To the editor:

Lindbergh Schools continues to ask voters to approve bonds with “no tax rate increase.” 

The Proposition R bonds from 2019, for $105 million, were mainly used to finance the building of a new Lindbergh High School and the purchase of the Concord Farmer’s Club property. Lindbergh School District must begin paying interest on the bond principle it used for these projects. 

Now, the district wants voters to approve Proposition R, a $150 million no-tax-rate increase bond proposal. 

Superintendent Tony Lake stated that these funds will be used for additional building improvement and maintenance, besides building a new horticultural center on the recently purchased Concord Farmers Club property and reworking the entrances to the Sperreng School complex. 

A contributor wrote in Forbes magazine that “‘no tax increase’ in front of ‘bonds’ is supposed to blunt the opposition to new taxes. But let’s be clear, there is no special category of bonds that school districts issue that doesn’t increase your taxes. No tax increase bonds increase your taxes.” All the bond principles and interest need to be paid back at some point in time. 

When will the Lindbergh School District outline a plan for the taxpayers to spend money improving its core educational programs for students? The district needs to focus on improving the education, understanding and scholastic excellence of students in the curriculums it currently has in place, not start new programs such as the drone program and horticultural curriculums.  

Joseph R. Kaiser

Sunset Hills