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schoolbondscam.org
The Cult of A: What $374 million can buy
In the fall a brand new campus, Emerald H.S., will open in Dublin, in the east Bay. Total cost for the brand new school: $ 374 million. Once construction will be completed in 2026, Emerald High School will have a capacity for 2,500 students , with 42 classrooms, a 2,400-seat gym, a 137-seat lecture hall, high-tech science and technology classrooms and a grand student union on a 23-acre campus.
Somehow, the leaders of our own TUHSD are working overtime to put again a gigantic bond on the ballot, practically identical to the just failed Measure A ($520 Mil bond + interests). Even adjusted for inflation and relative to higher construction costs in Marin County, it is not clear why Dublin could build a brand new school with "only" $374 million, while our districts need over half a billion dollars for limited vanity projects.
To put the size of Measure A bond in perspective, it might also help to consider that with $511 million (inflation adjusted) the District would build a second Millennium Tower and have some change left.
Why administrators and trustees keep pushing a new bond? Why so much energy, time, passion and money while neglecting academics?