Plan B Forum

Cupertino Union considers bond measure for June ballot
By Matt Wilson


mwilson@community-newspapers.commercurynews.com

Posted: 02/23/2012 08:03:46 PM PST
February 24, 2012 4:3 AM GMT Updated: 02/23/2012 08:03:46 PM PST


The district's board of trustees will decide on March 6 whether to go forward with a ballot measure that would target school infrastructure and help with an upcoming enrollment surge at three of its five middle schools. The board meeting will begin at 10 a.m. at district headquarters, 10301 Vista Drive, in Cupertino.

The school board is considering placing a $220 million school facility and repair bond measure on the June 2012 ballot. The district is telling the community that it cannot rely on the state to repair and upgrade the schools and must turn to local funding.

Voters in Cupertino and portions of Sunnyvale, San Jose, Santa Clara, Saratoga and Los Altos would decide on the measure in June if the school board gives its blessing. The measure would need a 55 percent majority vote to pass.

"In essence, we have aging facilitates that have served us well, but we cannot let them deteriorate. It will be more expensive to fix them the more they linger or we wait," said Rick Hausman, chief business officer for the school district.

The district is anticipating enrollment to increase at Hyde, Cupertino and Lawson middle schools, which will struggle to find room for all their new students, district officials said.

The district is hoping for long-term solutions, such as permanent classrooms rather than adding portables. Lawson Middle School, which was built less than a decade ago, already needs extra space.

The district tops out at 18,645 students, officials said. Ten years ago, there were 15,575 students.

"When we built or planned Lawson, that was seven or eight years ago," Hausman said. "The growth has not been like what it has been in the last few years. It was done with the size we knew at the time and anticipated. Now it needs to be expanded."

Cupertino Union would also like to improve its earthquake and fire safety systems, remove potentially hazardous materials from old school structures, update science labs and bring in new computers and educational technology. The district's last bond, which did not address infrastructure, was in 2000.

"The bathrooms have not been touched for 30 years, and some classrooms have had nothing done in them for 25 years," Hausman said.

General improvements are also needed. There are issues with handicapped accessibility in some bathrooms and classrooms, Hausman added. The fire alarm system will also need replacement in three years and there is concern that replacement parts will be difficult to find, as the system will soon no longer be supported by the manufacturer, Hausman said.

In November the district polled local voters, who indicated they would support the measure beyond the 55 percent approval threshold. Earlier this month, district officials also held informational meetings about a potential bond.

The bond would cost local property owners roughly $30 per $100,000 annually, based on assessed valuation as determined by the Santa Clara County Assessor's Office, according to the district.

If the measure was approved, a citizens oversight committee and annual audits would be required to ensure the funds were spent in the school district for the stated purpose. In addition, no funds could be used for administrative salaries.

Apple to reveal decision on use of cash hoard

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer


(03-18) 16:01 PDT NEW YORK, (AP) --

Apple Inc. said it will announce the outcome of its internal discussion concerning its enormous cash balance on Monday morning.

Analysts expect Apple to institute a dividend. It can easily afford one, since it had $97.6 billion in cash and securities at the end of last year. That would be enough for a $100 one-time dividend for every shareholder, but analysts expect the company to institute a modest recurring dividend.

Apple CEO Tim Cook and Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer will discuss the decision on a conference call at 9 a.m. Eastern time Monday morning, the company said late Sunday.

A dividend would reward shareholders and open ownership of Apple shares to a wider range of funds. Many "value-oriented" funds are not allowed to buy stocks that don't pay dividends.

Analysts say the lack of a dividend or other meaningful way of using the cash has held down Apple's share price.

Oppenheimer said on a quarterly conference call with analysts in January that the board was in "active" discussions on ways to use the cash. Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, haunted by lean years in the mid-90s, likely stood in the way of returning cash to shareholders. Jobs died in October.

Partly in anticipation of a dividend, Apple's stock has risen 37 percent since the Jan. 24 conference call, closing much of the gap between analyst price targets and the actual stock price. In February, Apple shares broke the $500 level for the first time. Last week, they briefly rose above $600.

Apple is the world's most valuable publicly traded company, with a market capitalization of $545 billion.

Its shares closed Friday at $585.57, up 1 cent on the day.

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Apple has said it will use its cash to start paying a dividend to shareholders and to buy back some of its shares.

The technology giant said it would pay a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share from July.

It will buy back up to $10bn (£6.3bn) of its own shares starting in the company's next financial year, which begins on 30 September 2012.

At the end of last year, Apple revealed it had $97.6bn in cash. It expects to use $45bn over the next three years.

It is the first time Apple has declared a dividend since 1995.

"We have used some of our cash to make great investments in our business through increased research and development, acquisitions, new retail store openings, strategic prepayments and capital expenditures in our supply chain, and building out our infrastructure," Apple chief executive Tim Cook said in a statement.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17434328