The San Diego Unified school board delayed voting on a potential facilities bond for the November ballot tonight. With several trustees pressing for more details on the projects the $2.1 billion bond would pay for, it appeared that the bond wouldn’t be approved unanimously.
Board member Luis Acle was vocal about his concerns, saying that the list was not “a finished product” and compared it to a blank check. The board president, Katherine Nakamura, said she wanted more time to review the list in detail, having only received it an hour before the meeting.
It is the second time that school board members have rebuked staff about the project list, after initial complaints that the list lacked vision and was thin on specifics. Acle said the list was an improvement, but still inadequate.
“We owe it to the taxpayers to give them all the information we have,” Acle said.
Board unity could be an important selling point as the bond goes before voters in November, said Superintendent Terry Grier. But Grier was confused about what information Acle lacked, and board member John de Beck suggested that Acle was nitpicking at the project list merely to delay the decision.
“What do you need that you don’t have?” Grier asked rhetorically after the meeting. “We didn’t hear much of a response.”
The board will revisit the facilities bond on Wednesday, and could vote to approve it at that time.