Group Urges Defeat of Bond Issue for Schools

Fearing it will derail efforts to split San Fernando Valley schools from the giant Los Angeles Unified School District, a group of Valley politicians and business leaders Friday urged defeat of a bond measure that would raise money to repair decaying schools.

Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Northridge) and representatives of several community groups, including the Encino Homeowners Assn. and the United Chambers of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley, announced their opposition to the $2.4-billion bond measure on Tuesday’s ballot, saying that, in addition to hindering breakup efforts, it would channel too much money from the Valley to other parts of the district.

They also said the school board could not be trusted with so much money and insisted that enough public funds already exist to repair the schools. They dubbed Proposition BB “bad business.”

“This bond measure would further deplete the property tax base for future bond measures for a new Valley district,” said McClintock. “Those are Valley resources that will be siphoned off for non-Valley schools.”

Supporters of the bond measure were quick to respond, calling opponents misguided, since bond proceeds are earmarked for specific repairs and construction projects at virtually every district school, and each would be supervised by an independent audit committee.

Steve Sugarman, deputy to Mayor Richard Riordan, who supports both the bond measure and the breakup efforts, said: “The mayor worked closely with the school district this time around . . . to build in the kind of accountability that was lacking before, to make sure the dollars are spent as they are intended and the school facilities are upgraded.

“It’s not a case of one part of the city versus another. This is for children in every part of L.A. In schools in every part of this city, including the San Fernando Valley, there is a need to upgrade the facilities.”

Teachers union president Day Higuchi accused McClintock of using opposition to the bond measure to further his own political agenda and raise the profile of a Valley breakup proposal, which is slated to be introduced today by McClintock and his predecessor, former Assemblywoman Paula Boland.

“This is not really about what is good for kids at all,” Higuchi said. “It’s someone saying it’s OK to hurt kids to advance your own political career.”

On another front, McClintock said the Proposition BB campaign used public resources to advocate the measure’s passage and said a campaign document proves his allegations. He has given that document to the state attorney general, he said.

The document, published by the LAUSD Bond Information Office, outlines an aggressive plan to mobilize students and school personnel to push voter registration and increase awareness about the needs of the schools and how Proposition BB could help. McClintock said such efforts are meant to generate support for a “yes” vote on the ballot measure.

“We’re not telling them to vote for it; we’re just telling them what would happen if they did,” said LAUSD spokesman Brad Sales. “We have been running a vigorous and active information campaign which is separate from the ‘yes’ campaign being run by Angelenos for Better Classrooms,” a coalition of PTAs, unions and business groups.

Sales said the school district has an obligation to tell voters what they are voting for and what would happen if the proposition passes.

He also said McClintock and others need not fear that the board would mismanage funds raised by the bond measure, since an oversight committee would make sure the money is used properly.

Included in that oversight committee would be the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn.

The association’s executive director, Kris Vosburgh, said the group, whose members include about 200,000 homeowners in California, offered to help oversee the spending of funds potentially raised by Proposition BB, while refusing to endorse the measure.

“We’re saying--if you want to spend this kind of money, we’re willing to step forward and watch the money,” Vosburgh said. “If that gives people the confidence or the courage to vote for this proposition, then so be it.”

Former Assemblyman Richard Katz, chairman of Angelenos for Better Classrooms, also says secession is not an issue. Katz says he supports secession and Proposition BB because whether or not the Valley splits from Los Angeles, the schools need to be repaired now.

“We can’t wait--for political purposes--for a breakup movement that may or may not happen,” he said. “The schools need to be fixed irrespective of when the district is broken up. They need to be fixed today.”