District overview
Fontana Unified School District
Funding structure, how it compares to peers, and where major projects stand.
How is Fontana Unified paid for, and what is the $408 million about?
Day-to-day costs at Fontana Unified are paid by California's Local Control Funding Formula, the state money that follows each student and adds more for students who are low-income, learning English, or in foster care. That money cannot build anything. Buildings are paid for separately, and in Fontana that means Measure I, which local voters approved on November 5, 2024. Measure I lets the district borrow up to $408 million in general obligation bonds, repaid by local property owners over many years, to expand, repair and replace school buildings. In October 2025 the board took up the list deciding where that money goes, a $396 million priority project list built from a districtwide needs assessment and town hall meetings held in May 2025.
Voters already said yes
Measure I passed on November 5, 2024 and authorises up to $408 million of general obligation bonds. The money is restricted: it sits in the building fund and can only be spent on facilities.
The project list is the real decision
It names a new Elementary School #37, a new 7-12 academy, two-storey buildings and modernisation at Fontana Middle School and Redwood Elementary, a Fontana High School aquatic centre and a Summit High School stadium, plus districtwide fencing, restrooms, playgrounds and marquees. Board papers say the projects are not listed in priority order.
Five trustees, elected by area
Each board member represents a numbered trustee area. Areas 1, 2 and 5 have terms ending in 2026; areas 3 and 4 end in 2028.
A leadership change is in progress
By May 2026 the board was working with a superintendent search firm, which reported back publicly on what the community said it wanted.
A building programme this size and a superintendent search happening together is a lot of change, but both were run in public: the project list came out of community town halls and a needs assessment, and the search firm reported its community engagement findings in open session rather than only behind closed doors.
Where the district stands
NCES Common Core of Data district directory for LEA 0613920. Context rather than verified because it is a federal directory figure, not a district document.
Approved by Fontana voters on November 5, 2024 to expand, repair and replace district facilities.
Fiscal impact recorded on the October 1, 2025 item, drawn on Building Fund (21) restricted bond funds.
Two new schools, four named campus rebuilds or additions, and four districtwide programmes.
Plus a non-voting student board member.
Major projects
Measure I building programme
Project list adopted; individual projects moving into design and environmental reviewThe district's plan for spending the $408 million of bond borrowing Fontana voters approved in November 2024. Ten projects are named, from a brand new elementary school and a new 7-12 academy to districtwide restroom and playground work.
- Priority project list for Measure I bond funds taken to the board, fiscal impact $396,000,000
- Resolution No. 26-38 on lease-leaseback construction delivery taken up
- Resolution No. 26-41, environmental finding for the Summit High School stadium
Funding
Measure I general obligation bonds, held in the restricted building fund
Superintendent search
Search firm engaged; community engagement findings reportedThe board is working with an outside search firm to recruit a superintendent. The firm reported its community engagement findings in open session in May 2026, while the sitting superintendent was still named on the agenda.
- Superintendent search firm report of findings on community engagement presented in open session
Funding
General fund; the search firm agreement's cost is not stated in the collected agenda
Summit High School stadium
Environmental review stageImprovements to the existing Summit High School stadium and athletic facilities to support California Interscholastic Federation play, one of the ten projects on the Measure I list.
- Summit High School stadium named on the Measure I priority project list
- Initial study and mitigated negative declaration taken up as Resolution No. 26-41
Funding
Measure I bond funds
Documents come from the district's Diligent Community meeting portal, which publishes one combined agenda per meeting. Every document obtained was reviewed in full, working forward from September 2025.
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