Officials Cite Economy in School Tax Defeats : Elections: They also blame minority of voters for torpedoing seven measures in county, all of which required two-thirds approval for passage.

School officials blamed the recession and a stubborn minority of voters opposed to new taxes for the sweeping defeat Tuesday of seven local ballot measures that would have hiked property taxes to raise more money for education.

The defeat of every school tax measure on the ballot in Los Angeles County surprised education officials, who said they thought local voters would be willing to pay to make up for state budget cuts.

Anti-tax crusaders, however, were pleased with the results--saying residents are already reeling under excessive taxes.

Most school officials said they will not be able to restore teachers and programs cut in recent years or to reduce class sizes without the additional $97 to $250 each year they had requested from property owners in their districts. At least one district may have to lay off teachers and another said it will have to put two schools on year-round calendars.

The officials said their best income hope might lie in two proposed state constitutional amendments that would allow approval of local tax measures with a simple majority, instead of the current two-thirds vote.

“Everybody is hurting out there right now,” said Andrew Meyer, assistant superintendent of schools in the La Canada Unified School District. “When they are trying to decide how to vote, that $250 a year becomes a very significant issue in their minds.”

School tax advocates elsewhere sounded the same refrain.

“Most people are feeling a tightening budgetwise, and to see another $100 a year go out the door is not something that was easy for them to swallow,” said Kai Eng, chairman of a South Pasadena citizens committee backing a special school tax.

Voters also defeated special parcel tax measures in the Claremont, Culver City, El Segundo and Las Virgenes unified school districts. The Newhall School District’s proposal to issue general obligation bonds to be repaid with property taxes also lost.

School officials were particularly galled because four of the measures received more than 60% of the vote, and none less than 55%.

But since the passage of tax-cutting Proposition 13 in 1978, local parcel taxes have required approval by two-thirds of the voters. General obligation bonds have required a two-thirds vote for more than a century.

The school officials complained that their initiatives were being held hostage by a minority of the voters.

“Every no vote counts double and every yes vote counts half,” said Carole Siegler, a school board member in La Canada, where 62% of the voters approved the parcel tax. “That’s a pretty steep mountain to climb.”

An identical measure had come even closer to approval in the upscale community last June when it lost by a handful of votes.

The shutout for the tax measures Tuesday was a manifestation of a long-term trend. Of 96 school tax measures on the ballot around the state between 1983 and last year, only 37 were approved, according to the state Department of Education.

With an eye on those figures and the dwindling state budget, state legislators have proposed two constitutional amendments that would permit approval of local measures by a simple majority.

A measure that would would apply to general obligation bonds has received a lukewarm reception from Republican legislators, despite backing by Gov. Pete Wilson. The measure--authored by Assemblyman Jack O’Connell (D-Carpinteria)--is pending in the Assembly and would require a two-thirds vote of both houses before a constitutional amendment could be put before the state’s voters.

State Sen. Gary Hart (D-Santa Barbara) has proposed 50% approval thresholds for local parcel tax measures, as well. But a state Senate official said Hart is not pushing his bill until he sees how the O’Connell legislation fares.

Taxpayer organizations said the two-thirds requirement should be left intact.

“One reason this protection has been around for so long is to protect the property owners from having the burden of funding all of local government,” said Joel Fox, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. “The property owners already bear the largest burden.”

Jay Curtis, president of the Los Angeles Taxpayers Assn., said voters still believe that government can make more efficient use of the money it already has. “I don’t think people are up for any more income taxes, or sales taxes or parcel taxes of any kind,” Curtis said. “We are way overtaxed and it’s badly affecting the California economy.”

But many school leaders said they are not sure if they would return to voters again--at least not without an improvement in the economy or a modification of the voting laws.

“Right now, I’m very disappointed,” said South Pasadena Supt. Lou Joseph. “I don’t have the enthusiasm to go right out again.

“We’ll get by, we always do, but we lose part of the total program we feel kids deserve,” he said.

In Newhall, at least two schools will be placed on mandatory year-round schedules because of the loss of the bond measure, which would have funded new schools, said Supt. J. Michael McGrath.

Parents collected about 9,000 signatures last year opposing year-round schools, he said.

“They didn’t like it and kept saying we have other options,” McGrath said. “Well, now we don’t.”

In El Segundo, school board President Keith Wise said the defeat of a $120-per-parcel tax will cause the district to lay off at least seven teachers, and will lead to attendant increases in class sizes.

But he intends to return to the fray. “At this point . . . we will try it again,” Wise said. “As far as I’m concerned, this war has just begun.”

Times staff writer Tracey Kaplan contributed to this story.