Oxnard School Bond Oversight Not What it Appears

During election campaigns by public school bond initiative proponents it is always prominently touted in flyers, ads, mailers and ballot arguments that by statute a bond oversight committee will be created to make sure that the bond proceeds are spent correctly and wisely.

This is not the case.

When “Measure H” was passed in 2004 by the voters of Camarillo and Oxnard, the implicit purpose was to sell bonds to pay for renovation of existing facilities and the construction of two new high schools in the Oxnard Union High School District from the $135 million bond issuance authorized, presumably one in each city.

Fifty-million dollars of bonds have been sold to date, yet, as recently as May 2009, the OUHSD board of trustees had not even prioritized a list of future projects while awaiting the results of a failed Camarillo unification effort.

Now that OUHSD staff has determined the remaining available bond funds may not even be adequate to pay for just one new high school on the “traditional ” model, some explanation of the Measure H bond oversight committee’s legal limitations and restrictions is in order.

Read More at VCStar.