DUSD Sells $116M In Bonds To Move Forward With New High School

DUBLIN, CA — The Dublin Unified School District sold the first batch of what it hopes will ultimately be $290 million in Measure J general obligation bonds approved last year by voters.

The $116 million sale to JP Morgan Chase closed last week and was split into two series, according to a district statement and officials who spoke at Tuesday's board meeting. That money is slated to cover the following.

• Just over $3 million in bonds rated to improve technology infrastructure.
• Nearly $113 million for the first phase of construction at the new Emerald High School.

The total cost to taxpayers will be even higher at nearly $168 million. Interest will total $51.6 million from 2022 through 2051, when the bonds reach maturity.

The board of trustees OK'd the bond sales at its Aug. 24 meeting. The district said those bonds will also allow it to proceed with the second phase of construction at Emerald High.

The long-awaited Emerald High was approved to accommodate snowballing enrollment numbers. Enrollment has tripled over the past decade from roughly 4,300 students in the 2009/2010 school year to 12,700 students in the 2019/2020 school year.

Superintendent Chris Funk said in a statement Thursday that Emerald High will serve about 1,300 students upon the completion of the first phase of construction, which includes one of two academic towers, visual and performing arts classrooms, administrative and counseling spaces, and a gym, football field, track and tennis courts.

“The sale of these bonds provides the final element of financing needed to make completing this phase a reality," he said in the statement. "The District’s excellent credit rating, combined with low-interest rates, made this the ideal time to make this sale.”

Credit rating agency Moody's Investors Service assigned the school district an Aa1 rating, its second-highest investment grade rating. S&P Global Ratings also gave the district its second-highest AA+ investment grade rating.

Dublin's Measure J supporters narrowly eked out a win in March 2020, with nearly 58 percent of ballots cast in support of the measure. A 55 percent majority was needed to pass.

The sale of these Measure J bonds came as the district continued to face mounting bills amid an aggressive capital improvement campaign to rebuild and modernize aging facilities. In May the state Board of Education greenlighted a waiver that allowed the district to exceed its legal debt limit for the Measure J bonds.

Just this week Dublin Elementary School parents rallied outside the school board meeting to decry what they believed to be subpar conditions at the campus that posed a risk to children.

The costs to cover these projects are even higher than the school district initially thought. In February then-Superintendent Daniel Moirao announced that a shortfall of at least $184 million in seven of its highest-priority projects that he attributed to issues such as widening project scopes, COVID-19-related supply chain issues, escalating costs and "human error."

Cost overruns hit Emerald High hardest. The estimated cost ballooned nearly $100 million to $270 million and the school's opening date was pushed back a year to fall 2023.

More from Patch:

• Why DUSD Is Struggling To Pay For School Projects
• DUSD Reports At Least $184M Shortfall On School Facility Projects
• State OKs Dublin Schools Plan To Sell Bonds, Raise Debt Limit
• Dublin Elementary Parents To Rally For School Improvements