Santa Ana Council Votes $8 Million for School Construction

School officials sat stunned Monday night as the Santa Ana City Council voted to give the school district $8 million for construction.

“I think it’s fantastic,” school Supt. Ed S. Krass said. “Eight million (dollars) will build us a new elementary school.”

School Board President Joan Wilkinson said: “I’m speechless. It stuns me that you did this for us.”

The school officials had planned to ask for an unspecified amount from the city, arguing that the city’s housing projects have increased enrollment.

“The point I want to get across,” Krass said earlier Monday, “is that this is everyone’s problem, not just the Santa Ana Unified School District’s.”

Three Causes Cited

Krass said there are three causes for the overcrowded state of Santa Ana schools--a baby “boomlet” in the 1970s, immigration of undocumented aliens and the city’s aggressive redevelopment policies.

But city officials said the impact of redevelopment is overstated. Mayor Daniel E. Griset said the $8-million allocation is not an admission by the city that redevelopment programs are the major cause of school overcrowding.

He cited statistics that indicated that the city’s housing units decreased 9% between 1980 and 1984, while the city’s population increased 2.5%. But, he said, the council recognized a “great opportunity” to address the problems without squabbling over the reasons.

“The immigration issue is their real problem,” City Manager Robert C. Bobb said. Krass agreed that an influx of immigrants from Mexico and Southeast Asia is a major problem. About 70% of the district’s 36,290 students are Latinos and 11% are Asians or Pacific Islanders.

From Redevelopment Funds

Griset said the money, which will come from redevelopment funds, will be available after approval of a redevelopment bond sale tonight, and he asked Krass to put together a plan for use of the money.

Bobb said the allocation will mean that the city must forgo a redevelopment project, although it has not been decided which one. He said it probably will come from South-Main Redevelopment Area.

Councilman Robert W. Luxembourger stressed that a new school probably will have to replace some homes. “A lot of people are going to have to cooperate besides your staff and ours,” he said to Krass. “We don’t have open fields.”

While enrollment at some other county school districts has dropped steadily during the last five years, Santa Ana has experienced an average increase of 1,113 students a year, Krass said. Another 1,066 students are expected each year for the next five years, he said.

About 1,300 students attend class in trailers and portable classrooms, Krass said, a figure that is expected to jump to 3,870 next year and 6,142 in 1990-91 unless something is done.

In an attempt to alleviate part of the problem, the school district will hold a public hearing tonight at which six elementary schools will be considered for year-round status. The hearing is scheduled for 7 in the auditorium of Carr Intermediate School, 2120 W. Edinger Ave.

The year-round proposal would put students into 45-day shifts followed by 15 days off. In such a setup, a school of 900 students would be divided into three 300-student shifts.

Krass said construction of elementary schools is the district’s primary concern, although high schools also are overcrowded, particularly Santa Ana and Saddleback high schools. The crowding at those schools will be alleviated when a new high school, to be built at Grand and McFadden avenues, opens in 1988.

That construction is being paid for with state money and the school district’s general fund, but Krass said he doubts that those sources can be counted on to ease the impending crunch. “I’m very pessimistic that we can solve our problems that way in the long run,” he said.