After voters OK’d a bond question on the ballot earlier this year, Chama Valley School Board members approved issuing and selling more than $4 million in general obligation bond money for various school improvements.
Board members approved, 3-1, at an April 7 meeting, a resolution to sell $4.67 million in school building bonds to the New Mexico Finance Authority, for capital and technology improvements in the Chama Valley School District.
Board member Tirzio Lopez voted against the resolution. Board member Monica Cordova was absent.
Board President Earl James Martinez said he had all the reasons to support the resolution.
“The voters of the area approved the bond, the fixed interest rates were at the lowest in the last decade, at least, and the New Mexico Finance Authority is one of the highest-rated companies, so it was an easy vote for me,” Martinez said. “Supporting the bonds was the right thing to do, because the children in our District deserve the best.”
During this year’s Feb. 3 School Board election, Chama voters approved issuing up to $8 million in general obligation bonds to the District for technology and school improvement purposes.
There were 403 voters who supported the bond measure, while 368 people opposed it.
According to the resolution, the purpose of the sale of the bonds is to “purchase computer software and hardware for student use in public schools, purchase or improve school grounds, erect, remodel, make additions to and furnish school buildings, or any combination of these purposes.”
Authority officials have agreed to purchase the District’s bonds, the resolution states.
Martinez said the Board will officially sell the bonds May 7, and will obtain funds May 15.
He said funds obtained from the sale of the bond will primarily be used to enhance technology in the District, as a result of the recently implemented Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.
“As you are well aware, the state has mandated PARCC testing and it is all online,” he said. “Computers that seize, freeze or reboot are not giving us real results because the child has to re-immerse themselves back into the test mode.”
Officials also plan to use the money for playground improvements to provide necessary fall surfaces for children, Martinez said. They also plan to modify the schools’ fire and lightning protection systems.
Lopez said he issued the lone no vote because he was confused by the way the resolution was worded and by how the bond was advertised.
“I believe that when the bond was presented to the public, it was misleading and I didn’t agree with it,” he said. “I do support technology and building schools, but I didn’t like the way it was presented to the public.”
Although voters approved the bond in February, Lopez said it passed by a slight margin. He believes the people who elected him did not vote for the bond.
Lopez said one of the District’s priority projects is the construction of a football field and track at Escalante High School, which currently has a projected budget of about $1.7 million.
Despite agreeing that the District needs the project, officials should spend the bond money in a more practical manner toward the project, Lopez said.
“They’re already doing the survey for the football field,” he said. “I believe the football field is needed, but they should spend their money wisely.”
The approval of the football field project is on the agenda for the next Board meeting, April 28, Lopez said.
But Martinez said the field is not on the top of the priority list, for which the bond money will be used.
It’s currently the fourth on the list, after new computers, new playground equipment and enhanced fire and lightning protection systems.
He said although he respects Lopez’s opinion on the bond, he thinks the Board did the right thing by approving the resolution.
“Mr. Lopez is entitled to his vote and reason, however, the bond language was and has been straight forward since the beginning,” Martinez said. “We included various members of the community to help us find our biggest needs.”