By Staff Writer, Royze Adolfo
Imagine walking down Hoover’s hallways with cleaner surroundings, more protected structures, upgraded facilities, newer computers and many more amenities to be of good use to each student.

This scenario is a possibility for a variety of schools in California, including Hoover, if Proposition 1D, the education bond measure, is approved next Tuesday.
According to League of Women’s Voters of California Education Fund (LWV), the goal of Proposition 1D allows the state of California to sell $10.4 billion in general obligation bonds for the purpose of school improvement.
The several specific target areas to be allocated funds are modernization, new construction, career technology facilities, and environmental-friendly projects.
For modernization projects, California school districts will only need to shoulder 40 percent of the project’s cost unless they qualify for funding due to financial hardships.
Construction for facilities and buildings will be geared towards increased student safety in case of natural disasters. For this project, the district is required to contribute to 50 percent of the costs according to the Pros and Cons Review issued by the LWV.
“There are certain spaces in our school that can be [transformed] into more useful and productive areas, like the girls’ locker room which has a lot of unused space that could potentially be turned into a computer lab for the benefit of the students,” said Sarah Shin (’08).
With Proposition 1D, career technology facilities improvement is yet another of the projects funded by the state. Measures will be taken to assist students interested in the technology field. The LWV claims that schools with pre-existing career technology facilities will be awarded grants while schools without it will be able to start programs of their own.
Voters who advocate the projects say it will keep students safer from natural disasters, avoid overcrowding of schools, and keep campuses updated with the latest technology, all of which are strong areas of concern as mentioned by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) for many schools, including Hoover.
People who oppose this proposition reason that this project includes new untested programs that may not be successful and may just result in accumulated debt. Another downside of this proposition is that it only allocates funds to schools for a mere two years.
After the two years of funding, the schools will be left to shoulder the rest of the expenses and face the challenges of financial setbacks.
Dean of Attendance Caroline Sweeney said that though this proposition sounds beneficial to campuses all over the state “we have to think about how the schools are going to pay this back.”
When asked if the district generally supported this proposition, GUSD Chief Financial Officer Eva Leuck responded, “Yes, we do advocate Proposition 1D. If it is approved, our district will be granted $34 million and out of that amount, Hoover will be [given] $10 million.”