Building Our Future
DJUSD Bond Program Newsletter
MARCH/APRIL 2020
Welcome to the DJUSD Bond Program Newsletter
This e-newsletter will be published regularly to provide our community with updates on all Bond projects and other important facility upgrades happening in DJUSD.
Note From the Facilities Director David Burke
Bond Program Update
The Bond Team hopes you and your family are safe and well during these most uncertain times. As you know, Davis Joint Unified has been working hard to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and to provide Distance Learning as well as resources and support to our students and staff. Even while our campuses are closed, our Bond work continues because of the ability to engage through virtual staff meetings and ongoing communication with our architect teams.
According to the State of California, Public Works Projects are still considered essential services. As such, while many Bond Program projects require more planning and community feedback before we can continue, we have many other projects that are moving forward uninterrupted, including the construction of science lab classrooms at Emerson/Da Vinci Junior High School, the installation of hydration stations, paving at Willett Elementary School, and other non-Bond Program facility projects.
Programming and Design Development on DJUSD Bond Program ”Signature” projects continue, including multipurpose rooms (MPRs) at Birch Lane Elementary (BLE), César Chávez Elementary (CCE), North Davis Elementary (NDE) and Willett Elementary (WIL); Davis Senior High STEM Building and Aquatics Center; Da Vinci High School multipurpose room with STEM lab (CTE grant-dependent), P.E. locker rooms, and a new science lab; as well as the new Korematsu (KOR) Preschool campus. While work continues, construction crews are limited to fewer than ten team members and they practice safe social distancing during their work. All of our DJUSD facilities staff, architects, engineers, and other consultants continue operations through remote work.
Our work to create the 21st century learning environments for students is more important than ever and we will continue to move forward in all ways possible. We are pleased to be able to share with you in this newsletter just some of the Bond Program highlights that have been taking place over the last two months. Please follow our website to stay informed of Bond Projects happening now.
Emerson / Da Vinci Junior High Science Classrooms Ground Breaking in Fall 2020
Programming Phase for North Davis and Willett Multipurpose Rooms (MPRs)
Though our District and school campuses are temporarily closed to the public, we continue with the Programming Phase of the Willett Elementary and North Davis Elementary MPRs. Thanks to virtual platforms, online meetings have enabled the Bond Team to meet with staff, administration and architects to receive valuable and necessary feedback on each of these projects. Community outreach will be calendared soon.
Bond Sales
The District held the final bond sale for Measure M on Tuesday April 28. We are pleased to report that the sale exceeded our expectations, bringing in more funds available for Measure M projects at a lower cost to taxpayers. The sale brought in $100 million of project funds, which was almost $3 million more than our financial projection. The actual interest rate is well below the original projected rates for the Measure M program expectations, which will save the taxpayers millions of dollars over the life of bonds. In summary, we received more funds sooner than planned, at a lower cost to the DJUSD taxpayers.
Public Outreach for Bond Projects
Thank You for Measure M
In November 2018, Davis voters passed Measure M, a $150 million school facilities bond measure to upgrade schools for safety and 21st century learning. More information can be found on the Measure M website.
DJUSD Bond Program- $226 Million
Measure M funds, along with additional facility dollars, constitute the current DJUSD Bond Program that together amounts to approximately $226 million. Bond sales will occur over the course of the next four years. In February 2019, DJUSD saw the first successful bond sale that enabled our school District to begin work with the first $50 million of our Bond Program, referred to as Group 1 Bond Projects, to address safety projects, elementary multi-purpose rooms and more!
Group 1 Bond Projects
Bond projects include Districtwide projects such as hydration stations and school campus access improvements and site-specific projects such as new two multipurpose rooms, Emerson/Da Vinci Junior Highs science labs, and Da Vinci High campus renovations and construction.
Group 2 and Group 3 Projects
Groups 2 and 3 Bond projects include Willett MPR, North Davis Elementary MPR, Davis Senior High School STEM Building and Aquatics Center and other projects throughout the District.
Learn more about all DJUSD Bond Projects.
Stay Connected
- Bond Website: Find information on all things DJUSD Bond Program, including information on bond projects, presentations, bond news stories and more!
- Bond Calendar: View all of our previous and upcoming meetings about our various bond projects.
- Bond Public Outreach: Our public outreach website explains our detailed communication plan that will be followed for each bond project.
- Social Media: Follow DJUSD on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for additional highlights and pictures of our bond projects.#DJUSDBond
- Contact us with questions or feedback at facilityplanning@djusd.net
- Invite your friends and neighbors to subscribe for this e-newsletter!