Voters Approve Oxnard School Bond, Reject Simi Valley’s

Voters approved Oxnard Elementary School District’s $40-million bond measure to build four new schools in Tuesday’s special election, but defeated a $35-million bond measure by Simi Valley Unified School District for renovations on existing structures.

The Oxnard measure passed by 70.9%, while the Simi Valley measure received 63.8% of the vote. Both measures had to receive 67.2% of votes cast to succeed.

Bob Smith, assistant superintendent of business services for the Ventura County superintendent of education, said the election sent a mixed message to local school districts assessing whether to put their construction needs on future ballots.

“Because the Simi one was so close,” he said, “there certainly is recognition by the public that state funding isn’t the total answer.”

Simi Valley officials blamed a last-minute campaign waged in the editorial pages of the Simi Valley Enterprise by opponents of the measure and a scanty budget for the loss.

‘Indictment’ of School Board

One critic, Tom Ely, said the school district’s budget had grown from $39 million in 1980 to $98.5 million this year while enrollment dropped by about 2,000 students.

He charged district officials with squandering money, but said in an interview Wednesday that he supported the bond measure anyway.

“This is an indictment of the school board, not the bond issue,” said Ely, who is a member of the board of trustees for the Ventura County Community College District.

Supt. John Duncan predicted that deterioration would escalate in the Simi district’s schools, all of which are more than 20 years old.

He said capital-improvement funds have long been inadequate and the district can no longer afford to use operating funds, usually earmarked for salaries and supplies, to make repairs.

Still, he said, it was unlikely that the district would try to put a similar bond on the ballot soon.

“It would be next to impossible for the hundreds of people involved to come right back with a bond,” he said.

In Simi Valley, 16.5% of registered voters showed up at the polls, while 18% voted in Oxnard.

Oxnard officials credited their success to extensive community involvement and a $53,000 campaign that included frequent reminders that the alternative to building new schools would be holding schools in double sessions, with one beginning as early as 6 a.m. daily.

Showed a ‘Sincere Need’

“If there’s a need identified to the voters, they’ll respond positively,” said Fernando Elizondo, district administrator of information and support services.

“We demonstrated that there’s a sincere need to increase the number of schools.”

The Juanita Elementary School precinct in Oxnard’s La Colonia turned out the highest support for the measure--96.4%.

The school’s principal, Juanita Sanchez-Valdez, credited precinct walking that began last month and continued through Saturday as well as last-minute calls to voters who had failed to show up at the polls by late Tuesday evening.

“We’d tell them, ‘Come on, You have an hour or 45 minutes,’ ” Sanchez-Valdez said.

“We were calling until five minutes to eight.”