Johnny Heredia expects to spend an upcoming summer digging up pipes at Chase Avenue Elementary School.<\/p>\n
As director of facilities, maintenance and operations for Cajon Valley Union School District, he\u2019s the one called when sewage backs up into bathrooms or playgrounds. It happens often.<\/p>\n
Digging up the pipes, he acknowledges, would destroy the floors and sidewalks. But those need to be replaced anyway. While he\u2019s at it, he could finally bring the bathrooms into compliance with disabilities law and maybe replace the floors\u2019 terrazzo \u2014 it\u2019s expensive, he acknowledges, but it lasts forever.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve ruined the sidewalks, destroyed the sprinkler system and the grass \u2014 and then you start to get into structural issues, as you\u2019re saw-cutting into other things just to replace the sewer system,\u201d he said. \u201cEven though the sewer system\u2019s $1 million, you\u2019ve done $2 million worth of damage.\u201d<\/p>\n
If the East County school district could pass a bond, it could address some of these issues at its aging schools. But voters haven\u2019t passed a facilities bond in nearly two decades, and since then, the district\u2019s maintenance budget hasn\u2019t been able to keep up with the needed repairs.<\/p>\n
Cajon Valley is a growing elementary school district serving nearly 18,000 students, among them many refugees and recent immigrants. Although the district is centered in El Cajon, it also stretches east and south into rural unincorporated San Diego County areas.<\/p>\n
Voters in the district passed a technology bond in 2016, but in two elections since, the district has tried and failed to pass a facilities bond. Measures in 2020 and 2024 both fell short of the 55% support threshold state law requires for many school bonds to pass.<\/p>\n
But results in the 2024 election showed support varied widely around the district. Support was markedly lower in more rural areas than in central El Cajon, whose voters overwhelmingly backed the measure.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
![\"On](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/sut-l-sfid-cajon-valley-001.jpg\")
On Thursday, March 12, 2026, Cajon Valley Union School District\u2019s facilities director Johnny Heredia points out how the electrical box where the main feed comes into Chase Avenue Elementary School needs to be replaced.\u00a0 (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
Now, to meet the still-growing facility needs, the district and its board are turning to an alternative way of voting on bonds: breaking their community into smaller subdistricts. Voters in each subdistrict will get to vote on bonds that will impact only that area and its schools.<\/p>\n
With this method, voters will, in theory, better understand the reasons why their neighborhood school needs repairs, and they\u2019ll see the results of their vote up close.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, Chase Avenue Elementary is showing its age \u2014 and the inevitable issues that come with it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIts shelf life is 50 years,\u201d he said about some pipes. \u201cWe\u2019re years past that.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an effort to secure the funding needed to update its schools, the Cajon Valley school board this month passed a resolution of intent to subdivide the district into what are called school facility improvement districts, or SFIDs. Bonds for all three improvement districts will go before the board in April.<\/p>\n
In such an improvement district, voters weigh in on a bond specific to that subdistrict, and any resulting bond money can then be spent only in that area. But if a school\u2019s attendance boundaries are located in more than one improvement district, it can benefit from multiple bonds \u2014 for instance, in Cajon Valley, one school is at the corner where all three subdistricts meet and could benefit from any bond.<\/p>\n
The arrangement could help some areas benefit from bond money, even if voters across the district are less supportive.<\/p>\n
In 2024, when Cajon Valley\u2019s last bond measure failed with 52% overall support, the votes showed a geographic split: Only about 44% of voters in Trustee Area 1 voted yes on Measure W, while more than two-thirds of those in Trustee Area 3 did.<\/p>\n
By splitting the district into improvement districts, the hope is that voters will be more likely to support the schools specific to their area, said Scott Buxbaum, the district\u2019s assistant superintendent of business services.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A voter whose children attend a school where sewage routinely backs up is voting \u2014 \u201cin theory,\u201d he said \u2014 for their family. \u201cWhereas if I\u2019m a voter in, like, Rancho San Diego area, my schools are not as old,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
When improvement districts work<\/p>\n
School facility improvement districts aren\u2019t unheard of in San Diego County. But they also aren\u2019t widely used.<\/p>\n
Such districts are often formed when a school district is experiencing a burst of development or enrollment growth concentrated in certain areas, explained Erica Gonzales, a managing director at the investment bank Stifel who specializes in California school financing.<\/p>\n
Their creation can help school districts tailor their bond programs, and generally, it works well \u2014 although they can get complicated if the SFID\u2019s credit rating differs from that of the district as a whole, she added.<\/p>\n
But an improvement district can help focus funding on an area of a school district that\u2019s seen substantial growth and needs investment.<\/p>\n
![\"View](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/sut-l-otayborder-airport_007.jpg\")
The new Otay Mesa Port of Entry under construction on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025. There are plans for significant housing growth in the area, which could further heighten school facilities needs. (Photo by Sandy Huffaker for The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why San Ysidro School District created them. A boom in homebuilding in one area of the district had created a need for new schools, said assistant superintendent Jose Iniguez, and in 2024, voters approved three SFID bonds for school infrastructure.<\/p>\n
The district hasn\u2019t decided exactly how to spend the money yet, Iniguez said. It may try to build a new school to serve the fast-growing Otay Mesa population, based on directions from the board. Two schools are already at capacity.<\/p>\n
But the cost of construction has risen from $300 per square foot to over $1,000 per square foot in just the last few years, he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He estimates building a new school could cost anywhere from $100 million to $200 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if you were to combine the three SFIDs, total it up, it wouldn\u2019t altogether cover the cost of a new school,\u201d he said. But he thinks the community understands the need.<\/p>\n
Infrastructure needs are critical for students to learn, Iniguez added, which is why the district needs to constantly repair and maintain them \u2014 including air conditioning systems.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho can learn when it\u2019s really, really hot?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
![\"Children](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SUT-L-first-day-school-ncc-005.jpg\")
Children arrive at Enrique S. Camarena Elementary School on Wednesday, July 21, 2021, in Chula Vista. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
Chula Vista Elementary School District has also turned to improvement districts to improve its schools. Voters there passed a bond for one such district in 2012, with Proposition E.<\/p>\n
That measure passed with the support of 69% of voters and has helped fund 31 of the neediest among the district\u2019s 44 schools.<\/p>\n
It \u201callowed the district to improve the educational environment at our neediest campuses substantially,\u201d the district said. \u201cProp. E\u2019s margin of victory represented the highest level of support for a general obligation bond on the ballot in San Diego County.\u201d<\/p>\n
The San Diego County Taxpayers Association hasn\u2019t taken an official position on the use of school facilities improvement districts to fund upgrades \u2014 but the group\u2019s new leader expressed support in an interview.<\/p>\n
Mark Kersey, the association\u2019s new president and CEO, pointed out that the group had supported San Ysidro\u2019s effort. And it makes sense for school districts struggling to pass bonds as a way for them to work to find better ways to communicate with their communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt still has to go to the voters,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Short term, high needs<\/p>\n
Chase Avenue Elementary and most of Cajon Valley\u2019s other oldest schools are in SFID 1, which includes central El Cajon and the district\u2019s trustee areas 2, 3 and 4. Bond funding would help improve what Buxbaum calls the \u201cbones of the school\u201d \u2014 things that can\u2019t usually be addressed with the district\u2019s deferred maintenance program.<\/p>\n
![\"Much](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/sut-l-sfid-cajon-valley-006.jpg\")
Much of the infrastructure at Chase Avenue Elementary School needs to be replaced, the district\u2019s operations manager says. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
Even if voters pass a bond, it won\u2019t be able to fund everything a school like Chase needs. That\u2019s in part because the district is planning to pursue 10-year bonds rather than the typical 20- or 30-year bonds \u2014 the board of trustees preferred the shorter term.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s really the direction I\u2019m getting,\u201d Buxbaum said.<\/p>\n
Karen Clark-Mejia, the board president and trustee for Area 4, wrote in an email that the board must evaluate long-term facility needs and ensure potential bond proposals are responsible to taxpayers while supporting \u201csafe and modern learning environments for our students.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere have been preliminary discussions about different financing structures, including shorter bond terms, because the board is mindful of the long-term financial impact on the community,\u201d she said. \u201cAny decisions would ultimately occur through a public process with community input.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lily Schworm \u2014 the board\u2019s vice president and the trustee for Area 3, whose voters broke overwhelmingly for a districtwide bond in 2024 \u2014 said she was the one who pushed for a shorter bond term. She preferred the lower interest payments over time and felt voters want bonds to benefit current students.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe short-term bond saves us a significant amount in interest,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She also doesn\u2019t want debt to be passed down to future generations, she added in a later email. \u201cThose future residents deserve the opportunity to determine their financial and educational priorities for themselves,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n
![\"Cajon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/sut-l-sfid-cajon-valley-014.jpg\")
Cajon Valley\u2019s facilities director Johnny Heredia points out the outdated main electrical power box that feeds Greenfield Middle School in El Cajon on March 12, 2026.\u00a0 (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
But Heredia can\u2019t help but think big about how Chase Elementary could be better.<\/p>\n
Walking around campus, he points out what a bigger budget could let him accomplish \u2014 projects like adding more classrooms, and getting rid of the trailers that serve as temporary substitutes. For Chase, it would require more than $22 million, he said.<\/p>\n
To him, school facilities are as essential a part of the learning process as anything. And it\u2019s not just Chase Elementary that would benefit.<\/p>\n
Greenfield Middle School, also in SFID 1, could also use bond funding. Its campus is a mix of older and new buildings. A faulty lawn sprinkler system leaves parts of the campus damp. The bathrooms need work \u2014 and really should be the same color. One pipe acts up each week.<\/p>\n
But not much else is predictable in Cajon Valley\u2019s day-to-day needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt depends on the school,\u201d Heredia says. \u201cIt depends on the moon placement. It depends on the mood of the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Johnny Heredia expects to spend an upcoming summer digging up pipes at Chase Avenue Elementary School. As director…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[15,181,23,100,74,76,75,1696],"class_list":{"0":"post-242266","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-education","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-san-diego","13":"tag-san-diego-headlines","14":"tag-san-diego-news","15":"tag-top-stories-sdut"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}