Bond Feasibility Subcommittee approved by Manhattan Beach Unified School District

By Michael Beeli

Staff Writer

Manhattan Beach Unified School District Board approved the the creation of a Bond Feasibility Subcommittee in order to approve a bond for the district’s budget at November 4th’s meeting.

The bond will be used to fund the District’s Facility Master Plan, which outlines all the district’s major infrastructure projects in the near future, which, according to Matthews will cost approximately $215 to $300 million for completion.

“We completed this master plan last year, which laid out all the potential enhancements we were willing to make for all the school sites,” MBUSD Board President Bill Fournell said. “Similar to a wish list, it is fairly broad and in pretty good detail in terms of options. And now if we want to fund that we need to go out to the community and look for a bond.”

The Bond Feasibility Subcommittee will be headed by two members, Superintendent Dr. Michael Matthews and Assistant Superintendent Dawnalyn Murakawa­Leopard, and will help select a number of companies for consideration for the district to negotiate the bond.

“We would sell bonds to investors out there, raise money for the district, and the public will pay back the bonds through their taxes,” Matthews said.

The Subcommittee itself will work to assess relationships between the community, the school board, and potential investors in order to determine the most reasonable bond for the district based on how much the community can spare and how large of a bond can be negotiated.

“We have to hire someone that can help us out here, and take what the public is willing to support us with, and bring those two together, that’s where the feasibility is important,” Matthews said. “We can only do what the public will allow us to do, every household in Manhattan Beach pays taxes towards construction, so we would either pass a bond or we would increase those taxes.”

While the subcommittee will create a proposal for a bond, it also will serve to determine whether the community itself wishes to pursue a bond. The committee would look at the aspects of the bond, present its findings to the board, select priorities, and create a finalized short list for the district.

“Once the decision is made, we can move forward with the bond, so as a district we can publicly provide information and analysis, but as a district we can’t advocate,” MBUSD Board Vice President Ellen Rosenberg said.

According to Fournell, the committee will release a press for proposal to a number of firms that will come back with their own proposals. The chosen company for the bond will conduct polling throughout the community in order to gauge sentiment so the best choice can be made for the community. After a bond has been approved, the district can then carry out construction protocol from the District Master Facility Plan, making further renovations to schools and educational facilities in Manhattan Beach.

“It’s different at each school site,” Fournell said. “Every elementary school will get a revamped auditorium, and every school will get air conditioning. Two projects at Mira Costa are replacing the gym, specifically the training rooms and locker rooms, and renovating the library for the English Department.”