OXNARD : School Measure’s Failure Decried

Oxnard and Camarillo school officials expressed regret this week at the failure of a state initiative that would have allowed a bond issue to pass by a simple majority of voters rather than a two-thirds vote.

The measure, sponsored by state Rep. Jack O’Connell (D-Carpinteria) was defeated last month by the state Assembly.

“We’re very disappointed because certainly that would help schools raise the funds to build facilities to house increasing numbers of students,” said Assistant Supt. Gary Davis of the Oxnard Union High School District.

Oxnard voters will be asked on April 14 to approve a $45-million bond issue to build a new high school in that city.

The district has projected an increase in enrollment of 2,000 students by 1994, or 3,100 students more than the schools were designed to hold.

Pleasant Valley Elementary School District trustees passed a resolution Thursday asking the governor and the state Legislature to make a comprehensive school facilities policy a top state priority for 1992.

The resolution also called for support for statewide school facilities bonds on the ballot, and the creation of revenue producers such as developers fees that would fund school improvements in local communities.

“There is a crisis in facilities,” said Pleasant Valley Associate Supt. Howard Hamilton, referring to the deteriorated state of schools in California, half of which were built more than 30 years ago.

Voters statewide passed only 28% of the bond issues in November and December of last year that would have improved school facilities up and down the state, he said.

Two bond issues have failed in Camarillo in the past year, for $75 million and $55 million, respectively.

Officials are seeking to raise funds to renovate the district’s 13 schools and to build a new elementary school.

Enrollment in the crowded Pleasant Valley district is increasing by 250 students a year, officials said.