Board OKs School Bond Ballot Measure

One after another, they told their campus horror stories--about permanently plugged toilets, vermin-infested cafeterias and dangerously dark hallways--painting a stark verbal backdrop for Los Angeles school board members’ unanimous decision Monday to place a $2.4-billion campus improvement bond measure on the November ballot.

If two-thirds of the voters agree, the bond issue would boost taxes $75 a year for every $100,000 in assessed value for property owners within the Los Angeles Unified School District boundaries. The bond proceeds would be used to build and renovate schools, buy computers and for other technology.

It’s time for the community to make that investment, said the dozens of educators, students and business people who attended the board meeting.

“It’s a question of what we want for our students for the next century,” said school board President Mark Slavkin. “It’s not just about how schools look, it’s about basic safety.”

Slavkin told his own story, of his son returning home from the Open Charter School in West Los Angeles--”a wonderful school”--with a story about how the classroom radiator had blown up.

Seconds after the vote was taken, two district staffers posted a sign behind the board members’ podium that read: “Repair Our Schools. Vote Nov. 5, 1996.”

The district plans to wage mini-campaigns in every community, a tactic reinforced by a public opinion poll on the local bond conducted last month that found that most people support their neighborhood schools, but remain skeptical of the system as a whole. Board members previously agreed to spend $2.7 million assessing the needs of each school and getting that information out to voters.

Although school employees are barred from campaigning for bonds during school hours, they can provide information about what their campus needs--which may form the most persuasive argument.

Amy Messigian, the student body president at Monroe High School in Van Nuys, told the board she is afraid to walk on the campus after dark because it is so poorly lighted. Although the school was recently air-conditioned, she said, the gymnasium remains hot and humid on summer days. New paint added after the Northridge earthquake “was of such poor quality that it’s already cracked,” she said.

“Do we need the bond?” she asked. “You better believe it.”

In addition to ensuring that voters hear from people such as Amy, the school board plans to create private citizens campaign groups, funded by private donations.

The district’s poll found that backing for bonds was slightly higher than the two-thirds level required for passage of such measures, although that support dropped significantly when specific tax increases were revealed to the potential voters.

Los Angeles Unified has increasingly considered a bond as its access to state school construction money has diminished. For years, voters rejected statewide bonds. Even when money has been available, Los Angeles has received a relatively meager share.

Politicians and legislative staffers have criticized Los Angeles for lagging other districts in applying and attempting to change the rules. But Los Angeles Unified administrators have responded that the state bond process discriminates against large urban districts because it favors systems that can afford to match state funds.

Those lobbying for a local bond were heartened by overwhelming voter support for a $3-billion state bond measure this spring. Since then, three Los Angeles-area school districts have won bond bids--Baldwin Park, Downey and San Marino--that education officials see as further evidence that voters are ready to support schools.

Not every school district got its bond, however. In Palmdale, an $81-million school bond fell just two percentage points below two-thirds support. And most concede that Los Angeles Unified, under threat of breakup and struggling to push forward with reforms, will have to work hard to persuade voters to approve such a large bond.

Board member Jeff Horton said that even if Los Angeles does not win this time, it must try since it cannot depend on the state to meet its needs.

“If necessary, we’ll try, try again,” Horton said, pointing out that Fresno Unified tried four times before it passed a bond. “There’s no alternative. We have to do it.”