Absolutely NO! to any more money for this district to waste on bloated salaries, musical chair changes in personnel and lawsuits. Cut your expenses to match your funds, stop expecting the taxpayers of this town to fund your waste and stupidity.

Taxpayer, bond funds can't be spent on anything you list.

I am disappointed, however, the article does not mention the illegal cash out refinancing of current bonds. Getting a new bond in place will require an exact list of intended projects with priority rankings for completion and a guaranteed oversight committee that meets throughout the life of the bonds. I would also want to know the justifications for each project: is class size reduction K-3 a community priority; is removing portables a priority; how many elementary schools would be needed for each and both scenario(s)? And so on.

In other words, without complete and detailed information being provided to the board and the community (broad and thorough communication), a survey is just a questionnaire without real value or purpose and could be one question: "Will you support a new tax for school facilities?"

It seems to me there is more value in educating the voters about needs before running a survey to test support.

Instead of knowing when Pleasanton taxpayers last passed a Bond, it is more relevant to know:
Pleasanton taxpayers have approved over 155 million dollars in PUSD bonds. That money is spent but bond debt remains.
How much debt from those bonds still remains, how long will taxpayers still be paying on the existing bond debt. How was past bond money spent? How has the debt been managed? Were past bond promises kept?
Can Pleasanton taxpayers trust PUSD integrity with future bond debt?

Much of the facilities problem is due to students from new growth. Taxpayers should not be paying for unmitigated growth of new development? How have developer fees been used, what has been the the mitigation plan?

If you don't have kids in schools or are not involved, know that your schools' programs are being supported by parents - their money and their time. Without them our schools would not have fully funded music, art, science, computer and other programs. PUSD's high ratings, and real estate values along with them, will decrease. Our schools are also looking old, outdated, and do not have the facilities that many schools with a lot less affluent population than Pleasanton have. Maybe not now but eventually this will take its toll on our community's reputation. It is DEFINITELY affecting students and parents NOW. Stop arguing and instead work to find a way to get our schools fully funded and our kids the leading edge we advertise.

No vote here without some plan on how to reduce year over year spending without
- increasing class size
- the use of furlough days
- basically any impact to quality education to students.

I believe the schools need and deserve investment, I want to see a plan and commitment to achieving that before I open my checkbook more than I already have. Stop holding my childrens' education as ransom. It's true terrorism and should be treated as such.

"Stop arguing and instead work to find a way to get our schools fully funded and our kids the leading edge we advertise." I suppose you may not realize what was accomplished prior to your children entering schools--the original bonds we are all still paying, unification, upgrading current schools, building of PMS and Hart, the start of PPiE, myriad fundraisers at our schools, and a legislative study group that read bills and advocated in Sacramento on funding. In many cases our children, now adults with children of their own, suffered through the actual campus renovations future students benefitted from. We often kidded about being the same 30 people trying to make a difference.

I don't believe any of us have stopped caring; we certainly understand all too well what it takes to have strong schools. It is fine to want more for your children (and our grandchildren), but it is absolutely necessary to understand where errors were made and to be certain they aren't repeated.

Well said Kathleen. I reflect back on when I was new to school issues. We love our children and we love our teachers, we want to believe our children are everyone’s top priority. I have volunteered thousands of hours for our schools. I now understand the best way to advocate for our kids is to be informed and demand transparency and accountability.