Assembly Panel Denies Santa Clarita School Districts a Way to Tax

The Assembly Education Committee Wednesday rejected a bill sought by five Santa Clarita Valley school districts that would have established a method for collecting a voter-approved tax on new housing to pay for classrooms.

The measure, carried by Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia), lost on a 6-6 vote--three votes short of the margin needed for approval. But the committee allowed its action to be struck from the record to give Davis another chance to have his proposal reconsidered when the Legislature returns in August from a summer recess.

Compromise Expected

Davis said he believes he can fashion a compromise with developers who lobbied against the measure. “By the time we come back here, we should have a winner,” Davis said.

Clyde Smyth, superintendent of the William S. Hart Union High School District, said the bill is needed because the five districts cannot collect the tax unless the Legislature provides the mechanism.

At stake is the ability of five school districts--Hart, Newhall, Saugus, Castaic and Sulphur Springs--to collect a tax of up to $6,300 per home approved June 2 by voters. The funds are earmarked for new schools in the fast-growing Santa Clarita Valley.

Civil Suit Filed

Further complicating the issue is a civil suit, filed by the California Building Industry Assn. and the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California, aiming to invalidate the election. Davis sought in his bill to direct the courts to decide the suit quickly.

He also proposed to allow the taxes to be collected and channeled into a special escrow account pending the outcome of the court case. After Wednesday’s committee vote, however, backers of the bill acknowledged that Davis will need to soften that provision and provide for collection of the tax only if the schools win the court case.

Davis said he will seek a compromise with Don V. Collin, legislative counsel for the California Building Industry Assn., who opposed the bill. Collin told the committee that he objected to the measure because it would interfere with the court case. He suggested that the school districts should ask the courts how to proceed with collecting the tax.

In the suit, the builders maintain that voters do not have the authority to impose such taxes because Proposition 62, approved last November, took away from special districts the power to tax. Indeed, during the hearing, Assemblyman Charles Bader (R-Pomona) argued that, because of Proposition 62, the right of school districts to levy taxes is “a matter of conjecture.” But Davis brushed aside Bader’s assertion, saying that resolution of the court case could take up to seven years without his bill. Meanwhile, he said, “the whole area would be built up” with houses that are not assessed.

School officials have said that at least 25 new schools must be built at a cost of about $300 million to accommodate a student population expected to double to more than 40,000 by the year 2000. At least two of the districts have applied to the state for money to build classrooms, but they must compete with other districts for limited state resources.