Measure B, according to its campaign website, has been endorsed by State Sen. Bill Dodd, Napa County Supervisors Joelle Gallagher and Anne Cottrell and Napa Mayor Scott Sedgley, among others.
The campaign committee, Committee for Safe and Modern Napa Schools, is being chaired by three mothers — Summer Gilgallon, Lisa Lombardi and Simone Katz-O’Neill.
“My eldest daughter,” Gilgallon said, “just starred in the Vintage High production of Phantom of the Opera and she and her entire cast had to be moved to a small empty portable for two months because of fears of a falling HVAC system in their choir room.”
The three believe that if the bond measure is not passed, schools will continue to worsen and the community will eventually have to pay more to meet a minimum standard. It is the only way to make desperately needed repairs on a broad scale, they said.
“Our schools are the anchors of many neighborhoods in our community. It is our responsibility to take care of our schools,” they said in an email.
The committee, as per its campaign finance reports, has received more than $150,000 in contributions this year, as of Oct. 9. The biggest donors include Arntz Builders at $15,000, Van Pelt Construction Services at $15,000, CA+SA Studio at $15,000, Atlas Peak Construction at $10,000, Bell Products at $10,000, Ams.net at $10,000 and Quattrocchi Kwok Architects at $9,500.
All local, six of these seven companies are engaged in construction or construction-adjacent work. Atlas Peak Construction, Arntz Builders, Bell Products and Quattrocchi Kwok Architects have contracted with Napa Valley Unified and CA+SA Studio and Van Pelt Construction Services have a history of working with school districts. Van Pelt co-hosted a local fundraiser for Prop 2 last month.
Ams.net, a technology company, has also contracted with the Napa Valley school district.
Who’s against Measure B and why?
The major argument against Measure B is that it will mean a hike in property taxes for local homeowners over and above existing payments for the 2002, 2006 and 2016 school bonds.
The $95 million 2002 bond will be paid off by 2030, the $183 million 2006 bond by 2049 and the $269 million 2016 one by 2044. The total principal outstanding for NVUSD bonds, including the American Canyon one from 2022, is more than $429 million, as of April this year, according to a document shared by the Napa County Auditor-Controller’s Office.
Money from these bonds was spent on projects including building American Canyon High School, rebuilding Memorial Stadium in Napa, and campus modernization projects at the Snow, Willow and Napa Junction elementary schools.
Tom Orlando, president of the Napa County Taxpayers’ Association, said there is a perpetual situation of asking for school bonds, spending the money and asking again before fully paying off the existing ones.
“Either you have too many facilities and you need to sell your surplus facilities or you need to find a different way to fund routine repairs. We all love the kids and want them to have nice facilities. But the district has abused school bonds just by the many times they’ve asked for them. In this high inflationary environment, it’s just not a good idea,” he said.
Orlando said a solution has to be figured out at the state level because this is not a problem specific to Napa. The funding system for public schools in California needs to be revised, he said.
Like in 2022, there is no organized opposition to Measure B, but several individuals have strong opinions.
For Tanya Mahaphon, a pediatric optometrist, the biggest issue is the school district’s lack of a detailed plan for Measure B, specifying the cost of each project at each site.
“All these school parking lots, roofs, and AC units cannot cost the same amount of money due to the size of each campus,” she said. “We need a budget for each school, not generalizations.”
Also, given the district’s recent past, she said she is worried about bond money being spent on schools that might later shut down.
Over the last few years, to maintain financial health and in response to declining enrollment, the district shut Harvest Middle School, River Middle School, Yountville and Mt. George elementary schools.
Of the money raised from the district’s 2016 school bond of $269 million, 1.7% was spent on American Canyon’s second middle school which never opened, 0.4% on Mt. George, 0.5% on Harvest Middle School and a negligible amount on Yountville.
Connie Brennan, born and raised in Napa and now retired, also said she is disappointed at the lack of proactive transparency about the district’s finances.
“Don’t ask me for any money,” she said, “until you tell me what you have done to maximize your resources and account for everything you’ve spent.”
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You can reach Tarini Mehta at 707-521-5337 or tarini.mehta@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @MehtaTarini.