School District Sleight of Hand on Measure I Implementation Plan

The Alameda Unified School District is engaging in some sleight of hand in its selling of Measure I, a 25 year, $180 million tax bond measure, to the media.

District officials keep pointing to a June 10th, 2014 “implementation plan” that outlined how funds could be spent.

But that implementation plan is not what taxpayers will vote on come November 4th. The implementation plan is not part of the ballot measure, and, if Measure I should be approved by voters, there is nothing to compel the school district to spend funds in accordance with the implementation plan.

Read the measure carefully – it incorporates by reference the facilities master plan, which has a price tag of over $600 million, but it doesn’t incorporate the implementation plan.

The implementation plan is irrelevant – it’s the language of the ballot measure that will guide any spending of funds, and that language is vague and open-ended. Even the proponents admit that it will come down to project-by-project board votes on how the money is spent.

Voters should not approve any tax bond measure like this without knowing specifically, in advance, how the funds will be spent. Measure I does not do that.

Vote No on I