School Board Backs Bond Issue

The Los Angeles Board of Education unanimously agreed Thursday to ask voters to approve a multibillion-dollar bond measure on the November special election ballot, a day after a meeting on the topic dissolved into internal bickering.

The board backed away from also placing a property tax initiative on the same ballot.

The 6-0 vote on the bond measure marked a significant victory for Supt. Roy Romer, who had pushed strongly for the $3.98-billion bond issue, despite concerns by board members and others that it was too soon to turn to voters for more money.

This will be the fourth time since 1997 that the nation’s second-largest school system has gone to taxpayers for help in funding the district’s ambitious school construction and repair project, intended to relieve severe overcrowding in classrooms.

Voters have approved more than $9.5 billion in three previous bond measures, including one less than 1 1/2 years ago.

“This completes a program that we have been waiting 30 years to do. Today we took a step that enables us to remedy 30 years of neglect,” Romer said after the vote. “It is a historic act. I trust this community will support it and will finish the job they have started.”

The measure calls for about 40% of the proceeds -- $1.6 billion -- to be spent building a final round of about 25 elementary schools. A similar amount would be spent on repairs to existing schools.

When completed in about seven years, the building program is expected to have opened an estimated 185 schools that will provide enough desk space to end involuntary busing for students, return all campuses to traditional, two-semester calendars and limit enrollment at middle schools to 2,000 students.

Romer said an aggressive advertising campaign for the bond measure would begin immediately. For each of the past bond efforts, district officials said, campaign organizers raised and spent about $2 million to persuade voters to accept the higher taxes in exchange for new schools. To pass, bond measures require 55% voter approval.

The latest proposal would increase taxes an average of $26.71 per $100,000 of assessed property value. The previous three school construction bond issues have together raised taxes about $85 for every $100,000 of assessed property value.

Although board members agreed on the need to win approval for a fourth bond measure, some had repeatedly expressed concerns about the timing and questioned why the district needed a fourth infusion of cash so quickly.

Romer and his supporters argued that the money was necessary to keep the massive building project on schedule. “The momentum of keeping this project on target is extremely important,” he told the board at a meeting Wednesday. “The timing of the November election fits.... This is the ideal time.”

The tax initiative, proposed by board member David Tokofsky, would have called for a flat $150 charge annually for six years on all parcels of land -- regardless of size or use -- within school district boundaries. Fearing increased cuts to state education funding, Tokofsky wanted to use the money to reduce class sizes, improve instruction for poor-performing students and increase campus security, among other things.

Board members and Romer said that they would support the idea of a property tax in the future but that it was unwise to place the initiative on the same ballot as the bond measure.

The seven-member board had been expected to vote on the bond issue and parcel tax Wednesday, but postponed a decision after hours of tense debate about how to allocate the bond money. Much of the haggling centered on how much should be used to build and equip charter schools, which are publicly funded but largely operate independently from the district.

At the start of Thursday’s meeting, board President Marlene Canter moved quickly to reduce the amount of money for charter schools from $70 million to $50 million, in an effort to assuage trustees Julie Korenstein and Jon Lauritzen, who had said they would not vote for the bond unless charter funding was cut.

The last-minute move angered charter school supporters.

“It is extremely disappointing,” said Caprice Young, president of the California Charter School Assn. “We can build charter schools more quickly [than the district] in the areas that need space the most. The district is really missing the ball on this one. It is incredibly shortsighted.”

Board member Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte did not attend Thursday’s meeting.

Even if the bond measure passes, the district could still face serious questions over how to fully fund the building project.

Despite lobbying efforts by Romer, state legislators have so far refused to change laws in a way that would increase the district’s eligibility for state construction funds.

If the laws do not change, district officials will be forced to scale back the project by about $700 million or seek other sources of money.