Inglewood voters approve school bond measure for $240 million

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (KABC) -- This election, Inglewood constituents voted to approve Measure I, which allots $240 million to help repair and renovate Inglewood schools.

Dr. D'Artagnan Scorza, president of the Inglewood Unified School District Board of Education, said it's much needed.

"We're in urgent need of basic health and safety repairs and over the years, our Inglewood community has supported improving our schools and facilities," Scorza said. "But we never had enough to really fundamentally transform all the schools that we have in our community."

Scorza said the money will go to technology upgrades, state of the art equipment and to repairs like fixing plumbing and providing safe drinking water.

"We had a lot of deteriorating facilities and infrastructure and we need to replace that infrastructure," Scorza said. "We need to repair outdated electrical and wiring and heating and ventilation systems."

But John Hughes, spokesperson for the Fighters for the Right to Receive Equitable Education, wrote a statement in opposition to the proposed measure before the election.

"I never was against facility upgrade, what I'm against is waste," Hughes said. "What I'm against is mismanagement and what I'm against is using these funds other than for the benefit of our students, which seems to be the model of the past."

Scorza refutes claims of money mismanagement and said due to leadership changes in the past, promises weren't able to be kept.

"What I can say to the critics that we have now is that the leadership that's here in the district has been committed not only to transparency, but also to accountability," Scorza said. "And that accountability has been maintained through our Citizens Bond Oversight Committee."

Scorza said people who want to ensure dollars are spent effectively can join the Citizens Bond Oversight Committee as well as attend the public town hall and community meetings.

Scorza said on average, this bond will increase homeowners' payments about $163 a year for roughly the next 30 years. This will vary based on assessed property value.

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