Strong Victory of School Funding in Proposition Y Lifts Educators’ Spirits

San Diego city school officials were elated Wednesday with a 61% yes vote Tuesday on their ballot proposition to generate more than $175 million in capital funds through higher property taxes. The money will go for school construction needed to handle expected enrollment increases of up to 45,000 students by the year 2000.

“The most gratifying thing was that you can read into the result a broader base of support for public schools in the city than some people have been willing to recognize,” Tom Payzant, city schools superintendent, said Wednesday. “I think part of our success was in being very detailed on the ballot about what projects we would carry out, and the amount of money that could be spent. People knew what they were buying and there was no room for ambiguity.”

The measure, Proposition Y, will provide about half the $350 million that school administrators estimate will be needed through the year 2000. The district, the nation’s eighth largest, has 116,000 students from kindergarten through 12th grades.

The proposal, which required a simple majority to pass, will raise the schools’ share of property taxes through the year 2003 to a maximum of 9.575 cents per $100 assessed valuation, from the current 2.25 cents. The district will sell bonds to build planned facilities and pay back the bonds through the higher property taxes.

The measure provides for additions to 10 middle and high schools and reconstruction of seven elementary schools and one junior high school. It will also allow construction of four elementary schools, one junior high, one senior high, a special performing arts school and a maintenance yard.

The projects will be built according to the district’s long-range master plan for facilities, which details which areas will receive the brunt of the increased enrollment first. Construction is expected to begin in July, 1989, on a junior high school and an elementary school in Mira Mesa, and reconstruction of Adams, Edison and Euclid elementary schools in the mid-city area and O’Farrell Junior High School in the Valencia Park area.

Construction and remodeling at other existing schools and new sites will begin in July, 1990. Payzant said he will present a detailed report to the board of education by month’s end, with a timetable for bond sales. The board must also seek a validation proceeding in Superior Court, a normal requirement that is required before such sales can be undertaken. The court proceeding allows the board to have the court certify the measure as legal and avoid court challenges.

Payzant praised the the two-year effort by teachers and school supporters to sell the community on the need for more money for construction.