Election Wrapup : Educators React With Dismay After Defeat of Ballot Initiative on Bonds : Schools: Regional districts had pinned hopes on Proposition 170 to end their reliance on state funds for financing new campuses.

Caught between shrinking budgets and burgeoning enrollments, educators throughout the San Fernando and surrounding valleys expressed disappointment Wednesday over the failure of a ballot initiative that would have made it easier to approve local bond measures for school construction.

The defeat of Proposition 170 by a margin of more than 2 to 1 among California voters leaves in place a century-old provision of the state Constitution that demands a two-thirds majority for local general-obligation bond measures. School districts had pinned their hopes on Proposition 170--which would have made sufficient a simple majority--to end their increasing reliance on a dwindling supply of state funds to finance the building of badly needed campuses.

Since 1986, more than 90% of school bond measures statewide have received simple majorities, according to state education officials. But only half of them cleared the two-thirds hurdle, including recent attempts in the Saugus and Castaic school districts.

The defeat was particularly bitter for the Newhall school system, which twice put local bond measures on the ballot in 1991 and each time came away empty-handed, despite garnering 64% in one vote. Earlier this year, two of the district’s six elementary schools converted to multitrack calendars to relieve overcrowding, with a third scheduled to shift next year.

“Obviously, with the failure of Proposition 170 we’re back on the state dole again,” said J. Michael McGrath, superintendent of the Newhall School District. “It’s clearly much more desirable for a community to build a school when they need it . . . (but) you’re confronted with having to get a super-majority.”

State education officials predicted that the initiative’s sound defeat--only the school voucher proposal fared worse in Tuesday’s special election--will send local school systems scrambling to fit more youngsters onto space-strapped campuses. Officials said they may have to resort to such unpopular measures as further expanding class size, using portable classrooms or switching to year-round operation with rotating groups of students.

“The local school districts will have a tougher time raising money for construction, and so will continue to fall further and further behind in providing classrooms for the kids,” said Duwayne Brooks, an assistant superintendent with the state Department of Education.

The resounding defeat was attributed partly to taxpayer concern that pocketbooks would be raided during recessionary times--a worry some said went hand in hand with a “no” vote on the voucher proposal, which could have directed hundreds of millions of tax dollars to largely unregulated private schools.

“Taxpayers wanted to keep a measure of control they thought they were losing,” said Paul Clarke, a Northridge political consultant. “Part of the reason for (Proposition 170’s) downfall is that once people read what it was . . . property owners said, ‘Whoa, people are trying to take money from us.’ ”

The electorate is unwilling to “throw more money” at school systems already considered wasteful or incompetent, Clarke added.

Observers also said the issue was overshadowed by the voucher initiative, which diverted energy and resources from public school groups that would have campaigned on behalf of Proposition 170.

“This was a bad time” for the bond-approval measure to be on the ballot, Los Angeles Board of Education member Julie Korenstein said. “What did we lose in Proposition 170 failing? We lost the possibility of mounting a local bond measure locally, because we won’t try anything without a simple majority (requirement).

“It means schools will not be built, schools will not be repaired. We have a backlog of orders for roofs, electricity, plumbing, blacktops needing to be resurfaced.”

Las Virgenes Unified School District officials called the defeat of Proposition 170 a blow to the district’s hopes of expanding and refurbishing 30-year-old buildings. Assistant Supt. Don Zimring said a little-publicized consequence of the initiative’s failure would also be a reduction in developer fees, under a recently enacted state law.

Officials in the Los Angeles Community College District, the world’s largest two-year college system, said they will continue with plans to put a general obligation bond measure of several hundred million dollars before voters within the next two years.

“We certainly wanted to see 170 pass. It would have made our job considerably easier,” said Donald Phelps, chancellor of the nine-college system. “Now, I think it just means we work harder.”

Times staff writer John Chandler contributed to this story.