Benefield: Sports competing for a share of school spending

The Santa Rosa City Schools board of trustees has some million-dollar decisions to make tonight.

Thanks to the success of Measures I and L in 2014, the board has $229 million in voter-approved bond funds available to address a long list of needs identified in the district’s facilities master plan.

That’s the good news.

The bad news? District officials have identified $1.2 billion in needs.

That is the context in which the seven member school board must make a host of decisions about spending, starting tonight. And what are decisions about spending if not an statement about priorities?

So boosters from Maria Carrillo and Piner high schools are expected to descend en masse on City Council chambers tonight to offer a little priority advice.

On the agenda: Maria Carrillo’s field upgrade - new artificial turf field, new all-weather track and new press box - with a price tag of $3 million.

Lights at Piner has a price tag of $2 million. That’s a whopping number. When I last wrote about the lights in mid-August, the figure being discussed by boosters was $400,000. Their GoFundMe goal is $271,000.

Jim Lanz, a 1976 Piner grad and the lead player in the years-long push to get lights on the Fulton Road campus, doesn’t know what they’ll get for $2 million if that is what the board decides. Maybe an enclosed stadium, he joked.

And just because that $2 million is on tonight’s agenda for a vote, along with the $3 million for Carrillo’s upgrade, does not mean it will come to pass.

“Yes, it’s on the agenda, but it doesn’t solve anything until it’s approved,” said Debra LaPrath, the girls soccer coach at Carrillo.

If that sounds cynical, consider this: LaPrath had to reschedule the entire first half of her team’s schedule because the game field is unplayable despite what district officials claimed was months of rehab work. Large swaths of dirt (with the odd rock and chunk of glass) mark the north end of the field. Divots that feel more like holes are all over.

It’s been “14 to 15 years of constant field problems,” she said.

The football team has already endured two games out there but doesn’t have another scheduled home contest until Sept. 30, when they are supposed to host Santa Rosa. In the meantime, areas of the field have been cordoned off as attempts at a fix are made.

“They have closed our field for the whole month of September,” LaPrath said.

The press box? It’s got a pad lock on it. No entry, no use. When I talked to athletic director Jerry Deakins about it, he told me it has been in use for well over a decade, built by licensed contractors and supported by parent boosters. But Deakins was told it didn’t pass official muster and cannot be used. And it’s not just reporters who sit up there, but game announcers and coaches.

So those are the tensions that will be at play at the board meeting tonight. Frustration is high. Also at play is this: Yes, Sonoma County’s largest school district has millions of dollars at its disposal, but it also has many, many millions more in need (see that $1.2 billion figure above).

This is a district not too far removed from cutting five school days from its calendar to save money. The district’s had a leaky roof for some time now. That’s not figurative language, it’s literal.

“Many of the roofs at all sites are beyond their useful life and present issues during inclement weather,” the board report for tonight’s meeting reads. “Many of our roofs have been repeatedly patched and have not undergone comprehensive roof replacement or repairs. Immediate attention will be focused on roofs that are beyond repair.”

That immediate attention has a price tag of $15-$18 million. Long term roofing needs? $35 million.

Also on tonight’s wish list? $7-$10 million in heating and cooling systems, as well as construction at the Comstock Middle/Cesar Chavez Language Academy for $16 million.

That is the context for any spending decision Wednesday night, let alone the long list of identified needs the board will tackle in the months to come: $28 million in safety and security upgrades, $6.6 million in classroom furniture, $1.8 million for covered eating areas at the elementary schools and $4 million in restroom improvements at middle and high schools. The coffers will quickly run dry at that pace.

A word likely to be uttered more than once tonight will be equity. After all, Piner has for years been the only campus without stadium lights. And Maria Carrillo has for years been the only campus without a synthetic turf playing field. Their boosters will tell the board, it’s about time. Lanz says it’s about more than sports, but the entire school community.

“It’s long overdue and the kids deserve it,” Lanz said. “That is the most important thing - the kids deserve it. I think it will be a great atmosphere and pull people together for something very positive.”

And it’s about priorities. And what better way to show your priorities than how you spend your money?

You can reach staff columnist Kerry Benefield at 526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com, on Twitter @benefield and on Instagram at kerry.benefield. Podcasting on iTunes “Overtime with Kerry Benefield.”