For the past several months Scott Voigts and I have been meeting with city staff to develop a way of working with Saddleback Valley Unified School District (SVUSD). We have been inquiring about
- Bus programs
- After school programs
- School guard programs
- OCSD School Resource Officers
- New schools
SVUSD indicates that their economic situation does not permit them to have a school bus program, nor does it permit them to assist the City in the costs of crossing guards and a school resource officer – costs that are nearly a half million dollars per year.
We are continuing to work with them to consider a bus program that parents might help develop and fund. More about this project as it develops.
Find out what's happening in Lake Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
We inquired about the funds that SVUSD received over the years from the developer fees for the nearly 5,000 new homes approved by previous councils. SVUSD received over $30,000,000 in developer fees and plans to spend them as follows –
SITE GROWTH
- Foothill Elementary - $7,500,000
- Portola Hills Elementary - $7,500,000
- El Toro High - $7,500,000
- La Madera Elementary - $2,500,000
- Lomarena Elementary - $2,500,000
- Olivewood Elementary - $2,500,000
- Rancho Canada Elementary - $1,250,000
RENOVATION
- Portola Elementary - $4,250,000
- Lake Forest Elementary - $4,500,000
- El Toro High School - $3,750,000
- Serrano Intermediate - $2,500,000
Total spending is estimated to be $46,250,000. Most of this comes from developer fees, but some comes from bonds –
Find out what's happening in Lake Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
- Lake Forest Elementary - $3,600,000
- Portola Hills Elementary - $2,900,000
To date SVUSD has collected nearly $21,000,000 and spent $122,278 on planning consultants.
In terms of the schedule, planning will begin with Portola Hills Elementary and then proceed to Lake Forest Elementary.
Next time we’ll look at the proposed Portola Hills project.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.
Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a mini town meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be on Dec 2 at 2 pm at the El Toro Public Library.
