Avondale schools Superintendent James Schwarz was blunt when he described that the district would be in a world of hurt\u00a0 if voters did not pass the two millage renewal proposals on Tuesday\u2019s ballot.<\/p>\n
His outlook was much better after voters passed both of them by comfortable margins.<\/p>\n
\u201cPassing both of these was just instrumental in being able to maintain what we have been able to do,\u201d said Schwarz. \u201cWe are very grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 20-year non-homestead operating millage \u2013 which applies to businesses, rental properties and second homes, not primary residences \u2014 will generate $11.5 million in 2026. It passed 65% yes to 35% no.<\/p>\n
The millage will run from 2026 to 2045.<\/p>\n
Voters also approved a 10-year sinking fund proposal for capital improvements at the current millage rate of 1.0-mill. It passed 67% yes to 33% no.<\/p>\n
It will generate $1.3 million in its first year.<\/p>\n
Both millages expired on Dec. 31, 2025, so the district put the issue on the May ballot to secure funding for the upcoming fiscal year and beyond.<\/p>\n
\u201cPassing both of these was just instrumental in being able to maintain what we have been able to do,\u201d said Schwarz. \u201cWe are very grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n
The operating millage supports the district\u2019s general operating budget \u2014 the day-to-day costs of running schools such as classroom instruction and materials, transportation, utilities and facilities.<\/p>\n
The sinking fund provides a dedicated source of capital funding for a variety of projects and upgrades throughout the district.<\/p>\n
Schwarz said the district has a strategic plan for how renovations and improvements will be done in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cRoofs, HVAC maintenance, filters, air conditioning, as well as, asphalt and concrete repair and things like that are part of the plan,\u201d said Schwarz.\u00a0 \u201cThere is a roof replacement schedule that has been created and we would not be able to do that without sinking fund dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n
The last proposal approved by voters was in November 2024 for a $150 million zero-tax-rate increase bond for the 3,800 students in the district.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe community has been historically supportive of the schools and we are so thankful for that, because if this would not have passed we would have lost out on $11.5 million in funding and would have had to pay $70 million in expenses with only around $59 million,\u201d said Schwarz. \u201cThat would have resulted in program cuts and staff cuts and things would be ugly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The superintendent said now that both millages are in place for the next decade and beyond, it provides future stability.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt certainly helps to provide stability for the funding over that time period, so that is a good chunk of time to have a sense of security,\u201d said Schwarz.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Avondale schools Superintendent James Schwarz was blunt when he described that the district would be in a world…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306545,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[15,23,143,145,144,77],"class_list":["post-306544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-education","tag-local-news","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306544","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=306544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}