Board of Education Acts on Plans for Bond Issue : Glendale: District staff is ordered to come up with outline by July 27 on the $100-million measure to upgrade facilities.

The Board of Education took initial steps this week toward asking voters to approve a $100-million bond issue to pay for the renovation of aging campuses and classrooms.

Although nothing is set in stone, the board ordered the district staff at its Tuesday night meeting to outline a course of action by July 27. If all goes according to plan, a bond campaign committee will be formed in late summer and the public will be surveyed to gauge the likelihood of the bond measure’s passage.

The bonds would likely be issued in four increments of $25 million between 1996 and 2005, the first of which would be on the ballot in March, June or November of next year, officials said.

“The staff and the board feel that we need to move ahead with something to rebuild the schools, and the only viable option we have seems to be a general obligation bond,” district spokesman Vic Pallos said.

Virtually every one of the district’s 30 elementary, middle and high school campuses is in need of repair, officials say. Outdated plumbing, heating, lighting and electrical systems are common, and many buildings also need new wiring so they can accommodate new computers, audio-visual systems and other technology.

In the past three years, two committees of teachers, administrators, business people and others have looked at the district’s options for bringing the buildings up to snuff. Both concluded that the most realistic alternative is a general-obligation bond, which would need approval of two-thirds of the voters and would be repaid by property tax assessments.

The most recent committee, known as the Schools Modernization Task Force, also looked at other financing methods, but concluded that a bond issue would generate the most revenue with minimum impact on property owners, members said. According to the task force’s estimates, a homeowner whose property is assessed at $300,000 would pay an average of $88 a year over a 25-year period.

But the last time voters approved a bond measure for Glendale schools was in 1964. Even then, it only passed by one-third of a percentage point.

Last year, the Burbank Unified School District’s $100 million bond request was firmly rejected by voters. But Glendale officials said they believe a bond has a fighting chance if presented to the public openly.

“You can’t just put it on the ballot and expect people to support it,” said Dick Seeley, a community activist who urged the board Tuesday to push ahead with the bond.

“You’ve got to go out and show the people why we need it: The state isn’t giving us any money, and the schools are dilapidated and in need of computers so we can educate our kids.”