School Bond Deal Angers Education Group

The California School Boards Assn. charged Friday that a last-minute legislative deal to limit school construction fees on new homes would be a disaster for education if voters in June reject an $800-million school bond issue.

Mary Anne Houx, president of the association, called the deal to rewrite the existing law on developer fees “reckless and irresponsible.” She accused developers of “blackmailing” the Legislature into supporting the bill by threatening to oppose the proposed $800-million school bond issue unless lawmakers agree to change the fee law.

Speaking at a Capitol press conference, Houx said the fee law, passed in 1986 with the support of developers, was designed to ensure that the school construction program “would not fall apart in the event that a bond measure failed passage.”

Fee of $1.53 a Square Foot

The law levies a fee of $1.53 a square foot on new homes, or remodeling, but allows school districts to increase the fees to whatever is needed if a bond issue fails.

Developers contend the law is unfair and open to abuse. They note that before there was a $1.53 cap, fees added as much as $9,000 to the cost of a new home.

Donald V. Collin, a lobbyist for the California Building Industry Assn., said: “Unlimited fee authority would give some school districts absolutely no interest in seeing that bond issues pass. They would simply take (the money) out of the hide of people who buy new homes in their districts.”

Under an 11th-hour compromise reached Wednesday night, a six-member committee of senators and assemblymen gave in to developer demands and agreed to cap the fee whether a local bond issue succeeds or fails. The compromise was part of a $5.4-billion agreement on school, prison, highway, housing and water cleanup bonds.

By threatening developers with an open-ended fee, the current law provided schools not only with with a source of new money if a bond measure failed but provided a strong stimulus for developers to support bond measures.

Education sources estimate that developers provided half of the $300,000 war chest that was put together in 1986 to pass an $800-million school bond measure. The educators are worried that if developers have nothing to lose in a bond election, they will sit on the sidelines.

Vote Expected Monday

The Legislature is expected to vote Monday on whether to put the bonds on the ballot this year. Houx, who serves on a school board in Chico, said she and other members of her association will work to defeat the compromise bill when it is taken up next week.

So far, associations representing other education interests such as teachers, parents and school administrators have not joined the fight to defeat the bill, even though they share the same concerns.

State Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig, voicing a common feeling, said: “I’m very unhappy that this whole thing was put together at the last minute. The question is what can you do about it? It doesn’t do any good to win the battle and defeat the bill but then have Republicans hang up the bonds and lose the war.”