Bond & Facilities
Passing a school bond is the easy part. Spending hundreds of millions credibly over 5–7 years — without legal exposure, schedule slippage, or board-level surprises — is what defines a successful program. School Leaders provides experienced bond program leadership for California districts from Day 1 of the program through final accountability reporting.
Our approach
What you get
Outcomes
Districts working with us have run bond programs ranging from $40M to $400M+ with zero CBOC compliance findings and average schedule adherence above 90%.
We wrote the book on this
A step-by-step guide for California school districts
Authored by School Leaders. Over 10,000 copies in use across California school districts.
Get the playbookClient testimonials
“Their performance has been one of the strongest professional engagements I have overseen as Chief Business Official.”
“Joe Dixon and his team operate as partners to my office, not as vendors invoicing against a contract.”
Dr. Greg Gero, Ph.D.
Chief Business Official, Monrovia Unified School District
May 11, 2026
“Their team understands the difference between a project that builds a building and a project that builds public trust, and they treat both as essential.”
“School Leaders has run our bond program with the kind of disciplined scheduling, budgeting, and document control that lets a Superintendent and a Board of Education lead with confidence.”
James Symonds
Superintendent, San Gabriel Unified School District
“In high-stakes situations where the risks are great but so are the rewards, School Leaders ensures your projects are executed correctly the first time — avoiding costly mistakes and political pitfalls.”
“It has been a privilege to work with Joe Dixon and the School Leaders team for over 20 years.”
Dr. Charles Hinman
Superintendent (retired), West Covina Unified School District
Frequently asked
A bond program manager runs the day-to-day execution of a passed bond measure — managing the project list, vendor procurement, CBOC reporting, OPSC funding pursuits, board communications, and the EMMA continuing disclosure that bondholders require. The role is distinct from a project manager (who runs a single construction job) — a program manager coordinates the entire bond's spend and oversight infrastructure.
Most California school bond programs span 5–8 years from issuance to final close-out. Construction work usually concentrates in years 1–5, with the back half dominated by close-out, OPSC reimbursement, and audit cycles. Districts often run multiple bonds concurrently as new measures pass before old ones close.
18–24 months before the target election. That window is needed for community polling, facility master plan refresh, project prioritization, ballot language, and the actual campaign. Districts that wait until 6 months out either miss the election cycle or run a measure that doesn't pass.
Usually yes. Facilities directors are operations leaders — they run maintenance, custodial work, and ongoing capital. Bond programs are temporary multi-hundred-million-dollar projects with their own compliance regime (CBOC, EMMA, OPSC, audit). Asking a facilities director to absorb that workload alongside their day job is a common failure mode.
From our team
Meet Joe Dixon, founder of School Leaders and a 40-year veteran of transforming educational environments. From starting at the bottom of Capistrano Unified in 1984 to leading Prop 51's passage for California school funding, Joe's journey proves that great schools create great communities — sometimes one lunch table at a time.
30 minutes with one of our advisors. We'll listen first, share where we've seen this play out, and tell you honestly whether we can help.
