![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/san-rafael-viewx.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
[UPDATED] The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education voted Thursday night to approve the full demolition and rebuild of San Rafael Elementary School, rejecting a motion to delay the project until after the district\u2019s pending school consolidation decision.<\/p>\n
The approval comes after trustees acknowledged that the project\u2019s total cost has risen to roughly three times its original allocation in the five?year bond plan, and that the additional amount above existing Measure O funding and expected state match will have to be covered from Measure R before the new facilities master plan is complete.<\/p>\n
Trustee Kimberly Kenne moved to table Board Report 1941-F, which authorized the rebuild, arguing the board should wait until the school consolidation process concludes. Trustee Scott Harden seconded the motion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this would bring clarity to how San Rafael will be used in that plan, as well as may identify other facility needs that will need to be funded,\u201d Kenne said. She noted that one current consolidation scenario would close the neighborhood school zoned for the San Rafael area.<\/p>\n
The motion to table failed. Trustee Yarma Vel\u00e1zquez and Board President Tina Fredericks spoke against the delay. Student Trustee Rivera abstained.<\/p>\n
A subsequent motion to approve the rebuild then passed. Rivera again abstained.<\/p>\n
Cost escalation and funding sources<\/p>\n
The rebuild will draw primarily from two voter-approved bond measures \u2014 Measure O and Measure R. The original five-year bond plan had assumed $125 million in state matching funds to offset Measure O costs, but trustees were divided on when \u2014 or whether \u2014 that money would arrive.<\/p>\n
Michael Dunning, Pasadena Unified\u2019s\u00a0Director of Facilities, Maintenance, Operations & Transportation, in\u00a0presenting the bond program to the board told trustees that construction cost inflation is running at approximately 6% per year and is expected to rise to 8% in 2027. Trustee Patrice Marshall McKenzie said she is seeing cost escalations closer to 20% in her professional work, and cautioned her colleagues about \u201cthe time clock ticking\u201d on the value of district dollars.<\/p>\n
Kenne said a one-year delay would push the earliest date that San Rafael students could move off campus from the summer of 2027 to the summer of 2028. Dunning confirmed that timeline and added that a delay would cascade into other bond projects already scheduled in the district\u2019s five-year plan. He told trustees that even at annual inflation of 6% to 8%, the escalations compound because the district is \u201ctalking hundreds of millions\u201d in bond spending.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we table this, we will guarantee that this will be more expensive than we have estimated, and it will guarantee that we will delay other projects,\u201d Fredericks said before the tabling vote.<\/p>\n
Kenne said she had reviewed Proposition 2, the most recent state school bond, and consulted School Services of California. She said voters approved $10 billion in Proposition 2 statewide, of which approximately $4.4 billion was designated for modernization. The new-construction portion, she said, does not apply to projects that tear down and rebuild on the same site \u2014 only to schools built where none previously existed. She said the State Allocation Board has received approximately $1.7 billion in applications beyond the bond\u2019s authority, meaning the district\u2019s San Rafael application will not be funded under Proposition 2 and will have to wait for a future state bond.<\/p>\n
Dunning had earlier told the board the state match funds, which he estimated at $118 million to $125 million, would likely arrive in approximately six years and could be applied to the back of the district\u2019s spending plan once confirmed.<\/p>\n
Kenne said that the project\u2019s share of Measure R \u2014 combined with previously committed Measure R spending on staff housing and solar infrastructure \u2014 would bring Measure R commitments to roughly $375 million of its $900 million total before the district has completed its new facilities master plan.<\/p>\n
Trustee Jennifer Hall Lee, who pressed for clarification on the matching-funds situation, said she was concerned about whether the money would ultimately be there. Dunning told her that between Measure O and Measure R, the district has the funds to cover everything currently in the approved five-year plan.<\/p>\n
Displacement and capacity<\/p>\n
San Rafael students will be moved to Allendale Elementary School during construction, Dunning said. Longfellow Elementary students are scheduled to occupy Allendale beginning in summer 2026 for approximately one year before San Rafael takes its turn.<\/p>\n
The rebuilt campus is currently designed for a capacity of just under 500 students, with plans to add transitional kindergarten classrooms. Several trustees, including Kenne and Harden, raised questions about whether the capacity should be increased to accommodate possible enrollment shifts from consolidation.<\/p>\n
Dunning said the site can accommodate a larger footprint \u2014 potentially a second two-story building at the south end of the campus \u2014 if the board later directs such a change. Dr. Wong, addressing board procedure, said any such change would return first to the Facilities Committee and then to the full board as a separate action item.<\/p>\n
Public comment and advocacy<\/p>\n
The rebuild decision followed public comment from San Rafael parents, teachers and a Pasadena city representative.<\/p>\n
Justin Chapman, field representative for Pasadena Councilmember Steve Madison, whose District 6 includes San Rafael Elementary, told the board Madison supports the rebuild.<\/p>\n
Chapman said Madison was out of town and had asked him to deliver a statement on his behalf. Reading from that statement, Chapman said San Rafael is the only remaining public school in West Pasadena, and the councilmember supports the rebuild \u201cto ensure the future of the school.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carla Landaverde, a fourth-grade teacher and parent at San Rafael, asked the board to vote to demolish and rebuild. She said the school piloted the district\u2019s dual language program in 2009 and has \u201casked for very little to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sahar Uriarte, an Eaton Fire survivor and San Rafael parent, said the school community has been a source of stability after her family lost its Altadena home and urged the board to invest in the facility. Lindsay Amstutz, speaking on behalf of 104 current San Rafael parents, asked the board to approve Board Report 1941-F.<\/p>\n
Vel\u00e1zquez described San Rafael as a school with the district\u2019s largest wait list, the highest application volume and a Parent Teacher Association engagement level that she said exceeds enrollment. She characterized prior delays to the project as part of a pattern of neglect dating to 1998.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is very hard to understand that,\u201d Vel\u00e1zquez said of continued delays. She said the only distinction between San Rafael and two other high-demand schools ranked second and third in applications is the physical structure of the San Rafael campus.<\/p>\n
Next steps<\/p>\n
Dunning told the board the district will return with additional clarity on funding allocations at its May 2026 meeting. The district\u2019s facilities master plan architect is expected to deliver findings in January 2027.<\/p>\n
The consolidation advisory process, which prompted Kenne\u2019s motion to table, is scheduled to produce a recommendation on May 28, 2026, with a potential board vote on school closures as early as June 25, 2026.<\/p>\n
Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco told trustees San Rafael closure was not among the scenarios the district\u2019s consultant presented or recommended to the advisory committee, though the board retains authority to \u201cadopt, adapt or abandon the committee\u2019s recommendations and make their own.\u201d<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777110373_7_mail-icon.png\n\"\/){kind=icon}
Get our daily Pasadena newspaper in your email box. Free.<\/p>\n
Get all the latest Pasadena news, more than 10 fresh stories daily, 7 days a week at 7 a.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[UPDATED] The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education voted Thursday night to approve the full demolition and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[26,1984,1986,421,48,52,51,1979,1985,23,47,1978,50,49,1987,1992,1993,1977,1989,1982,1980,1991,1983,1988,1990,1981],"class_list":{"0":"post-285348","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-calendar","10":"tag-community-news","11":"tag-food-and-drink","12":"tag-la","13":"tag-la-headlines","14":"tag-la-news","15":"tag-latest-news","16":"tag-lifestyles","17":"tag-local-news","18":"tag-los-angeles","19":"tag-los-angeles-county-news","20":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","21":"tag-los-angeles-news","22":"tag-nonprofit-news","23":"tag-official-events-calendar","24":"tag-old-town-pasadena-news","25":"tag-pasadena","26":"tag-pasadena-arts-and-culture","27":"tag-pasadena-city-guide","28":"tag-pasadena-events","29":"tag-pasadena-living","30":"tag-pasadena-restaurants","31":"tag-pasadena-shopping-news","32":"tag-popular-things-to-do-in-pasadena","33":"tag-things-to-do-in-pasadena"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285348","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=285348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}