ELECTIONS: LOCAL SCHOOL BOARDS : Candidates Debate New Funding Sources : Education: Campaign discussions center on alternative ways for districts to raise money and cut spending to offset shrinking state revenues.

Finding alternative sources of funding for school programs and equipment is one of the key issues being debated among dozens of school board candidates from Ojai to Simi Valley.

To offset shrinking revenues from the state, many of the 56 candidates seeking election are proposing to solicit financial assistance from private businesses and to recruit parents for more volunteer service. Others said they will support bond measures to help build new schools to ease overcrowding.

Candidates are competing for 25 school board seats in 13 districts throughout Ventura County. The general election is Nov. 3.

“Money is the No. 1 issue,” said Tim Peddicord, one of seven candidates vying for two open seats on the board of the Ojai Unified School District. “You can talk all you want about proposals, but it always comes back to that.”

Under the budget agreement struck last summer by state lawmakers, education funding over the next two years will be drastically cut back to make up for $1 billion in state revenue losses this year.

Several Ventura County school districts are already exploring ways to cut operating costs.

In the Oxnard Union High School Dis trict, officials are studying the possibility of consolidating maintenance, transportation and food services with surrounding elementary schools to cut costs.

Pleasant Valley, Moorpark and Simi Valley educators are considering charging students for bus transportation.

Many of the school board candidates said they decided to run because they wanted to help their districts pull through the tough economic times. But not all candidates agree on how best to do that.

In the Simi Valley Unified School District, the main campaign issue is whether the district should convert to a middle-school program next year. Under this plan, the district’s two high schools would shift from three- to four-year schools, while the four junior high schools would serve grades six through eight.

School board candidate Debbie Sandland opposes reconfiguration because it will cost the district more than $600,000 to implement. She says the money could be better spent on education programs, teacher aides and nurses.

“Our district wants to spend unnecessary money,” said Sandland, one of five candidates seeking three seats on the board. “Public schools are public businesses. What other business is going to go around spending unnecessary money?”

But Judy Barry, who is seeking reelection to the board, said that the 18,000-student district has already spent time and money preparing for the middle school program and that it should not be delayed.

Barry said the program will be a great benefit to ninth graders because it will give them access to more counseling services as well as more advanced education and vocational courses.

“We’re the only district in the county without four-year high schools,” she said. “I think that’s the direction we want to go. If we reverse ourselves on reconfiguration, it will be very difficult to ever do anything innovative again.”

Barry suggested another way to save money may be to charge parents for home-to-school transportation. She said the district is now spending about $500,000 to provide transportation to 1,200 students.

“Bus transportation is a luxury,” she said. “Schools are not required to provide transportation.”

But Barry said she will wait for the results of a school study before taking an official position on the transportation issue.

Candidates Jim King, incumbent Diane Collins and Jacqueline L. Richardson said they support the middle-school concept, but expressed concerns about how much it will cost the district.

Besides Simi Valley, other districts with open school board seats are Oxnard Elementary, Santa Paula Elementary, Somis Elementary, Oxnard High, Santa Paula High, Mesa Elementary, Briggs Elementary, Ojai Unified and Hueneme Elementary. Santa Clara and Mupu elementary districts each have one open seat.

In the Pleasant Valley Elementary School District, finding the money to renovate 30-year-old buildings and construct a new elementary school to ease overcrowding are the primary issues in the campaign. Students who live within the boundaries of Las Colinas Elementary School are now being bused across town to Monte Vista.

Three of the four candidates competing for two open seats said they would support putting another bond measure on the ballot to build a new school. Two previous bond measures were rejected by voters in 1991.

“This is the biggest issue,” said candidate Robert Rexford. “How do we convince the public” to support a bond measure.

Other candidates who said they would support a school bond are incumbent Ricardo A. Amador, an administrator in the Hueneme Elementary School District, and Richard Paradyse, an air traffic controller at Oxnard Airport. Candidate Juan Lozano could not be reached for comment.

Echoing a familiar theme among school board candidates throughout the county, David Watson, who is running for election to the board of the Ojai Unified School District, said he wants to form a sponsorship program with local businesses to purchase badly needed equipment and supplies.

“Our main issue is finding a steady stream of income for the district,” said Watson, one of seven candidates vying for two open seats on the board.

Watson noted that his son, a student at Nordhoff High School, is taking a wood-shop class where the majority of wood-cutting machines do not work.

“There are other areas where we need to expand, but we can’t do it because of a lack of funds,” he said. “If we want more local control, we have to have money coming in.”

Candidate Tim Peddicord said that if elected he also would solicit financial assistance from the private sector by forming an adopt-a-school program. Peddicord said he plans to ask parents to volunteer their time as teacher aides and librarians to reduce expenditures.

Other candidates in the district are Alan Fletcher, a business executive; Bruce A. Johnston, an engineer; Frank Stephenson, an educational consultant, and Karen McBride, a homemaker.

Watson said educators in the future will have to focus more on fund-raising if they want to maintain quality educational programs and prevent layoffs.

“We can no longer depend on the state because of the up-and-down politics in Sacramento,” he said.

* DECISION ‘92: A look at the school board candidates and issues. B4