LOCAL ELECTIONS / S.D. SCHOOLS TAX : Funds Sought to Ease Crunch in Classrooms : Education: Tax to build new schools is called unnecessary by those who favor creating a student voucher system.

Supporters of Proposition O see it as a straightforward and vital ballot measure for San Diego city schools that promises, in return for a modest increase in property taxes, a major step toward reducing the number of crowded schools by raising $215 million.

Despite the troubled economic times facing many San Diego residents, school district administrators hope that a simple majority of voters next Tuesday will approve the measure, which would increase property taxes as much as $87-per-year for every $100,000 assessed valuation but would provide as many as 4,500 new construction jobs over a decade.

However, those in favor of educational choice in California--the concept under which public funds could be used to send children to schools of their choice, even private schools--have thrown the Proposition O campaign a curve.

The choice proponents have mounted an organized opposition, arguing that the tax proposal is at best premature. Should a statewide ballot initiative for parental choice qualify as expected for the November ballot and be approved, the need for Proposition O could change dramatically, they argue.

Privately, many public school teachers and administrators express worry that Proposition O will not pass in the face of combined skepticism, however differently expressed, among choice proponents, financially strapped citizens or those against tax increases in general.

“It’s very difficult to debate the choice issue at this time because it really detracts from the very straightforward needs that exist now for increasing the capacity of our schools to serve a growing enrollment,” said schools Supt. Tom Payzant, with more than a touch of exasperation in his voice.

“The schools that are going to serve our growth from the present 124,000 students to 140,000 by the turn of the century are overcrowded right now, and need attention. Even if choice qualifies for the ballot and is passed, its (major) impact won’t be felt for five to 10 years down the line.”

But Brian Bennett, principal of Blessed Sacrament Catholic School in East San Diego, maintains that the “whole question surrounding Proposition O comes at an extremely inappropriate moment.”

“Before we commit $215 million in new taxes to essentially perpetuate the institutions and the public bureaucracy that is in place, what we ought to do is devote our energies to alternative approaches, and the most obvious of those is the voucher choice system.

“Freeing up whatever dollars are necessary to give low-income parents in particular the choice to attend non-public schools is an opportunity to decrease the strain on public schools right now.”

Other choice proponents, such as Jack Sanders of United Taxpayers of San Diego, go beyond Bennett’s points and assert that the public school system should not be rewarded with new construction money because of its dismal record in educating minority students, who, however, come from the more crowded district schools.

Proposition O is the school board’s answer to the strain that sees campuses such as Sherman Elementary in Golden Hill struggle with 1,310 students on year-round sessions despite a capacity almost one-third less.

The school has five lunch periods and a playground shrunk to two-thirds of normal size by the placement of 18 portable classrooms, yet it still must ship its 150 sixth-graders to a special overflow school in Clairemont and watch 240 other primary-grade students bus voluntarily to other less-crowded schools.

Approval by voters would authorize construction bonds for projects that include four new schools and major renovation of six others in the Mid-City, Golden Hill and Barrio Logan, totaling more than $100 million.

In addition, every middle and junior-high school citywide would be remodeled for 21st-Century educational technology. In that way, residents in the Point Loma and North City areas, who are more likely to vote than predominantly minority residents in areas south of Interstate 8 that are overflowing with pupils, will be given more of a stake in the issue, administrators believe.

“The kids of color are not going to go away, and we need to make them productive citizens,” Sherman principal Cecelia Estrada said. “And there is a direct correlation between overcrowded schools and dropouts. And we are going to still need our public schools, even if the voucher plan passes.”

“The school board understands how politics work, and they have been fair about allocating something for everyone in the community,” said Terry Churchill of Pacific Bell, who is co-chairing a citizens’ committee for Proposition O.

“Voters in San Diego have shown they will vote for something like this when they clearly see where the money is going, and that not a dollar can be spent on anything other than these projects.”

The construction would cover a 10-year period through 2003, but the most expensive projects would be planned immediately after voter approval, giving a boost to the region’s depressed building trades industry. An estimated $400 million in less-critical capital projects for the district would remain unfunded under the proposal.

Passage of the measure will require only a simple majority vote because the school district is asking for permission to implement unused taxing authority originally authorized by voters in 1974 to run through 2003.

That authorization was approved before the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, which requires a two-thirds vote for new property tax levies. A state law passed in 1987 clarified the issue by saying any additional tax asked for under the original authorization would not be a new tax and therefore needed only a simple majority for approval.

A similar bond measure, Proposition Y, was passed with a 61% simple majority vote in June, 1988, which has raised almost $150 million during the past four years for construction of eight schools--including Scripps Ranch High and Challenger Junior High School in North City--as well as reconstruction of eight elementary schools and 10 secondary school science labs.

The new proposal would build an elementary school and a middle school in the Mid-City area around Hoover and Crawford high schools; an elementary school in Golden Hill to relieve pressure on Sherman and Brooklyn elementary schools; and an elementary school near crowded Balboa Elementary in Barrio Logan.

The single most expensive project would be the estimated $50-million Mid-City middle school to relieve crowding at Wilson and Mann middle schools. The Mid-Ciy elementary would cost about $23.5 million, the Golden Hill school $20.45 million and the Barrio Logan school $14.35 million. The total new-schools costs of $108 million, including land acquisition, would account for about half the amount of the bond measure.

Permanent additions would be made to Wangenheim and Challenger junior highs in Mira Mesa, to De Portola Middle School in Tierrasanta, to Morse High School and Bell Junior High in Paradise Hills and to San Diego High School downtown. The total cost would be $28.4 million and eliminate dependence on cramped portable classrooms that are now an unwelcome fixture on those campuses.

The district would remodel existing facilities at Wilson Middle School and Hamilton Elementary in Mid-City, San Diego High, Morse High and Balboa Elementary, many of which are 25 or more years old and straining from enrollments far greater than originally planned.

Garfield Alternative School in Normal Heights would be converted into an elementary school, and Garfield’s programs would be transferred to another still-undetermined site.

In addition, every other district middle and junior high school would be modernized to have an educational technology center and be able to accommodate the latest technology as it becomes available. That would cost $46.2 million.

Until the passage of Proposition Y in 1988, the district was collecting only $25 per $100,000 assessed valuation under the original 1974 measure. Under the 1988 vote, that level will reach a maximum of $77 in 1994 and then drop gradually. This year it is at $38 and will rise to $55 next year as approved construction from 1988 continues.

If Proposition O is successful, the district will immediately raise its collections to the maximum $95 per $100,000 assessed valuation.

If it is defeated, Payzant says, the district will place a similar measure on the November ballot, but it will not be able to raise as much money, even if approved, because tax collections would be delayed a year.