Schools Vow to Try, Try Again After Voters Reject 2nd Bond

Lancaster School District officials said Wednesday that they will continue to seek funding for five new schools despite voter rejection of a $47-million bond measure in Tuesday’s special election.

The measure gained 3,631, or 58.8%, of the 6,171 votes cast, falling 483 votes short of the two-thirds needed for approval.

The result was nearly identical to the narrow defeat of a similar bond measure last April that fell 570 votes short of passage out of 8,339 ballots cast. The measure also needed a two-thirds vote but got 59.8%.

The $47 million would have paid for two middle schools and three elementary schools to keep pace with enrollment growth and to get students out of portable classrooms, which now house about one-third of the district’s 11,500 children.

Steve Gocke, the district’s director of facilities, planning and development, said Wednesday that the district will consider seeking a third bond measure.

This week’s election cost approximately $70,000.

In addition, officials may try to raise money by assessing a special tax on new development.

In the meantime, Gocke said, the district will continue with plans to convert the entire 14-school district to a year-round schedule by the 1993-1994 school year, an effort that should increase capacity by up to 25%. Currently, two schools operate year-round, he said.

Gocke said he was surprised at the defeat of Tuesday’s measure, because it was considered less onerous to property owners than the earlier measure.

The measure would have raised property taxes for 30 years to pay for $47 million in bonds issued between this year and 1997. But individual property owners would have paid less than under last year’s measure, because there are more residences in the area due to rapid development, Gocke said.

Under Tuesday’s measure, the owner of a house assessed at $100,000, for example, would have paid an average of nearly $30 extra per year during the period, according to district projections. Actual year-to-year rates would vary.