Superintendent lays out long funding fight to build Mountain House schools

Superintendent Dr. Nicholas spent more than an hour briefing the Lammersville Joint Unified School District board and community on the district’s facilities funding strategy and the complications of building schools in Mountain House. He framed the presentation as a history of “ill-timed access to funds” and described a mix of financing tools the district must use to get schools open on time.

"It's my pleasure tonight to speak about facilities funding and the ongoing quest of our school district to fund the facilities based on the demands of growth in the community," Dr. Nicholas said, as he walked trustees through the Mountain House master plan and the district’s strategies for accessing money. He reviewed community facilities districts (CFDs), Mello-Roos bonds, developer fees (which he described as a loan with interest), certificate of compliance provisions in the 1998 mitigation agreement and the district’s repeated need to advance money when state construction bond timing lags.

Dr. Nicholas reviewed the history of state construction bonds and the effect on local projects, noting that Prop. 51 passed in 2016 but state funds have not kept pace with requests. He flagged Prop. 2 — the $10 billion construction bond passed in November 2024 — and said state bond sales may begin in mid-to-late 2025, but local funding will still be necessary to bridge timing gaps. "We already need us and the next state construction bond after Prop 2 to pass," he said, adding that only $3.3 billion of Prop. 2 is earmarked for new construction.

He gave a detailed case study of College Park and the district’s Costa Elementary experience, saying multi-developer ownership, inaccurate student-generation numbers in Specific Plan 3 and developer nonperformance led the district to front money to finish construction so the school could open on time. He described a negotiated model with builders that will require certificate-of-compliance commitments and interest payments from certain developers to help reclaim the district’s subsidy.

The superintendent also outlined the north-of-Byron-Highway build-out and predicted three 900-student K–8 schools for Neighborhoods J, I and K as the master plan fills out. "As the master plan builds out, there are 11 feeder schools into Mountain House High School," Dr. Nicholas said, forecasting the high school population could grow to the high 2,900s or beyond depending on infill and zoning changes.

Trustees asked clarifying questions about how CFDs and Mello-Roos work, whether mitigation fees are indexed to construction inflation, and whether the district can require higher mitigation fees when it signs mitigation agreements. The superintendent said certificates of compliance give leverage before homes are built: "Because there are no houses, we have leverage ... they don't get to make money until that works out." He also stressed the district’s reliance on a combination of measures — developer negotiations, local bonds, refinanced CFDs, and state matching funds — and urged continued advocacy for state construction funding.

The presentation closed with an exchange about public communication and misinformation; trustees discussed outreach strategies to ensure residents understand timing, funding limits and the district’s inability to use capital funds for ongoing operating expenses. Dr. Nicholas emphasized the complexity and the need to keep pressing state and regional advocates for timely bond sales.

The board did not take a separate action on the presentation itself but later approved several funding and project items related to the projects discussed.