Las Virgenes Among Crowd of 2-Time Bond Losers : Elections: School district fell 2% shy of a two-thirds majority to raise $12 million through a parcel tax vote. Beverly Hills, San Marino, South Pasadena and La Canada have had repeated losses.

The Las Virgenes Unified School District can take heart that it is not alone. Last week it joined a distinguished crowd of multiple-election losers.

When the district fell just 2% shy of a two-thirds majority to raise $12 million through a parcel tax election, it joined the ranks of those that have twice failed to persuade voters to raise their own taxes--districts that include up-scale South Pasadena and San Marino.

San Marino prevailed in its third try in 1991. Affluent Beverly Hills held three elections without success; ditto La Canada.

No one said it would be easy to persuade people to tax themselves, and that has been particularly true in Los Angeles County.

While districts here struggle to win voter approval of parcel tax increases, with a paltry 13% success rate, the rest of the state does markedly better, winning 45% of the time.

But defeat doesn’t keep school districts from trying again. Beverly Hills officials are discussing a general bond election, and backers of the Las Virgenes proposition want another crack at it, too.

“Very few of us are willing to walk away and say ‘That’s it,’ ” said Sheryl Burnam, co-chair of the campaign committee behind the Las Virgenes proposal.

The repeated losses of other districts make Castaic Union School District’s success last Tuesday all the more remarkable with more than 78% of the vote in support of the general bond.

“This community didn’t just win the election,” said a proud Castaic Supt. Scott Brown, “it ran up the score.”

Local districts trying to raise money for schools fare more favorably in general bond elections than in parcel tax elections. In general bond races, local districts have won half the time.

Castaic’s victory gives hope to districts that plan to ask constituents to give themselves a tax raise in the near future.

Officials at Newhall School District, which lost two bids in 1991 and is considering a third attempt at a general bond, said they’ll be taking a close look at just how their neighbors pulled it off.

“Oh, yes, we’ll go to school on how they organized it,” Newhall Supt. J. Michael McGrath said.

School districts in Arcadia and Saugus are scheduled to hold general bond elections in April and June, respectively.

The difference between general bonds and parcel taxes is threefold. First, general bond money can be used only for capital improvements, such as new schools. Parcel taxes can be used for school supplies or programs, such as music and athletics.

“People would rather vote for something tangible, something that they can see,” said Matt Spies, a business services coordinator of the Los Angeles County Office of Education. “They can’t necessarily see supplies or a program that their vote might be benefiting.”

Also, while general bonds impose a higher tax bill on more costly homes, parcel taxes assess a flat rate for every property, a system that opponents to parcel taxes see as unfair.

Finally, and perhaps most important, campaign consultants say, the name “general bond” doesn’t have the word “tax” in it, which is a killer word in an election.

“About 35% to 45% of the voters are solidly against any kind of tax increase no matter what it would be used for,” said Kent Price, president of San Ramon-based Price Research, the largest school campaign consulting firm in the state.

Price said the people most likely to vote are the ones most likely to be against taxes of any kind.

“Conservative, older males tend to carry that attitude,” Price said.

Others in the campaign business said demographics don’t play as large a role as the school’s reputation in the community.

“It seems to me to have more to do with the confidence that people have in the school district themselves rather than the usual political calculations we make,” said Paul Goodwin, vice president of Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates, a Los Angeles firm that conducts political surveys.

Goodwin points to the Palm Springs Unified School District, which last year raised $70 million for school construction. There, in a region with a high percentage of seniors and conservatives, the initiative received the support of 72.7% of the voters.

The character of the community dictates many facets of a successful campaign for schools, Goodwin said, including whether to have a grass-roots campaign or a more sophisticated one, what month to hold the election, and what aspects of the proposition will appeal most to the local voters.

But in order for bond or parcel taxes to stand a chance, consultants said, a variety of factors must come together.

Voters must see a near-crisis need to raise taxes. People must also believe they will benefit personally from the measure, whether it be through better schools for their children or higher property values. Finally, they must have confidence the school district will spend the money well.

The problem is that districts lacking the confidence of their citizens tend to be ones where schools are overcrowded, facilities are run-down and supplies are inadequate.

“That’s why it’s really tough to pass these measures in places where they need the money the most,” Goodwin said.

Even when those conditions are right, however, there are some hazards.

Opposition of any kind can be disastrous, consultants said, more than in other elections since it doesn’t take much to raise doubts in voters’ minds about increasing taxes.

School districts throughout the county are learning exactly what getting a two-thirds majority means.

“You can’t get two-thirds of the people to agree on the weather, much less on things that will affect them financially,” said Don Fox, an assistant superintendent at Beverly Hills.

“When you’re in a situation where every ‘no’ vote cancels out two ‘yes’ votes, it’s pretty difficult,” said Donald Zimring, assistant superintendent at Las Virgenes, which fell just 309 votes shy of winning.

Taxpayer groups, however, dismiss claims that the two-thirds rule allows a minority to block the will of the majority, saying that many of the people who vote won’t be the ones who have to pay the tax.

“It should take an extraordinary election for it to pass,” said Joel Fox of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. “Only property tax payers are required to pay off these bonds, yet they are asking us to pay for schools for everybody.”

Given that general obligation bonds entail long-term debt burdens on property owners, “we’re actually taxing people who probably aren’t even taxpayers yet, so that special protection is necessary,” Fox said.

School advocates say property owners benefit from better schools through the increased land values associated with good schools.

The link between higher taxes and better schools, however, is arguable at best, said Matthew Cunningham, spokesman for state Sen. John R. Lewis (R-Orange). The solution, he said, is for school districts to “spend the money they have better” because “the school system is over-bureaucratized.”

Furthermore, Cunningham said, the two-thirds majority is far from an impossibility and voters would be willing to pay for programs and buildings that are truly needed.

A statewide proposition that would lower the threshold in general bond elections to a simple majority is slated for the June, 1994, ballot. School officials and political consultants agree that, if passed, it would provide short-term help to school districts in raising money for school buildings.

More than 90% of general bond elections in the state since 1986 have won simple majorities.

But Price said it will be tough to pass the proposition, and more is needed to address schools’ long-term financing needs.

“There is some indication that if it passes, then the state will abdicate its responsibility of building schools,” Price said. “That means the burden will be all on the local school districts, which means they will have to ask for more money.”

Also, if schools were required only to get a majority vote, Price said, opposition would be likely to increase.