Measure B - Menifee School Bond
Measure B, the Menifee Union School District Bond, will be on the February 5, 2008 ballot. If approved it will raise $31.46 million to finan...
http://www.menifee247.com/2007/12/measure-b-menifee-school-bond.htm
Measure B, the Menifee Union School District Bond, will be on the February 5, 2008 ballot.
If approved it will raise $31.46 million to finance the construction of three new schools wtihin the district...
In order to pass, Measure B must receive a "yes" vote from 55% or more of the total votes.
If approved, each property owner living within the district will have to pay $17.90 for every $100,000 of assessed valuation, for 25 years, the length of the bond. So, if your property is worth $300,000, your taxes will increase by $53.70 per year.
The assessment will be based upon the actual rate of growth of the District, with a rate higher than 4% resulting in a lower payment and a rate of growth less than 4% resulting in a higher payment.
Anyone who would like to argue the pros and cons of this measure, please feel free to post a comment.
If approved it will raise $31.46 million to finance the construction of three new schools wtihin the district...
- Elementary School #9 – located in the Canyon Hills Project in Lake Elsinore on Canyon Hills Drive (although located in Lake Elsinore, it is within Menifee Union School District). Local contributions to be matched by State.
- Elementary School #10 – located in the Golden City Specific Plan in Murrieta at the intersection of Meadowlark Lane and Baxter Road (although located in Murrieta, it is within Menifee Union School District). Local contributions to be matched by State.
- Middle School #3 – located north of McCall Blvd and east of I-215. Bounded on the north by Chambers Avenue and on the east by Sherman Road. Local contributions to be matched by State.
In order to pass, Measure B must receive a "yes" vote from 55% or more of the total votes.
If approved, each property owner living within the district will have to pay $17.90 for every $100,000 of assessed valuation, for 25 years, the length of the bond. So, if your property is worth $300,000, your taxes will increase by $53.70 per year.
The assessment will be based upon the actual rate of growth of the District, with a rate higher than 4% resulting in a lower payment and a rate of growth less than 4% resulting in a higher payment.
Anyone who would like to argue the pros and cons of this measure, please feel free to post a comment.
This bond has been planned for at least 6 months. In that time I have not heard of a single resident make a positive comment. Now, with the boundary issues that are making parents unhappy it will be an even harder sell. It would be nice to have more schools but economically, no one wants more taxes right now.
ReplyDeleteI encourage education but a bond issue? I retired to Menifee after our last child finished college. We already pay a large Mello Roos which includes about $1500 a year for 40 years to schools in the area. What is happening to that money and the future special assessments from new home purchases? Developers are still starting and finishing homes around us so they must be selling.
ReplyDeleteDidn't one of these just get passed a couple years ago? And now Menifee Union wants more money from us? Why do I feel like blood is being drawn?
ReplyDeleteHow many times will this keep coming up? The arguments for these bonds are "It's only a few dollars a year." But when you add up all the previous bonds it's a lot of money in my property taxes each year. And there's nothing about future elementary schools or middle schools after these. What next? Oh yeah, another bond measure for more blood.
I say that Menifee Union School District needs to implement something like the County's TUMF; when new homes are built then there is a per-parcel charge to build the needed new schools. Without that we're all going to be in the poor house soon due to high taxes.
I'm voting "No" on Measure B and I urge you to do the same. My property taxes are already much too high.
We need more private schools. If there were more private schools, then they can absorb some of these students.
ReplyDeleteI think there are families in Menifee that can afford private schools, but can't get them enrolled because classes are already full. If we had these private schools, then Menifee Union would not have to expand.
Instead of a bond measure for the construction of new schools; maybe the district should use the money they currently have in reserves to attract better teachers (i.e. higher salaries) to our district??
ReplyDeleteIf you have school-age children, you can't afford to not support Measure "B". The past 5 years the District has been trying to play "catch-up" with the exponential growth Menifee has had. ALL the schools are on a year-round schedule, teachers are having to rove (because there aren't enough classrooms, the teachers who are on track move into an off-track teacher's room for the month they are gone)which means teachers don't have a permanant classroom and classroom sizes have been exceeding the limits recommended by the state. Not the most ideal of learning conditions, but this was what had to be done until new schools could be built to house all the influx of children. The process of building a school , even if you had the cash -in-hand, takes 2-3 years if everything goes smooth.This Bond Measure will allow the District to get ahead of the curve and possibly get on a single track (traditional) schedule. The State matches the funds put up by the Bond. While no-one wants more taxes, I must add that Menifee has one of the lowest tax rates of anywhere around us at 1%. So $17 per year for every $100,000 my house is worth is a small price to pay to provide a healthy learning environment for our children. Some of the arguments against the Measure are that the proposed schools aren't in Menifee. They ARE however within the Menifee Union School District. City Boundaries and School District Boundaries RARELY follow the same lines. Examples are Garden Grove, Orange,Tustin, Santa Ana and Westminster all have schools within each others City Boundaries. We are not concerned about City Boundaries, we are only concerned with School District Boundaries. If you think that this doesn't affect YOUR school, you are wrong. If this Measure doesn't pass, we will face many more years of playing "catch-up" at our children's expense.
ReplyDeleteAlmost ever school built in the state is built with money that comes half from the state and half from the local community. However, if the local community is not willing to pay halfway the state says "They don't care enough about their own kids why should we pay money to help them build schools." So they don’t. Menifee District is the only district in the area that is still on year round. This means that compared to other districts we are over crowded by 25% already. We also have portables on almost every school yard taking up play space for our children. Teachers have to rotate class rooms every 3 months just to have a room to teach in. The last bond passed was a Perris High School Bond and went for a school not in our community. This bond is for schools in our district. Anyone who has visited the middle schools and tried to walk the halls at passing time would see how much we need another middle school even with multi-track. The boundary issue has nothing to do with this bond. Every student in the district can't go to only one school. We can't build new schools and have them sit empty, with no students. When new schools are open the teachers come from the other school in the district and those teacher are just as excellent in the new school as they were in the prior school. We don't send students there alone. I agree students should stay at there neighborhood school . All students should be in walking distance of their school. The only way to accomplish this goal is to build new schools near existing neighborhoods. But if we vote against school bonds we do as my mother said "Cut off our nose to spite out face" I hope that Menifee parents and grand parents believe as I do that that our children deserve as much play space, passing room and classroom space as students in other districts but maybe I'm wrong. I thought you believed me about Unification. Believe me about this too. It is so worth it.
ReplyDeleteWe wouldn't have the problem with school crowding if it weren't for the new homes being built. Therefore the money to build those new schools should come from those new homes, similar to the County's TUMF for roads.
ReplyDeleteMUSD coming back and saying that they need more money for more schools seems like they are not planning accordingly for growth. If Measure B gets passed how long will it be until another school bond goes on the ballot again? If this keeps up my property taxes will be more than my mortgage payment.
If MUSD wants my trust then they should present their plan for the next 5, 10, and 15 years for schools, along with funding sources. But I think if that were to happen too many homeowners would be upset with the future pick-pocketing that the school district has in mind.
It's no surprise that this community is growing. It's been happening for the last 5 years at a break-neck pace. That means that MUSD should have put a comprehensive plan together at least 3 years ago to accommodate this growth. And going back to existing homeowners asking for more money is not a viable solution and works nowhere else but in government.
I'm voting NO on Measure B and encourage everyone else to do the same.
I have heard and read alike the comments against measure B. I ask those people What is your child's education worth? What is continuity of a community worth? The multitrack system we are now on is not conducive to our community. It is difficult to arrange for off track child care programs like boys and girls club in Murrieta and for children to build healthy friendships with the neighbor's kids if they are on a different schedule or worse going to a differnet school because the neighborhood school is overcrowded. Even within my own family I have difficulty with a high school schedule that differs from a MUSD schedule which comprimises family time together. I feel pressured to allow my children to go make friends with other kids on the same track. Not a problem one may say: except that since this other kid lives in a different area, I don't know them or their parents. An uncomfortable situation for me.
ReplyDeleteI can't tell you how many times I find it difficult to make my child do homework in the summer with the other kids playing outside or tring to get them to bed at a decent hour when its still light out. THE SCHOOLS ARE OVERCROWDED! They are children within a stones throw of our neigborhood school who can't attend there because it is overcrowed. Comments made about the solutions of building more private schools to offset the overcrowding are unrealistic and unfair. WHY should I have to spend extra dollars to send my kid to a private school just because "I can afford it?" If I can afford it, I probably own a larger home and pay more taxes to pay for school. As far as the comment of not needing new schools because of the new homes being built... I probably didn't hear you complain about your property value increasing due to the new developments including shopping centers and homes. Progress and development is a part of life. If you don't adjust you will be a causalty of it. But don't make our children pay the price by not allowing them the best environment for learning, and building healthy relationships. As another anonymous responder has said we pay one of the lowest tax rates around 1%. So again I ask how much is your child worth? 17.00$ for every 100,000 a year is worth it to me.
I'm voting YES on Measure B.
anonymous