Long Beach Unified School District leaders are asking voters to approve a $1.5 billion school bond measure Nov. 8 that they say is needed to finance the installation of air conditioning at local schools, improvements to high school athletic facilities and other capital projects.

District Superintendent Chris Steinhauser said new bond sales are needed to bring educators closer to their goal of completing some $2.7 billion worth of total facilities needs across the district. If voters agree to the measure — passage requires a 55 percent vote — a rush of new construction would begin across Long Beach Unified’s 87 campuses.

“It is going to be a major onslaught of multiple projects going on at the same time,” he said in an interview with the Press-Telegram’s editorial board. “If they approve this bond, we need to move fast and furious.”

Long Beach Unified’s board acted to put Measure E on the ballot in June, shortly after local voters accepted Long Beach Community College District leaders’ pitch for an $850 million bond measure that appeared on the ballot as Measure LB.

Third bond since 1999

Measure E is the third bond measure Long Beach Unified’s leadership has asked for since 1999, when voters living within the district’s boundaries approved the $295 million Measure A. Its sequel, the $1.2 billion Measure K, passed in 2008.

If Measure E passes, property owners living within Long Beach Unified’s boundaries can expect to see their annual property tax bills increase by about $60 per $100,000 of assessed value. Added to the levies currently on the books for measures A and K, property owners would pay about $144 per $100,000 of assessed value while the trio of bonds are being paid off.

Projects completed with Measure K dollars include the $85 million construction of Ernest S. McBride Sr. High School; the $59.4 million rebuild of Newcomb K-8 Academy; the $60.1 million construction of Jessie Elwin Nelson Academy and the $56 million construction of Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School.

Long Beach Unified officials also plan to draw from Measure K funds to build the new Browning High School, convert Hill Classical Middle School into the Sato Academy of Mathematics and Science and complete a major renovation of Jordan High School, among other projects.

Sports facility plans

District leaders have yet to compile a detailed, school-by-school project list for what may be done with Measure E dollars, although plans do call for each of the district’s six large high schools to have an outdoor swimming pool and all-weather track-and-field facility by the time the money from measures K and E are spent.

Otherwise, the district office has already articulated plans to allocate roughly $750 million in potential Measure E revenues to installing air conditioning across district schools. Some 60 percent of Long Beach Unified’s campuses, housing roughly 2,400 classrooms, don’t have air conditioning units installed to keep students and teachers cool during the hotter days of the year.

Long Beach Unified officials considered the air conditioning problem when deciding how to spend Measure K dollars, but Steinhauser said they decided the most pressing issue at the time was the concern over the district’s high schools being too big.

Browning High School, expected to open in fall 2017, is planned as a smaller high school campus for students interested in future careers in such fields as the tourism and recreation industries.

But more than 50 schools built in the waves of construction that followed the 1933 earthquake and during the post-World War II boom years still lack air conditioning that is common at more recently built schools.

“It’s extremely hot in the classrooms,” Steinhauser said. “I’ve taught in the classrooms in Long Beach. I know what it’s like.”

The expected $750 million bill for air conditioning installation goes beyond the anticipated costs to install cooling units. District officials have said that commencing the air conditioning work will also require them to undertake mandatory upgrades to improve such things as electrical systems and fire alarms, as well as bringing buildings into compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Beyond the air conditioning plans, Long Beach Unified spokesman Chris Eftychiou said in an email that if Measure E passes, the district will hire architects and other consultants to plan facilities improvements for other schools. Potential projects may include roofing, asphalt or playground improvements, but district officials don’t want to spend money on design work until they know if they can count on Measure E dollars coming in, Eftychiou said.

Campaign cash

The Yes on Measure E campaign collected nearly $471,000 worth of contributions between Jan. 1 and Sept. 24, according to its campaign finance filing. Late filings show proponents have received at least $7,500 more this month.

The Teachers Association of Long Beach’s political arm is the most significant contributor, giving more than $101,000 to the campaign as of the late September report. The teachers group has also spent nearly $25,000 on independent expenditures supporting campaign, as of Oct. 7.

Southern California construction and architecture firms have also provided significant support for the measure. Major donors include HMC Architects, an Ontario firm that gave $30,000 and Westgroup Designs of Irvine, which gave $25,000. Balfour Beatty Construction LLC of San Diego; Cybertek, of Mentone; LPA, Inc., of Irvine; Neff Construction Inc. of Ontario and PJHM Architects of Laguna Hills have each contributed $20,000 to the campaign.

As of late Friday, information was not available from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk to confirm proponents’ assertion that no organized opposition exists to campaign against Measure E.

Long Beach Taxpayers Association co-founder Tom Stout, who is also a former teacher, is not formally campaigning against Measure E, but he doesn’t want it to pass. Stout said he’s concerned any fees and interest payments may go to bondholders, instead of classrooms, meaning “the wrong people” will end up benefiting from the measure.

He also thinks its unfair for local education agencies to commit property owners to decades of higher tax payments with each bond that passes.

“It’s a life sentence for anybody that’s 60 years old,” Stout said.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to report how estimated property tax increases resulting from the potential passage of Measure E, as well as already-approved bond measure, may affect taxpayers on an annual basis.