Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : District to Spend $673,000 to Study Needs of 3 Schools : Education: An architectural firm is hired to survey what improvements are necessary at each campus.

Trustees in the William S. Hart Union High School District have decided to spend $673,000 to study needed improvements at three schools, even though there is no certainty the funding to actually do the work will be available.

The board of trustees voted Wednesday to hire the architectural firm of Neptune Thomas Davis to study needs at Hart High, Placerita Junior High and Sierra Vista Junior High schools.

Since each of the schools is at least 30 years old, they would be eligible for $6.9 million in state modernization funds that will be needed to do the work. But those funds will only become available if voters approve a $2-billion bond issue in November.

“If the public doesn’t buy that (bond) we’re back to square one, but we’re out on the architecture funds,” said John Hassel, a Hart board member.

A similar $1-billion bond measure narrowly failed in June.

Hassel said he reluctantly approved the study, thinking the funds for it might be better spent on some of the schools’ most urgent needs.

However, the district must complete a design study to be eligible for the modernization funds. The schools are slowly deteriorating at current funding levels.

“I felt it’s a risk we have to take,” said Bill Dinsenbacher, a board member.

Each school needs more than $2 million worth of work, including replacement of air-conditioning units and worn roofs, asbestos removal, classroom and administrative building repairs, and other things, Hassel said. He said the term “modernization” is a bit misleading.

“It’s just to bring the facilities up to today’s standards,” he said. “It does not include those things that will be necessary to bring technology into the classroom.”

The state Senate and Assembly are considering separate bills to place a $2-billion bond issue on the November ballot, said Dwayne Brooks, assistant superintendent for school facilities planning for the state Department of Education. He said the measure would provide $1.5 billion for K-12 schools, with the rest allocated to universities.

But Hart trustees are not confident the bond will pass.

“We do not have a very good track record in this state in terms of public support of bonds,” Hassel said. “They’re fairly consistently shooting them down.”