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Two school general-obligation bonds will appear on local November 3rd ballots. Rio Elementary Measure B and Santa Paula Unified Measure C asks K–12 taxpayers to take on decades of new property-tax debt for projects that look a lot like the last ask.
Santa Paula Measure C — $48.6 million. Voters already said NO.
Measure C would issue $48.6 million at about $27.98 per $100,000 of assessed value to rebuild a gymnasium, build community swimming-pool facilities, and modernize vocational and performing-arts space. It needs 55 percent.
Santa Paula has been here before. In March 2024, voters defeated Measures A and B. In November 2024, they defeated Measure M (52 percent) and Measure N (52.6 percent) — the gym, career-training, and community-pool bond. VCTA signed the official arguments against M and N. Insurance should rebuild Bryden Gym after the 2022 fire; a community pool is a parks function, not a classroom. Measure C is a remix of that failed package. Repacking the Measure for the same projects after the voters decided against it will cost taxpayers more money. Taxpayers typically repay about $2 for every $1 borrowed. VOTE NO
Rio Elementary Measure B — $78 million on top of 2022’s $72 million.
Measure B authorizes $78 million at about $28.21 per $100,000 of assessed value — roughly $4.5 million a year, or about $113 on a $400,000 assessed home. It is Rio Elementary only (El Rio / north Oxnard). It is not Rio Mesa High School, which sits in Oxnard Union.
In 2022, Rio voters already approved Measure H – $72 million – and that authorization is still being issued. Layering another 30-year tax for generic roofs, classrooms, and “facility equity” is serial bonding, not a defined capital crisis. Routine maintenance belongs in the general fund. That is the warning we published in February 2024, when every school-bond question on the ballot sounded interchangeable. VOTE NO |
