Daniel Modafferi Wins Appeal in School Bond Oversight Case
September 23, 2025 - Santa Ana, CA. In September 2025, the Court of Appeal ruled in favor of Riverside Unified School District and its Superintendent of Schools in an action challenging the school district’s expenditure of school bond funds for new school construction projects. Fozi Dwork & Modafferi, LLP, partner Daniel Modafferi represented the school district and Superintendent in both the trial court and on appeal.
A taxpayers group known as Riversiders Against Increased Taxes filed a petition for writ of mandate in Riverside County Superior Court in 2023, alleging that RUSD was expending bond funds illegally. Specifically, article XIIIA, section 1, of the California Constitution permits school districts to issue bonds with approval of only 55 percent of the vote, rather than the normal two-thirds supermajority vote required for tax and public bond measures, provided specific accountability requirements are met. In particular, the school district seeking to pass a bond measure under this provision is constitutionally required to ensure that bond funds are only used for the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or replacement of school facilities and not for teacher or administrator salaries or other purposes; the bond measure must include a list of the specific school facilities to be funded and the school district’s certification that it has evaluated certain factors in developing that list; and the school district must ensure that annual financial and performance audits are conducted to oversee the proper expenditure of bond funds.
The voters in Riverside approved Measure O in November 2016, by a vote of 70 percent in favor. After Measure O was approved, RUSD appointed an independent Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee and issued bonds. Measure O funds have been used both for renovation of existing school sites and for acquisition and construction of new school sites. RAIT’s lawsuit challenged the expenditure of Measure O funds for any new school construction projects, as RAIT alleged that the project list that was approved by the voters only included renovation projects at existing schools.
In 2024, the Riverside Superior Court ruled in favor of RUSD, finding that Measure O’s project list included the “acqui[sition of] land” and “construct[ion of] new schools,” in addition to renovation of existing schools. RAIT appealed the Superior Court’s ruling.
In a unanimous decision, the Court of Appeal affirmed the Superior Court’s ruling, holding that “Measure O specifically identified new school construction as a possible use for the bond proceeds. Indeed, it did so multiple times.” The Court of Appeal also noted that the Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee was aware of the expenditure of Measure O funds for new school construction projects and had approved it. Therefore, it was clear that both the voters who approved the bond measure in 2016 and the Oversight Committee which was responsible for reviewing bond expenditures understood that new school construction was one of the types of projects for which bond funds could properly be used.
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