Voters Overwhelmingly Support Measure O  

[Updated]  It looks like Measure O — a $516,300,000 school bond question put forth by the Pasadena Unified School District – has been overwhelmingly approved by city voters.

As of 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, 2 ½ hours after the polls had closed, the measure had received 48,196 “yes” votes (62.86 percent) and 28,470 “no” votes (37.14 percent), according to numbers released by the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. Real-time numbers can be found at https://results.lavote.net/text-results/4193, and Pasadena Now will continue to track the voting as well.

To officially pass, the measure needs the OK from 50 percent of the voters plus one.

 “Given the current victory margin and the amount of votes left to count, we believe we have an insurmountable lead and Measure O has won approval,” Measure O campaign chair Tamerlin J. Godley said late Tuesday. “We are heartened by the community’s clear commitment to its children and wise investment in its public schools.”

The measure – which was endorsed by the City Council but opposed by the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce and some other area business groups – is expected to generate some $60 million to upgrade the PUSD’s computers and other educational technology. In addition, $456,280,000 will go to upgrading aging district facilities.

The bond will cost local property owners between $45 and $60 a year on their property taxes for each $100,000 of assessed value.

Measure O appeared on the ballot as the “Pasadena Unified School District Repair, Technology, Student Achievement Measure.”

In full, the ballot question read: “To upgrade schools, improve equitable access to technology, attract/retain quality teachers by repairing deteriorating classrooms, bathrooms, roofs, science labs; removing hazardous materials; providing safe drinking water; acquiring, constructing, repairing sites, facilities, equipment, shall Pasadena Unified School District’s measure authorizing $516,300,000 in bonds at legal rates, levying $45/$100,000 assessed value (averaging $28,504,000 annually) while bonds are outstanding, be adopted, requiring annual independent audits/citizens’ oversight, all funds only for local schools?’’

Measure O was the second bond measure in as many years placed in the ballot by the financially troubled PUSD. A year ago, Pasadena voters overwhelmingly approved a three-quarter-cent tax increase to help stave off a county takeover of PUSD schools.

On Oct. 5, the City Council endorsed passage of Measure O by a 5-0 margin, with Councilmember Andy Wilson abstaining. Vice Mayor Tyron Hampton and Councilmember Margaret McAustin were present at that meeting but were absent for the Measure O vote.

Wilson said he had hoped the PUSD would be further along in consolidating campuses, following school closures. Hampton, meanwhile, abstained from voting on council endorsements of other state and local ballot measures.

At the time, Mayor Terry Tornek called Measure O “a critical opportunity for the district to make repairs.’’

More than 90 percent of PUSD schools were built 50 or more years ago and have not had upgrades to electrical systems, according to a 2019 report by PUSD Chief Facilities Officer Nelson Cayabyab.

The council made its Measure O endorsement against the wishes of the Chamber of Commerce and some other prominent area business groups. Chamber President and CEO Paul Little had written to the council, “The additional tax burden will be borne by local taxpayers for more than 25 years.’’

Little also said Pasadena taxpayers are already pinched financially because of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact locally.

“The Pasadena area is experiencing the harshest financial downturn since the Great Depression,” Little wrote. “Unemployment has skyrocketed, recovery will be a long slow process, and no one but the wealthy among us can afford any additional expenses right now.”

Little went on to tell the council, “Pasadena Unified is suffering from significantly declining enrollment, with projections that only 14,000 students will be attending PUSD schools within five years. School district officials and board members have blamed the decline, at least in part, on a lack of affordable housing in the PUSD service area. Ironically, passage of Measure 0 would make residential rents even less affordable as landlords pass tax increases along to tenants. Struggling small businesses will see their rents increase to cover additional costs forced upon them by Measure 0.’’

The Pasadena Foothills Association of Realtors and the Los Angeles County Business Federation (BizFed) also opposed the measure, citing “the dismal state of Southern California’s economy and the potentially negative impacts the measure would have on affordable housing.’’

André Coleman contributed to this report.