OXNARD : School Moved to Top of State Funding List

Oxnard has been moved to the top of a state funding priority list for a new high school because the present one is 1,700 feet from the end of the Oxnard Airport runway, school officials said Tuesday.

However, the state will not fund the project, which will cost at least $20 million, unless voters approve a statewide bond measure on the June ballot. The measure would provide $800 million for school construction and renovation.

Bob Carter, superintendent of the Oxnard Union High School District, said air safety was a factor in the state’s decision to put Oxnard so high on its emergency funding list.

“Noise is a factor, but the bigger issue is the safety factor,” Carter said. “The school was there before the airport, but as the school, and particularly the airport, have grown, there’s been more activity, and safety has become more of an issue.”

District officials discussed the new facility at a meeting Tuesday of the Education Partnership Program, a coalition of business owners, school officials and community leaders that meets monthly to discuss education-related issues.

Oxnard High School Principal Ruperto Cisneros said the new school, which would be near Patterson and Gonzales roads, would be 10,000 square feet larger than the present school.

Construction is expected to be completed by the 1993-94 school year, he said.

Most of the present Oxnard High School facilities will be turned over to the state, Carter said.

Enrollment in the 11,200-student district is projected to double by the year 2006, Carter said.