SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Voters on the South Shore approved Measure U in 2024, authorizing the Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD) to issue $127 million in bonds with increased property tax levies of $35 per $100,000 assessed value. The measure received 61.2 percent of the vote, exceeding the needed 55 percent to pass. Funds will be used for classroom updates, safety improvements, and the removal of asbestos on campuses.
In the year since the measure passed, LTUSD hired a bond management company, the Cummings Group, and a contractor, Core Construction. The project management team already working, and a bond oversight committee is in place. The LTUSD Board of Trustees is updated every 4-6 weeks on the status of all projects they are tackling under the bond.
The first phase will cost $34.8 million and covers:
Tahoe Valley Elementary School – “Temporary” portables will be removed, and a new classroom building will be constructed. There will be improvements to classrooms in the existing building, updated restrooms, a refreshed administration area, and an improved and safer entry point at the front of the school. The work has a main focus of safety, security, classroom improvements, and bringing buildings up to current ADA compliance. There will be a new parking lot as the 1950s design doesn’t currently work. The drop-off and parking areas will be separate, as will the staff parking. Plans for work to start at the end of this school year.
South Tahoe Middle School – Safety improvements to the parking lot adjacent to the roundabout, with better staff and visitor parking and drop-off area. EV charging station (code requires EV charging areas be added to each campus). All is in place so they could meet the 2025 code requirements. There will be a Phase 1 and a Phase 2 at STMS, but they will both be designed at the same time to be more efficient, as will the rest of Phase 2.
Fields – The new dugouts and parking lot at the STMS girls’ softball field were completed before winter. Improvements at the STMS track and field area.
All plans must be approved by the Department of State Architects (DSA), who are currently very busy working on Los Angeles area work after the devastating fires, but LTUSD’s needs are being taken care of.
Jamie Brown and Jorge Rojas with the Cummings Group have been working closely with LTUSD and the contractors, ensuring the voters’ boxes are all checked and ensuring there is a seamless approval process. They are working with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency to make sure the projects being tackled by Measure U meet all of their requirements, as well as meeting with DSA.
Brown is a senior project manager, and Rojas is the program manager for the LTUSD project. They said the whole team has been in place and working to keep the projects moving forward on time, while keeping the process open to the public.
In a presentation to the Board on November 13, Rojas said they expect to have the DSA-approved permit by May 1, 2026.
The Bond Oversight Committee has already had two meetings. The committee had specific roles that needed to be filled by certain fields, such as a member of a retiree organization and a director from the college. Those on the committee are: Jerry Bindel (Business Organization), Chris Campion (Senior Citizens’ Organization), Stephen Caswell (Parent/PTA Member), Marissa Dondoe (At-Large Member), Michael Tillson (Taxpayers’ Association), Chris Proctor (At-Large Member), and Nick Barclay (Parent, LTCC Business Analyst).