A Look Back at San Leandro School District's 1997 Measure A
New Jefferson Elementary School on date of its dedication, SanJune 2, 2005. San Leandro is a safer and more prosperous city than it was 20 years ago because we have invested wisely in our local public schools. Some persons disagree and assert, without offering any evidence, that all money spent from the bond measures on San Leandro schools has been wasted. I want to show how baseless these claims are by focusing on the very first - or at least first contemporary - school bond measure passed in San Leandro. This was Measure A, a $53 million bond, approved by the voters in 1997. The bond was issued in a series of offerings starting in 1998 and into the early 2000s (totaling $53 million), with each offering lasting 25 years for repayment. That means the Measure A bond will be paid off entirely in a few years. Student safety was the focus of the Measure A bond. The majority of the money was dedicated to seismic upgrades of our schools - necessitated by the greater knowledge...