Lodi Unified looks at Measure K bond -- and beyond

Despite concerns that Lodi Unified will run out of bond money before it completes Lodi and Bear Creek High campus modernizations, district officials say they have every intention of seeing the work to its completion before the bond runs dry.

However, Lodi Unified Superintendent Bill Huyett mentioned Wednesday to members of the Measure K Citizens' Oversight Committee that the board is in the process of updating its Facilities Master Plan to determine where schools will be needed after Measure K has been spent.

The long-range plan is a precursor to talks about where future funding will come from, including a possible second bond.

Huyett quashed rumors that Lodi High would not see a new gym, saying he is confident it will be built during the two years that remain in the six-year lifespan of Measure K.

"The Lodi High and Bear Creek additions are still very much alive," Mamie Starr, assistant superintendent of facilities and planning, said in an earlier interview, "(Still) we do need to determine can we do all of this?"

Members of the district's Measure K Citizens' Oversight Committee said they feel the district is working hard to follow through with what it promised voters it would spend with the $109 million of bond money, passed in 2002.

"Lodi projects probably will be finished," said committee member Tasso Kandris, "because they still have $9 million left."

But no one will know for sure the status of all the yet incomplete projects until district staff finish a report later this month examining the original cost estimates of Measure K projects and possible funding sources for completion, according to Chief Business Officer Douglas Barge.

Though one option in the reassessment is scaling back or discontinuing projects, the district is not, at this time, considering that, Barge added.

Meanwhile, officials are trying to keep in the backs of their minds what they will do to meet future growth needs. The master plan, which Huyett said could be updated in as few as six months, will show where needs may occur over the next five years.

It will take into account everything from housing trends to birthrates in an effort to predict where new schools should be built. When the plan is done, board members will have to examine possible funding sources for future sites and seek feedback from the public.

That could mean a bond or a contract agreement with a developer, the superintendent said.

"I couldn't tell you what's in the crystal ball," Huyett said of the master plan update process. "It's premature to say it's for a bond."

In other matters at Wednesday's oversight committee meeting, Bear Creek parent Charlie Hamilton addressed the oversight committee on his concerns that the bond money will bypass the north Stockton campus. For nearly a year, Hamilton has fought to have a pool built at Bear Creek despite several recommendations that list a pool as a lower priority than a gym and theater.

Undaunted, Hamilton asked oversight committee members to recommend a change in plans to the school board. In response, the district invited Shelly Renner, a member of its legal counsel, to inform the committee on its roles and responsibilities as an advisory group that can take no action.

"They brought out the big guns," Hamilton said of Renner's appearance at the meeting, before adding he will continue to pursue the issue of getting a pool at Bear Creek High.

Contact reporter Sara Cardine at sarac@lodinews.com.