Measure W passes; Area 5 school board outcome still unclear

An architect's drawings show the design for the high school that will be funded in part by Measure W.

Reaction was swift and polarized Friday morning when, after a month of counting votes, election votes were finalized and school bond Measure W was certified as passing.

Measure W, which had received just over 52 percent of the required 55 percent "yes" votes in results released the day after the election, finished with 55.89 percent of the vote. The "yes" votes increased steadily over the last two weeks as officials continued to count the thousands of remaining mail-in and provisional ballots.

The announcement, made at 3:30 a.m. by the Registrar's Office, soon prompted skepticism from some residents on social media about the voting process.

"So they gained the extra 4 percent they needed since Election Day? Not suspicious at all," wrote Evan Ravely on the Menifee 24/7 Facebook page.

"Three school taxes in six years. All due to mismanagement," wrote Annamarie Rivera.

Candace Reines, deputy superintendent of the Perris Union School District, has heard all the criticism from Menifee residents of the $148 million school bond measure -- half of which is devoted to helping build the newly named Liberty High School just outside the eastern border of Menifee. She said she believes the measure passed because of those who agreed with PUHSD officials that this was the only way to complete funding of a new high school in Menifee in the near future.

"This is absolutely the only way to relieve overcrowding," Reines said. "I'm sorry the state didn't come through with their part of the funding following Measure T. I've heard comments like, 'Why don't they just build half the school?' It isn't that simple. So much of the cost goes into earthwork, the foundation of the project. It doesn't work that way."

Measure T, passed by voters in 2012, generated $153 million in bond revenue. As is the case with Measure W, those funds were split evenly between Menifee and the rest of PUHSD. At the time, district officials said that Menifee's $76 million half of the funds would be put together with an equal amount of promised state funding to build the new high school. However, the state funding has never been allocated to help fund the school, which is estimated to cost in excess of $150 million to build.

Liberty High School, which will be built on Leon Road north of Scott Road, is scheduled to open in August 2021. Groundbreaking is tentatively set for February 2019. The new school will help relieve overcrowding at Paloma Valley High School, which has an enrollment of about 3,200 students -- 1,000 more than the enrollment it was designed for.

Reines said that looking at the number of total votes cast versus the number released by the Registrar's Office soon after election day, she is not surprised that Measure W gained so much support in the last few weeks.

"If you look at the voting update on Nov. 7 compared to the ultimate number of votes cast, you can see that less than 45 percent of the votes were counted at that time," she said. "I believe our 'Yes on W' volunteers ran an extremely strong campaign. There was also about 2,700 votes higher than the expected turnout."

"Yes" votes on Measure W totaled 25,924 in the final certified count, while "no" votes totaled 20,463.

"Past results have shown that when voters are willing to tax themselves, school taxes rank just below public safety taxes in terms of success," Reines said.

Reines also said that the $76 million set aside for Menifee from Measure T in 2012 remains secure in the PUHSD budget, minus $2 million already spent for design of the school. She disputed accusations by some on social media that the money had been spent elsewhere within the district.

"That is categorically false," she said. "Anyone can look at our district audits. That money is sitting there. We're absolutely going to sell those bonds for this school."

In the other Menifee election race involved in some controversy, the identity of the Area 5 governing board trustee for the Menifee Union School District remains unclear. As reported here a week after the election, an investigation indicated that candidate William Hoag was not eligible because he didn't live within district boundaries. Menifee 24/7 turned its findings over to the District Attorney's Office. Hoag, who finished with a majority of the votes by a wide margin, announced on his Facebook page Nov. 20 that he was withdrawing from the race "for personal reasons".

Hoag confirmed that decision in an email to the district office. It is now up to the district to appoint the new board member. Kenyon Jenkins, who finished second in the voting, and Debbi Manion, who finished third, both said they have spoken to the Registrar's Office to inquire about proper procedure in a case such as this.

Menifee 24/7 has not received clarification from the Registrar's Office, and MUSD officials have not commented on the options the school board will face when it meets again Dec. 11. At that time, Area 3 winner Kyle Root and Area 4 winner Jackie Johansen will be sworn in and would take part in any vote on an appointment of the Area 5 trustee.

In the Romoland School District, Gary Reller (Area 1) and Debbie Moon (Area 5) were decisive winners. In the race for the PUHSD Area 1 board seat representing Menifee, former MUSD trustee Randall Freeman defeated Michael Gray.

Matt Liesemeyer ran unopposed to retain his District 2 seat on the Menifee City Council. In the District 4 race to replace John Denver, Dean Deines defeated Gloria Sanchez by 92 votes. He will be sworn in during the Dec. 19 council meeting.

And in two measures regarding City Council positions, Measures I and J were soundly defeated. As a result, the mayor's position will remain an at-large position and term limits will remain in place.

Here are the final results for races involving Menifee: