New fund source considered for future Menifee high school

An artist's rendering shows some proposed exterior scenes of the new high school planned for Menifee.

One of the most often asked questions regarding the school system in Menifee is the status of the new high school, which has been on the drawing board for years.

Many residents have asked what they paid for in taxes to support the 2012 approved bond Measure T if there’s still no new high school being built?

Officials of the Perris Union High School District, which includes both Paloma Valley and Heritage high schools, are just as tired of giving the same old answer as residents are of hearing it. In short, the $75 million set aside from Measure T funds to pay half the cost of a new high school has been held in waiting … waiting for the state’s promised matching $75 million.

For more than three years, since architectural plans were approved for a $150 million high school to be built on Leon Road north of Scott Road, PUHSD officials – along with administrators in many other California districts – have been waiting for matching funds allocated by the State of California. Grant Bennett, PUHSD superintendent, estimates that less than $400 million of the $9 billion authorized to fund schools through the passage of Prop. 51 in 2016 has been released by Governor Brown.

"Jerry Brown’s been dragging his feet on the Prop. 51 money," Bennett said. "We’re figuring we have to do it ourselves or we’re going to be so far behind that by the time that school opens, Paloma Valley will be over 4,000 kids."

Paloma Valley’s student population already is at about 3,200 – several hundred over the capacity for which it was built in the 1990s. Estimates are that considering Menifee’s growth, the school would reach the 4,000 mark within five years.

That’s why the PUHSD governing board last year authorized the district to move ahead with a feasibility study of another bond measure to fund the additional $75 million needed for the new high school, as well as additional funds to improve existing schools in the district. A sampling of registered voters were recently asked if they would support a bond measure for that purpose, and more than 61 percent said yes.

If the proposed $148 million bond measure is placed on the November ballot and passes, PUHSD would in essence move on without the state funding and begin construction of a new Menifee high school, which would open in August of 2021.

More taxes? Well, how badly does Menifee need that new high school?

"We never want to go out and ask for taxpayer money, but this is the situation we find ourselves in," said Candace Reines, deputy superintendent of PUHSD. "Do we ask the community if they want this to be a locally funded high school or do we want to continue waiting while our schools are overcrowded?

"Residents might ask, 'What if the state money were to come through eventually?' We have a facilities master plan that covers a lot more of these things. Part of our study session was to identify priority projects. In the Menifee area, top priority is a new high school. But if state money were to come through, that would allow us to move on to Paloma Valley with more improvements."

Construction has already begun on some improvements at Paloma Valley, which lacks larger, flexible-sized classrooms suitable for today’s tech-oriented curriculum. There is no multipurpose room and some portable classes are being used. Plans have also been approved for a new two-story, 10-classroom building to be built at the back of the campus, near the current classroom structure of similar size.

Even so, that precious $75 million from Measufe T is still set aside for the new high school, while awaiting the other half of the construction cost.

Bennett said he expects to be ready by June to ask the school board to approve placement of a bond measure on the ballot. Meanwhile, residents will be receiving mailers which they can return with feedback. Residents can also find useful information on the issue at new page on the district website here.

There will also be two town hall meetings to solicit input from residents. The first will take place March 1 at 6 p.m. in the multipurpose room at Perris High School. The second will take place March 26 at 6 p.m. in the theater at Paloma Valley High School.

Bennett said the opening of a new school would be "a step on the road" to creating a Menifee Unified School District. The PUHSD has been working with officials of the Menifee Union School District to facilitate such an expansion of MUSD, but the new high school is needed before this can happen, he said.

If MUSD becomes a Unified School District, it would have to include all high school students who live in Menifee. The plan for unification is to build the new high school and have a unified Menifee district including the new high school and Paloma Valley. Heritage would remain in the PUHSD because PUHSD still needs a second high school -- along with Perris High -- to accommodate its resident students.

The approximately 1,200 Heritage students who live in Menifee would move to the new high school.

"They need the new high school to be able to unify," Bennett said. "If they didn’t and they took the 1,200 students from Heritage, they’d have about 4,500 students at Paloma Valley."

Plans for the new school include state-of-the-art classrooms and amenities, with an athletic stadium and theater. School boundaries between the new high school and Paloma Valley would have to be determined.