L.A. Schools to Poll Public on Bond

Just three weeks before voters decide whether to approve a $3-billion statewide school construction bond, the Los Angeles Board of Education on Monday took the first step toward raising up to $3.2 billion of its own.

Saying that school construction needs would barely be touched by what the Los Angeles Unified School District stands to receive from the state measure--about $10 million--the school board agreed to take a public opinion poll to determine the viability of floating a local bond in November, the first since 1974.

The key question, board members said, is whether homeowners will vote to assess themselves at least $75 annually to repay the general obligation bond debt in return for repaired schools, improved computers and new campuses.

“If we don’t get started, we won’t be able to do it, and we’ll be back here whining that we don’t have any money,” said board member Jeff Horton. “The students of this city need us to stand up for them.”

A local bond measure would require a two-thirds majority vote within school district boundaries, which encompass the city of Los Angeles and many surrounding communities. Other California districts recently passed such bonds, but not on their first try.

Board member David Tokofsky, the only one to vote against the bid, and member Julie Korenstein, who approved only the poll, balked at the $3.2 million the district anticipates spending to qualify the bond for the ballot if the poll finds voters receptive.

Tokofsky also questioned the wisdom of forging ahead so late in the campaign year.

“Every million counts for real fixings at schools, of course,” he said. “But as I told students when I coached the Academic Decathlon, we play to win--we go out to win it the first time.”

Teachers union President Helen Bernstein called the vote “the most irresponsible thing they’ve ever done,” countering assertions by district development director Dominic Shambra that the unions were all in support of the local bond effort.

Los Angeles Unified officials estimate that they need more than $625 million for basic building maintenance, very little of which would qualify for the state bond funds. That sum does not include major building projects, such as a proposed new high school for the crowded Belmont High area near downtown.

Yet the criteria for distributing revenue from the state bond, if it is approved on March 26, could leave Los Angeles Unified--the largest district in California--receiving less than some smaller districts.

That is because priority for future bond money is based on factors other than size, such as a district’s growth rate (Los Angeles Unified’s enrollment had stagnated for several years until last fall) and willingness or ability to match the state bond contribution (Los Angeles has pleaded poverty).

The last statewide school bond measure was approved in 1992, but that money has been distributed, and a June, 1994, bond failed to gain voter approval.”