Month: June 2016

SDUSD has agreed to build and lease a NEW school site with Prop Z funds for the Innovations Academy Charter school.

This will make way to build 264 apartments on the school land that disrupts the surrounding neighborhoods and 99.9% of the Scripps Ranch community does not support.

Here is what the SDUSD website says about Prop Z fund usage:
In an effort to provide a quality school in every neighborhood, the district is using Prop. S and Prop. Z funds to repair, renovate and revitalize district schools. Bond projects include classroom technology, safety and security upgrades, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) upgrades, new/renovated facilities for College, Career and Technical Education, temporary classrooms replaced by permanent classrooms, air conditioning, ADA improvements to athletic facilities, turf fields, and other capital improvements at traditional and charter schools throughout the district. By law, capital improvement bond funds cannot be used for teacher or administrative salaries.

Here is the November 2012 voter guide statement on Prop Z:
San Diego Neighborhood Schools Classroom Safety and Repair Measure. To repair neighborhood schools and charter schools with funding the state cannot take away by: Repairing deteriorating 60-year-old classrooms, libraries, wiring, plumbing, bathrooms and leaky roofs; Removing hazardous mold, asbestos, and lead; Upgrading fire safety systems/doors; Upgrading classroom instructional technology, labs and vocational education classrooms; Shall San Diego Unified School District issue $2.8 billion in bonds at legal interest rates with citizen’s oversight, independent financial audits, no money for administrators’ salaries and all funds spent locally?

The school district four story apartment project plans to apply for a City of San Diego building permit, density bonuses and incentives but needs to separate the property with a ground lease to title portion of the property to Monarch to avoid, and thus circumvent, the Gun-Free School Zones Act.

According to the City, the property density is based on the area of the entire premises. A ground lease does not create a separate premise.

The Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990

The Gun-Free School Zones Act (GFSZA) prohibits any person from knowingly possessing a firearm that has moved in or otherwise affects interstate or foreign commerce at a place the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone.

The GFSZA also prohibits any person from knowingly, or with reckless disregard for the safety of another, discharging or attempting to discharge a firearm that has moved in or otherwise affects interstate or foreign commerce at a place the person knows is a school zone.

The GFSZA defines “school zone” as: 1) in, or on the grounds of, a public, parochial or private school; or 2) within a distance of 1,000 feet from the grounds of a public, parochial or private school.