ELECTIONS SCHOOLS : Funds Sought for Building, Renovations : Education: Most controversial proposition is in Pomona, which hasn’t approved such a bond measure since 1965. Also on ballots are a bond measure in Walnut and a parcel tax in San Marino.

With schools facing severe cutbacks in state funds, three San Gabriel Valley districts on Tuesday will ask residents to approve measures that would pay for improvements and construction.

Each would require approval by two-thirds of the voters. The measure would cost homeowners $42 per year in the Walnut school district and $100 per year in the San Marino school district. In the Pomona school district, the cost would vary depending on a home’s assessed value.

The most contentious battle is heating up in Pomona, where the school district hopes to pass Proposition E, a $62.5-million bond issue that would be used mainly to renovate schools and help build new ones. Pomona voters have not approved a bond measure for schools since 1965. The school district includes all of Pomona and the northern part of Diamond Bar.

Proposition E would assess homeowners $25 for each $100,000 of their home’s assessed value over a 25-year period. For example, homes worth $100,000 would cost $25 per year, and those worth $200,000 would cost $50.

The measure, which has the support of the Pomona City Council, would set aside about $14 million for improvements at elementary schools, $7 million at junior high schools and $12 million at high schools. It also would set aside $2.5 million in discretionary funds for all school sites that could be used for such projects as expanding a library or building a stage.

Additionally, Proposition E would provide $10 million toward building a high school in the southern part of the district--in Diamond Bar--as well as $15 million toward building four elementary schools in the district and $2.5 million for about five preschools.

Because the money set aside for building would not be enough to finish the job, Pomona would have to compete with other districts for matching state funds. Including the purchase of land, it would cost $5 million to $8 million to build an elementary school in Pomona and $10 million to $30 million to build a high school, said Patrick Leier, the district’s assistant superintendent for business services.

Lynda McGee, president of the PTA at Golden Springs Elementary School in Diamond Bar and a Proposition E supporter, says that property values will rise if the district builds schools and improves existing campuses.

Other Diamond Bar parents support the bond measure because they don’t want their children to attend Ganesha High School in Pomona, which they say has had problems with gang violence.

Those who oppose Proposition E complain that the district has not published a plan saying where the schools would be built or in what order. They add that there is no assurance Pomona can obtain matching state funds to complete construction of the high school.

Proposition E “does not guarantee the money will be spent on a high school,” said Al Rupilla, a Diamond Bar parent who accused the Pomona school district of “(pulling) the wool over the eyes of the north Diamond Bar residents.”

However, Leier said Pomona already has set aside $16 million to purchase land for new schools.

And Irv Moskowitz, Pomona’s superintendent, says that school districts generally lay out specific projects and draw up time lines only after a school bond is passed. He said district officials are already negotiating for two parcels of land in the Diamond Bar area.

“The plan is as specific as we can get right now; the construction and improvement timetable is going to come about as soon as we pass the bond,” Moskowitz said.

In the Walnut Unified School District, Proposition H would set aside $50 million for improvements at four schools. The money would be used to complete administrative facilities at Diamond Bar High School, which has been open since 1982 but whose administrators work out of classrooms.

It would also pay for construction of a permanent facility at South Point Middle School--which uses all portable classrooms--and fund renovations at Walnut High School and Suzanne Middle School.

Proposition H calls for Walnut homeowners to pay an average of $42 annually for 25 years. School officials are hopeful about the bond’s passage, saying that Walnut residents approved a similar bond measure in 1978.

In San Marino, voters will be asked to approve Proposition F, an annual parcel tax of $100 per lot per year for four years that the district hopes will generate more than $500,000 annually. Residents 65 and older would be exempt.

Administrators say that they would use the money for capital improvements, salaries and instructional programs that otherwise would fall victim to budget cuts.

San Marino faces a shortfall of at least $200,000 in its $10-million budget this year and plans to cut classes in drama, industrial arts, French and Latin unless the parcel tax is approved.

Proposition F funds will also be used to bring 10 closed classrooms at Huntington Middle School up to earthquake safety standards, said Cathy Chadwell, director of school relations and development at the San Marino Unified School District.

In 1985 and 1986, the school district mounted unsuccessful campaigns for a parcel tax and officials are hopeful that this measure will prove more successful.

“It’s certainly not going to solve all the problems,” Chadwell said, “but the board will see which programs or portions of programs can be saved.”