Board considers turning $11 million Prop AA funded fields over to the City of Carlsbad despite langu

Board considers turning $11 million Prop AA funded fields over to the City of Carlsbad despite language of Prop AA bond measure.

Despite the urging of community members, superintendent Eric Dill is recommending that the $11 million fields built with Prop AA funds be turned over to the City of Carlsbad to manage and operate. Residents from Encinitas and other communities questioned why the board would ever consider turning over the Prop AA funded athletic fields in the La Costa Valley area to the City of Carlsbad instead of to a district based nonprofit or agency given that this amounted to the use of district bond funds to essentially build a Carlsbad park.

Per the language of the bond measure, Prop AA funding is to be used solely for the improvement of district facilities and to benefit the Prop AA community, of which most of Carlsbad is not. Representatives from Encinitas Soccer and other groups urged the district board to self-manage the fields to comply with the language of Prop AA to serve the district's students and residents who paid for the bond.

The building of the sports fields -- soon to be turned over to the City of Carlsbad -- was prioritized over many other school projects, including the building of a new campus for Sunset High School and other facility needs. ​