Bond Information

Q: What is a school facilities bond?
A: A school facilities bond is the primary way school districts in California raise money for major campus projects such as repairs, upgrades, modernization, reconstruction, replacement, and other related facility costs. Local school general obligation bonds are typically repaid through a voter-approved property tax based on assessed value.

Q: How are school construction and major repairs usually funded in California?
A: In California, major school construction and modernization are commonly funded through local voter-approved school bonds. Districts may also use state facility funding and developer fees, but those sources are often limited, supplemental, or require local matching funds. In many cases, districts must fund part of a project to access state or federal funding, and bond funds can serve as the local match.

Q: Why do districts use bonds instead of regular operating funds?
A: Bonds are meant for long-term facility needs, while regular district operating funds are used for day-to-day costs like instruction, staffing, and school operations, in alignment with state law. A bond helps spread the cost of major facility work over time rather than requiring the district to pay for large projects all at once from its yearly operating budget.

Q: Can bond money pay for salaries, pensions, or everyday expenses?
A: No. School bond proceeds cannot be used for teacher or administrator salaries or for other school operating expenses. They must be used only for eligible school facilities purposes.

Q: What kinds of things can bond money pay for?
A: Bond funds can be used for facility-related purposes such as buying land, building or buying school buildings, making major alterations or additions, repairing or rebuilding damaged buildings, furnishing or equipping facilities, providing local match funding for state facilities funds, permanently improving school grounds, refunding certain bond debt, and demolishing buildings to replace them. Any specific local measure would also be limited by its voter-approved project list.

Q: Is a school bond a bailout for bad budgeting?
A: No. A school bond is not a bailout for bad budgeting. School budgets are meant to run schools day to day, not pay for major building projects. In Del Norte Unified School District and across California, major school facilities projects have long been, and still are, funded through measures such as state and local bonds because regular school budgets were never built to cover those costs.

Q: Why talk about bond information now?
A: Because the long-term need for major facilities funding does not go away. Del Norte Unified School District does not currently have a bond on any ballot, but the district wants the community to have clear information about school facilities needs, how school facilities are funded in California, and what a bond would mean. The goal is not to tell people what to support. The goal is to make sure people have enough information to decide for themselves. If the community ultimately decides a bond is needed, that decision should be based on an understanding of the facts.

Q: What specific facility needs has the district identified?
A: Please stay posted for our updated Five-Year Facility Master Plan, which is expected this July, for a full list of identified needs. In short, more than $50 million is needed to fund urgent projects and help ensure a healthy, safe educational environment for students.

Q: How would the overall condition of school facilities in our district be described?
A: In the latest state-required school accountability reporting, Del Norte Unified School District reported its student-serving school facilities as being in fair condition overall. Individual school reports include more detailed facility inspection information by site and building system.

Q: What could a local bond do?
A: A local bond could help fund eligible school facility projects identified in the district’s Facility Master Plan, with the updated Five-Year Facility Master Plan scheduled for release in July 2026. For reference, the 2022 Facility Master Plan can be viewed here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14g59mV_cMo6gzPyR1Pe6qjH7gpTtSYER/view?usp=sharing

Q: How are projects or school needs determined?
A: Project priorities are identified through a combination of facility needs assessments, planning by the district’s facilities team, and community input, as reflected in the district’s Five-Year Facility Master Plan.

Q: If a bond is passed, how would funding be prioritized across schools?
A: Del Norte Unified School District is currently assessing its funding approach based on several factors, including the current condition of facilities, maximizing the impact of bond funds for the highest number of students, and maintaining an equitable approach to funding priorities. The district will work with the community to develop a single, comprehensive plan that balances all three goals cohesively.

Q: Would all schools benefit?
A: Yes. If a bond measure is passed, all schools would receive bond funding.

Q: What is assessed value?
A: Assessed value is the taxable value used for property-tax purposes. Annual increases are usually capped unless there is a sale or another reassessment event.

Q: Is assessed value the same as market value?
A: No. Market value is what a property might sell for today. Assessed value is the taxable value used on the property tax roll and is often different than market value.

Q: How would a bond affect property taxes?
A: If a bond passes, property owners would pay more in taxes based on assessed property value.
Example: If the bond rate were $50 per $100,000 of assessed value, a property assessed at $100,000 would pay $50 per year for that bond. A property assessed at $200,000 would pay $100 per year.

Q: Why not just use state funding instead?
A: In California, many state funding opportunities require a local match. For example, modernization projects are often funded with a 60% state share and 40% local share, and new construction or replacement projects are often funded with a 50% state share and 50% local share.

Example: If a school project costs $10 million and the state will pay 60%, the district would still need to cover $4 million locally to receive the state funding. If a new construction project costs $20 million and requires a 50% local match, the local share would be $10 million.

That is why bond funding matters. It helps cover high upfront costs for school projects and can help a district qualify for additional state funding.

Q: Why not just use developer fees instead of bonds?
A: Developer fees bring in nowhere near enough money to cover major school facility project costs or match funding. They come in slowly over time, depend on new development, and cannot pay for large projects on their own.
 

Q: What accountability protections are required if a bond does pass?
A: For a Proposition 39 school bond, the measure must include a specific project list, and bond funds may only be used for those listed projects. Bond funds cannot be used for salaries or operating expenses, and independent audits are required.

Q: Who ensures bond money is spent correctly?
A: When a bond is passed, the district is legally required to create an independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee comprised of community members. That committee reviews and reports on whether bond money is being used properly, and it can review audits and inspect facilities.

Q: Are oversight meetings and records public?
A: Yes. Oversight committee proceedings must be open to the public, the committee must issue reports at least annually, and minutes, documents, and reports must be made available on the district’s website.

Q: Where can people verify the facts for themselves?
A: Official bond information is in the ballot language, project list, tax-rate assumptions, annual audits, oversight committee agendas and minutes, and project updates. Documentation will also be available at dnusd.org/agenda whenever a measure goes to the Board for approval.

Q: How should someone decide whether to support a bond?
A: That is a personal decision. The most important thing is that each person has clear information so they can decide based on what matters most to them. A good place to start is by looking at four things: what needs the bond would address, what projects it would fund, what it would cost, and what accountability protections would be in place.

Q: What would the timeline be if a bond were approved?
A: The goal would be to spend the bond funds within five years.

Q: What happens locally if no bond is passed?
A: Facilities will continue to age and break down. Small issues may be delayed and grow into bigger problems; health and safety concerns can develop over time; and the cost of future facility needs will likely be much higher.