Other project downgrades include the elimination of a new auto shop building at Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, resulting in a $16 million savings. The measure would still include a new science, technology, engineering, arts and math building at Tam High at a cost of $76.6 million.

Tam High, which is more than 100 years old, would also receive $33.5 million in roof replacements and HVAC systems.

Archie Williams High School in San Anselmo will get an $11.3 million modernization of its performing arts classrooms and center and $7.9 million for creekside outdoor demo areas. The school also would receive $27.4 million in roof replacements and new HVAC systems.

Overall, the $289 million bond measure would spend $60.3 million at Archie Williams; $103.3 million at Redwood; $120.6 million at Tam High; and $5.5 million at Tamiscal and San Andreas high schools, the district offices and the adult education offices.

Mimi Willard of the Marin Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers said her group is “leaving it to voters to decide whether to approve their latest proposal of a $289 million bond.” COST was the main opposition to the $517 million measure in March.

“The latest bond proposal will cost taxpayers $579 million over 30 years, a 42% reduction from Measure A’s $1.04 billion,” Willard said.  “The Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers views the 42% reduction in the amount to be collected from taxpayers a victory.”

“The latest version contains most of the original elements of the far larger March 2024 proposal that we defeated, but is overall slimmed down considerably,” she said.

Willard warned that Tam Union will compete against a “tidal wave of additional taxes” on the Nov. 5 ballot and that voters are also dealing with “huge spikes in insurance, refuse, water, sewer and other essential expenses.”

The Tam Union district includes about 74,000 likely voters in central, southern and western Marin. The district has an annual budget of approximately $118 million and serves about 4,600 students.