Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Castaic Gets Waiver on School Bonds

School officials have been given a waiver of a state education code, clearing the way for the sale of an additional $6 million in bonds for new school construction, state officials said Friday.

Voters in the Castaic Union School District approved a $20-million bond measure in 1993, but under a State Department of Education code that is supposed to prevent districts from going deep into debt, the top amount allowed is $14 million.

The code, overlooked by Castaic school officials at the time of the vote, states that bonds can be issued only up to 1.25% of the assessed value of property within a district’s boundaries.

“The purpose of that is so school districts don’t get so much in debt they can’t pay it off,” said Dwayne Brooks, state assistant superintendent for school facilities planning.

But Castaic officials successfully convinced the State Board of Education that the area would safely sell the full $20 million. Castaic homeowners, who pay an average of $39.21 per year for the bond measure, will now pay an additional $5.

The district is selling the bonds to build a junior high school in the Villa Canyon area and an elementary school near Camino del Valle Park.

Forfeiting the $6 million would have jeopardized the new construction, according to Michael R. Slater, Castaic district business manager.

“This is really important,” said Slater. “We would have been able to build only two-thirds or half of the facilities of the schools.”

School districts in urban areas rarely come close to the bond limit, in place since 1976, because their property values are high, according to Brooks.

The waiver was only the latest hurdle the Castaic district has had to overcome to raise the construction funds.

Most bond measures in recent years have come far short of the two-thirds approval needed for passage in an election. The Castaic proposal, which was approved by 78% of voters, was only the second such measure to pass in the Santa Clarita Valley since Proposition 13 was approved in 1978.