Citizens' Oversight Committee Community Report December 2003

Dear Community Members,

Thank you for supporting education and your interest in the Proposition U bond measure, Building for Success program. Proposition U is the $198 million local school facilities bond program to modernize 24 older schools in the Poway Unified School District. The measure passed in November 2002.

Additional good news is the passage of Proposition 55, the $12.3 billion statewide kindergarten through university school facilities bond, in March 2004. Your support in passing this statewide school bond is making additional dollars available to the Building for Success program. Proceeds from Proposition U provide the eligibility for the District to receive its share of state school facilities funds. So far, $23 million has been approved for our district. This is part of the state funding contained in the financial plan to support our projects.

A provision contained in the Proposition U measure required the formation of a Citizens’ Oversight Committee to oversee the bond measure. The PUSD Board of Education selected seven committee members, from more than 50 applicants. The Board honored their commitment to ensure a majority of members have knowledge and experience in the fields of construction, architecture design, public financing, contract law, and/or building program management.

I am pleased to report that the Citizens’ Oversight Committee is actively carrying out its mission of monitoring and overseeing the Proposition U Building for Success program. The Committee meets regularly and receives project and program updates from Poway Unified District facility staff and their program management team. The staff provides briefings on district design standards, the process by which applications for State funds are submitted and approved, and the current status of the design development for the first four schools in the program. The Committee has reviewed the project plans and the management processes and found them to be consistent with the provisions of the bond measure. The Committee is also satisfied that the revenues generated by the bond measure are being spent wisely. The review and oversight process also includes examination of project-planning documents and audit reports to verify that the school district is using your tax dollars responsibly and effectively.

To date, the majority of the Proposition U program effort is directed at the planning and design processes for the first four schools in the master plan. These four schools are some of the oldest and largest in the District, and represent 40% of the entire bond program budget. During this summer and fall, construction will begin at Midland Elementary School, Westwood Elementary School, Mt. Carmel High School, and Poway High School. This transition from design to construction is exciting and will be highly visible as the much needed improvements to these schools are started. Thank you in advance for your understanding and patience as the construction work begins. A high priority is to keep the community informed, and the inconveniences to a minimum.

In summary, the Building for Success program is being managed as intended by the voters in the Poway Unified School District. The community will have even more to be proud of in coming years as its older schools are modernized to today’s high standards. These new and improved facilities will complement the excellence of Poway Unified School District’s academic achievements.

If you have any comments or questions, please send them to: propuinfo@powayusd.com or call
(858) 679-2622.

Sincerely,

Todd Gutschow
Citizens’ Oversight Committee Chair

Contents:
Accelerated Timeline | Program Timeline | Current Project Status
Objectives & Challenges | Accomplishments | Budget Overview