CALABASAS : Bigger Classes Seen After Prop. K’s Loss

A day after voters in the Las Virgenes Unified School District rejected higher property taxes to fund school improvements, supporters of the proposal predicted Wednesday that crowded classes will swell even further and overall quality in the suburban district will drop.

Proposition K fell 2% short of the two-thirds majority required for passage in a special election Tuesday, failing for a second time to pass muster with voters.

A similar measure failed by about 270 votes in November, 1991.

Uncertified tallies Wednesday showed 6,291 votes, or 63.5%, supporting the measure, and 3,608, or 36.4%, opposed.

Jeff Kurtz, co-chairman of the Committee for Yes on Quality Education, and other supporters said they were unsure how they next would try to ease the pain of several years of budget cuts.

In recent years, administrators in the district--which enrolls 10,000 students between Calabasas and Westlake Village--have slashed budgets by nearly $3.5 million. All of the district’s schools are in Los Angeles County, but some of its students come from eastern Ventura County, which has two voting precincts in the district.