LOCAL ELECTIONS : Voters Reject High School Bond : Defeat: Measure gets only 46.6% of vote. Spokesman for opposed homeowners calls outcome a victory for ‘the people,’ but school district is disappointed.

Voters Tuesday rejected a $29.9-million bond measure to build a new high school in San Gabriel.

The measure, which needed two-thirds approval to pass, won only 46.6% of votes cast in the special election, with all precincts reporting and only a handful of absentee ballots uncounted.

A spokesman for homeowners who fought the school called the vote a victory for “the people.” Defeat of the bond measure throws into disarray the San Gabriel Unified School District’s plans to add a high school to the district, which now lacks one.

“I’m very disappointed in the outcome,” Supt. Gary E. Goodson said.

Currently, San Gabriel students attend high school in the Alhambra school district. Goodson said a new school would have given parents better access to educators and meant educational continuity for students.

Voters had approved the concept of adding a high school to San Gabriel Unified last April. The district would have been eligible for matching funds from the state if the bond measure had passed.

Goodson said school administrators and other supporters will analyze “what happened to the vote we thought we had” before deciding whether to seek another election.

Jim Mass, spokesman for Save Our Homes, said homeowners were surprised that the measure was defeated. “This was a ragtag group with no money, and the hand of God must have prevailed. I really didn’t expect to win.”

The group formed out of concerns that the new high school would bring an increase in traffic and taxes. Homeowners were especially concerned that the district would demolish homes to build the school at the present site of Jefferson Intermediate School.

Roy Seltzer, chairwoman of the committee favoring the bond measure, blamed the defeat partly on what she called misleading campaigning by the Save Our Homes committee.

Seltzer said her committee has filed a complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission, the state election watchdog agency, against Save Our Homes. She said the homeowners spent at least $1,000 against the bond measure but failed to register as a campaign committee and file financial disclosure statements with county election officials.

Mass said Save Our Homes only reached the limit Tuesday and filed the required documents with the county.

“People were passing out their own flyers, making them up,” Mass said. “We gave them information, and they passed it on.”

Seltzer also criticized Save Our Homes for inflating the number of homes that could be demolished. Only five were slated to be taken on East Wells Street, she said, and the homeowners claimed that as many as 100 might be removed.

Mass said the committee came up with the estimate of 100 homes based on state guidelines recommending 30 acres for a high school with the number of students projected in San Gabriel.

School officials said those guidelines were outdated and do not apply to suburban sites where open land is not available. Joseph B. Crawford, an assistant superintendent, said the district’s design conserved space with a three-story main building and fewer athletic fields.