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A classroom wing at Heredia-Arriaga School on October 1, 2026. Each wing has a gathering space for students to do group activities.Riley Palmer\/CapRadio<\/p>\nAt Heredia-Aariaga Dual Immersion School, the front office has floor-to-ceiling windows looking onto a freshly cemented parking lot. Each classroom wing at Natomas Unified\u2019s newest school has a gathering area \u2014 punto de encuentro \u2014 for group work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are all classrooms on the sides,\u201d Natomas Unified Superintendent Robyn Castillo explained. \u201cThey can do enrichment activities, collaborate. It\u2019s a really nice space where they can do things together.\u201d<\/p>\n
The school opened four years ago and is the district\u2019s sole language immersion school that voters paid for through the $172 million school bond Measure L in 2018. But this year, the school district is asking for $300 million dollars more through school bond Measure D.<\/p>\n
Castillo said Heredia-Aariaga is still adding more grade levels, and there are other campuses like Inderkum High School in the district that need attention. The high school campus needs a new roof, and improvements to its aging HVAC system.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aOne thing that is really important to us is all kids across the district have equitable access to school facilities that meet our standard,\u201d Castillo said. \u201cIf it’s an older school we need to make sure we bring it up to that standard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Natomas Unified is just one of six school districts this year in the Sacramento Valley region asking voters to help pay for school upgrades and construction costs through a school bond measure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These include:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Center Joint Unified School District\u00a0
\nLos Rios Community College District\u00a0
\nGalt Joint Unified High School District
\nRocklin Unified School District\u00a0
\nWinters Joint Unified School District<\/p>\n
Voters in each district will decide whether to approve the funding. With the Nov. 3 election closing in and the region paying more attention to school finances, CapRadio sought to answer a few questions about these measures, including: What is a school bond? Who pays for them? How can voters trust the money will be used appropriately?\u00a0<\/p>\n
We spoke with experts and critics to give voters a better understanding of what they could be signing up for.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What is a local school bond?\u00a0<\/p>\n
A school bond is a mechanism that districts use to pay for upgrades and construction projects on campuses, which are generally referred to as capital improvement projects. These range from HVAC upgrades and roofing repairs to replacing grass with turf on sports fields. They are paid for by increasing property taxes and they must be approved by voters.<\/p>\n
Julien LaFortune is a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) who studies school bonds. He told CapRadio to think of everything that\u2019s not currently an instructional expense.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOften this is school buildings or extracurricular spaces, athletic facilities, some form of other kind of infrastructure like buses, as well,\u201d LaFortune said. \u201cMost fundamentally it\u2019s about district needs. A lot of districts have aging facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Legally, the funding can\u2019t go towards things like hiring teachers or day-to-day operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
LaFortune said the reason districts seek out bond funding is because this kind of construction requires a huge amount of capital that isn’t readily available.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A classroom wing at Heredia-Arriaga School on October 1, 2026. Each wing has a gathering space for students to do group activities.Riley Palmer\/CapRadio<\/p>\n
\u201cDistricts need a lot of money up front to pay for them, and how they\u2019ll do that is they will put a bond on the ballot,\u201d he said. \u201cIt gives a way for a district to take out debt and use that debt to finance these large capital improvements.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
School bonds in California need a majority 55% approval to pass, which LaFortune noted is stricter than other states.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s actually more stringent to pass a school bond in California than it is elsewhere,\u201d LaFortune said. \u201cIt (has) raised concerns that we might, if anything, be underinvesting.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Historically in California, local school bonds have a high passage rate. Data from the PPIC shows that in 2024, the passage rate of local school bonds was 77%.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n How do they work?\u00a0<\/p>\n School bonds most commonly fall under the category of what is called a general obligation bond. These type of bonds<\/a> allow governments to use its taxation power to raise money.\u00a0<\/p>\n LaFortune notes that there are different ways to finance bonds, but a general obligation bond is the most common type when it comes to funding school infrastructure.\u00a0<\/p>\n If a school bond passes, property owners are responsible for paying for them through annual property taxes.\u00a0<\/p>\n How much depends on the bond, the district and the property. In the case of Natomas Unified, they are asking for $60 per $100,000 of assessed property value. This means that if a home is worth around $600,000, this would equal $360 in added taxes a year.<\/p>\n \u201cDistrict voters will vote to approve that bond, and basically it\u2019s an agreement that voters and residents are going to pay back the bond with proceeds from raising their property taxes over a specified period of time,\u201d LaFortune explained.<\/p>\n In most cases, bonds take between 20 to 30 years to pay off and there are already previous school bonds on people\u2019s annual tax bill.<\/p>\n LaFortune said many districts try to be strategic when placing bonds on the ballot.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf it\u2019s seen as a potentially high turnout election, the electorate might be a bit more positive in terms of the propensity to support these types of education expenditures through high property taxes,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is also something a district will consider.\u201d<\/p>\n Natomas Unified\u2019s Superintendent Castillo said that her district is aware of the concern of overburdening taxpayers and that they take their financial stewardship seriously.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe have two bonds that were just completely paid on in August, and they\u2019re falling off the tax roll,\u201d she said. \u201cWith this one coming on, it keeps the tax rate essentially the same for our taxpayers and that was intentional.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n While school bonds pertaining to infrastructure are more common, school districts do ask voters to approve tax measures for other reasons that are funded differently.<\/p>\n Sacramento City Unified has put tax Measure M<\/a> on the ballot, which asks voters to help fund special education through a flat $95 parcel tax for each property in the district. It includes some possible exemptions for property owners on social security or those on disability.\u00a0<\/p>\n How can voters trust the money is being used appropriately?\u00a0<\/p>\n Most school districts have what is called a facilities master plan that details how they plan to maintain school buildings and amenities long term.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOften when they\u2019re floating bonds to be passed, it’s funding specific projects that are from this master plan,\u201d LaFortune said.<\/p>\n
![\"sch\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/img_0658.jpg\")
Heredia-Arriaga School in Natomas Unified School District on October 1, 2026. The school is the district’s newest, and their only dual immersion school.Riley Palmer\/CapRadio<\/p>\n