Developers’ Fees for New Schools Raised : Santa Clarita Valley: An agreement among eight factions increases builders’ share from the state-mandated $1.58 per square foot to $2.50.

When new public schools are built in the fast-growing Santa Clarita Valley, developers--and ultimately, owners of new residential housing--will pick up a bigger piece of the tab by paying nearly $1 more in fees per square foot of housing, thanks to an unusual school-financing agreement.

The agreement hammered out among eight previously warring factions--California’s Building Industry Assn., the valley’s five school districts, the city of Santa Clarita and Los Angeles County--raises developers’ fees earmarked for school construction by 92 cents per square foot, from the $1.58 mandated by state law to $2.50.

State law forbids school districts to raise these fees unilaterally, school officials said, adding that it is rare when such increases are agreed to by cities and counties.

The announcement of the fee increase was made jointly Thursday by County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who also is credited with facilitating the negotiations, and by Santa Clarita Mayor Jill Klajic.

Santa Clarita City Manager George Caravalho said the new financing plan also would raise the price of a typical new single-family residence by $2,000, but will help cash-strapped school districts keep pace with growth by giving them greater access to state funds.

School systems that expect to benefit from the agreement are the William S. Hart High School District, the Newhall School District and those in the communities of Saugus, Castaic and Sulphur Springs.

“It’s momentous and encouraging--it benefits everyone concerned,” said Richard Wirth, a lobbyist for the Building Industry Assn. who also serves as executive director of the Governmental Affairs Council, a Los Angeles-based organization of major developers.

“It gives these school districts more than 50% of their funding from private sources, which in turn puts them on a faster track toward getting state matching funds,” he said.

Santa Clarita’s new agreement, Wirth said, has already prompted inquiries from two other school districts in Los Angeles County, though he declined to identify them.

Although it was not announced until Thursday, the $2.50 figure, called a uniform developers’ fee, went into effect in June when the Newhall School District became the last of the five districts to agree to the increase after two years of squabbling between developers and school officials. There was no explanation for the delayed announcement.

The development community came “to grips with the idea that if you don’t have good schools, you’re not going to sell houses,” said Clyde Smyth, Hart High School District’s former superintendent, who helped bring all sides together.

The announcement came in the same week when officials of the Hart district learned that it will receive $22 million in state funds to build a planned new high school and another $8 million to subsidize half the cost of building a $16-million junior high school. District officials have said they hope to open both schools in the fall of 1994.

Until the agreement, officials of Santa Clarita Valley’s school districts and the county had clashed over how to deal with overcrowding in schools. The districts opposed further residential development, arguing that they could not accommodate the valley’s runaway growth. The county contended that it had no authority to turn away developers, saying they had met all codes and state laws that govern school funding.