MPUSD board votes to add a bond measure for staff housing on the ballot.

Monterey Peninsula Unified School District’s board voted 6-1, Tuesday, July 23 to include a $340 million bond measure on the November ballot to fund teachers’ housing and facilities upgrades.

Trustee Tom Jennings was the dissenting vote.

The goal is to provide a competitive edge for MPUSD to hire and retain staff.

“This would make a tremendous investment into below-market rate rental housing so that teachers can stay on the Peninsula and build their careers within the district,” Superintendent PK Diffenbaugh says.

Every year, MPUSD loses about 20 percent of its teachers, or up to 100 teachers. Teacher retention is a nationwide crisis and it worsens in high-cost living areas such as the Central Coast.

Several districts across California – including Salinas Union High School and Soledad Union School districts – have decided to provide staff/teacher housing. Last year, SUHSD opened its workforce housing of 50 units on Abbott Street in Salinas, offering them at a below-market rate. Soledad Union is in the process of acquiring the land to build 20 units for staff housing; if the purchase moves forward, the project will break ground in August.

In 2020, SUHSD, Soledad Union and MPUSD considered adding a housing measure to the ballot. Soledad Union and SUHSD moved forward and voters passed both with over 60 percent of the votes; while MPUSD’s board decided against it.

Previously, voters passed two bond measures to upgrade MPUSD’s facilities: the $110 million Measure P in 2010 and the $213 million Measure I in 2018.

Some residents are against this measure because the district has already passed two bond measures before and both have included similar language. Those against have also noted the bond proposed in 2020 was significantly lower at $60 million, or less than 18 percent of the measure that will be on the November ballot (the previous measure was focused on teacher housing).

“It’s important to understand that the district’s newest school was built in 1960,” Diffenbaugh says, noting the district didn’t pass a bond measure for about 50 years prior to Measure P. “That’s about 50 years of deferred maintenance built up.”

The $340 million bond measure is intended to provide staff housing, expand facilities and upgrade schools. It would cost $50 per each $100,000 of a property’s assessed value. The measure needs 55 percent of the votes to pass.