Voters Support Limited Increase in School Taxes for Santa Clarita

A new survey indicates that Santa Clarita Valley voters support increasing property taxes to pay for building schools, but education officials say the amount of the tax would raise less than a 10th of the money needed to provide classrooms for the swell of students anticipated in the area over the next 20 years.

The San Ramon-based firm of Price Research Consultants, which conducted the telephone poll in January, concluded that area voters support issuing $24 million in bonds, which would require raising the average homeowner’s property taxes about $60 a year.

But the five Santa Clarita Valley school districts that paid for the poll need a total of $400 million for new schools over the next 20 years, said Clyde Smyth, superintendent of the William S. Hart Union High School District. A bond issue of that size would add more than $300 annually to property tax bills.

College of the Canyons in Valencia, a community college that is also experiencing rapid enrollment growth, helped pay for the $8,000 survey.

The poll of 600 randomly selected Santa Clarita Valley registered voters found that $50 to $60 per year was probably the maximum amount by which two-thirds of them could be persuaded to raise their property taxes. Bond measures must be approved by a two-thirds margin.

The survey found that voters with children are willing to raise their taxes by $72 per year, while non-parents are willing to increase taxes by only $48 per year. But the survey also found that an aggressive advertising campaign explaining the school districts’ needs could persuade two-thirds of the voters to support the $60 tax.

The poll first asked respondents whether they would vote to raise their property taxes by various amounts, beginning with $22 annually and going up by various increments to $96. The questioners then provided the respondents with an explanation of the issue that was written with the intent of eliciting support for a bond measure to pay for school construction. After that, the pollsters again asked how much they would be willing to raise their property taxes.

Funding for new school facilities is one of the most pressing issues facing the area’s five school districts, which face a continuing flood of new students drawn by the area’s supply of new housing. The capacity of the state’s system for financing school construction is far exceeded by the need for new schools, and much of the fund-raising burden falls on local school districts.

The five Santa Clarita school districts commissioned the poll to gauge how much money they could reasonably expect to raise from a local bond measure that would have to be approved by voters. The Hart, Sulphur Springs, Castaic, Newhall and Saugus school districts and College of the Canyons paid for the survey.

“It has become clear that the state isn’t going to come charging in on a white horse down I-5 and drop off money for new schools at our exit,” said Scott Brown, superintendent of the Castaic Union School District.

“The trustees in our valley said, ‘Let’s find out what people perceive to be the needs, and what they are willing to do to meet those needs,’ ” Brown said.

Education officials in the area say that their school facilities are stretched to the limit. For example, Sierra Vista Junior High in Canyon Country, designed for a maximum of 1,100 students, will have at least 1,365 students next year. Several other campuses consist entirely of temporary buildings and trailers.

College of the Canyons, with about 5,700 students, is the state’s fastest-growing community college with an enrollment that is expected to jump 127% during the next eight years. “Our classrooms are bulging,” college President Dianne Van Hook said. “We cannot offer the number of sections to meet the demand because we have no place to put them.”

School officials said they were disappointed, but not surprised, that local voters say they will not support a higher level of new taxes.

Beyond the opposition to paying new taxes, local voters may have a second reason to resist paying for bonds for new schools, said Pat Saletore, chairwoman of the Santa Clarita Parents’ Lobby.

“People are afraid if they pay for more schools, more development will occur,” Saletore said.

Education officials said they will use the survey results to decide whether to pursue a bond measure in the next general election.

Smyth said a $24-million bond measure could raise voters’ expectations that the money raised would alleviate school crowding. But it would be far less than what would be needed and could alienate the public when schools remain crowded, Smyth said.

In response to the poll, Smyth said, the districts may decide to delay asking voters to raise taxes until they are confident of winning passage of a bond measure sufficient to meet the districts’ construction needs. Each district will decide independently whether to float a bond measure.

“Maybe we will put it off a year and use that period of time to educate the public as to what is the need, and then we can come back and give it a run,” Smyth said.

Times staff writer Phil Sneiderman contributed to this story.