Voters in the Sweetwater (Calif.) Union High School District will decide in November on a $403 million school bond proposal.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the money would go to improving the district’s aging facilities and includes safeguards to prevent money from going to salary or pensions costs.
The school board's decision to put a proposal on the Nov. 6 ballot follows a multiyear effort to recover from bribery scandals that haunted several San Diego area districts in 2011.
A corruption probe showing that businesses wined and dined school officials to get work under a $664 million construction bond known as Proposition O resulted in 18 people being charged. The scandal ensnared 18 people including officials from Sweetwater Union and San Ysidro school districts as well as Southwestern College.
In 2015, a new board and new superintendent made regaining the public’s trust a top priority. Since then, the district has changed policies and increased transparency.
“Sweetwater has, at least for the past three years, is and will continue to do our work differently,” says Superintendent Karen Janney.
