The Long Beach Unified School District’s projected timeline for Measure E facility upgrades has been updated to prioritize Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) projects, according to information presented at the Wednesday, Nov. 2 board meeting.
Measure E is a $1.5 billion bond measure the district passed back in 2016 to fund repairs, technology, air conditioning and safety across school sites.
A shift in funding due to the governor’s budget that allocated one-time state funds to school facilities projects as well as unused contingencies from past projects are some of the main factors that prompted rebaselining.
The new timeline proposes advancing HVAC-type projects at Charles A Buffum Elementary, Patrick Henry Elementary School, Herbert Hoover Middle School, Beach K-12 Independent Study, James Monroe High School and Benjamin Tucker Elementary by two years.
Other school sites such as Stanford Middle School, Minnie Gant Elementary School, George Washington Carver Elementary School, Tincher Preparatory School and John Marshall Middle School can only be advanced up to a year, as Executive Director of Facilities Development and Planning, David Miranda, stated it would not be feasible to start and finish construction in the span of two years.
Miranda explained that what he describes as the “runway” portion of these projects is not yet finished for these schools. He said that the process the facilities team takes to meet legal state requirements can take around a year and a half to two years.
“We just don’t have the time to select an architect, calculate design work, go through the state processing and start construction within that time,” Miranda said. “The big benefit here that you see in terms of HVAC projects, is we’ll finish every one of those projects by 2026-27, so that’s a good push forward.”
In order to advance these projects, the facilities team is proposing pushing back or pausing athletic projects such as indoor swimming pools at Wilson High School, Lakewood High School and Millikan High School. The new timeline proposes pushing these projects back one to three years.
Miranda said that the district will continue to pursue State-matching funds, which could once again change the timeline of these specific projects.
The proposed timeline also promises to finish the last portion of Measure E projects by the 2029-30 school year; a year earlier than the last proposed timeline.
Aside from working on HVAC updates, the district is also working on additional projects outside of Measure E such as:
- bottle filling stations
- shade-offering structures
- new playgrounds
- skateboard racks
- backpack hooks
These additional projects are funded by Elementary and Secondary School Relief funds (ESSER) meant to address the impact of COVID-19 on elementary and secondary schools.
According to Miranda, there will be over 280 new bottle-filling stations installed across the district within the next year and 79 new shade structures over the course of the next two to three years.
Board member Juan Benitez pointed out that despite the timeline shift, it is likely that current LBUSD students will not experience the culmination of these projects. At previous board meetings, parents have been vocal about the need for HVAC upgrades across schools and expressed frustration regarding the slow progress from the district.
Miranda said that the school district, being a public agency, is constrained on how bond money is issued and on how quickly these projects can be done.
“We cannot go in one fell swoop and issue bonds in the amount of $1.5 billion,” Miranda said. “Typically those are broken up into chunks we call ‘issuances’ or ‘series.’ Those series typically spend roughly three years on average.”
According to Miranda, a typical bond issuance has been around $300 to $350 million. Since those funds need to be spent within the three-year period, the district needs to be intentional about which plans to commit to during that particular time.
“We can’t overcommit ourselves to a number of different projects and start perhaps on 20 projects at any given time because we can’t finish those construction efforts within a three-year window,” Miranda said.
