Anaheim May Ask Voters for Help on New Schools

For the first time in three decades, the Anaheim City School District is considering a building program that would open new schools and refurbish aging campuses.

Officials will discuss tonight whether to ask voters next year to approve a bond issue that would pay for the project.

“We’re just running out of room, and we need some permanent solutions,” Supt. Roberta Thompson said Monday.

The district has not opened a new school since 1967. As its population has grown, campuses have become overcrowded and facilities outdated, officials said. All of the district’s 22 elementary schools are now on a year-round schedule.

At 10 of the district’s elementary campuses, enrollment totals more than 1,000 students. Thompson said the state-recommended school size is 650 students.

The district’s total enrollment this year is 20,300 students--7,000 more than its schools were built to accommodate, Thompson said. More than 200 portable units are being used to help ease classroom crowding.

Thompson estimated that basic improvements such as new furnaces, lighting, plumbing and wiring would cost about $1 million for each school.

The district’s staff is recommending a ballot measure that would seek voter approval for a school bond issue that would be repaid by a property tax change.

Under the proposal, the property tax increase could be as little as $20 for every $100,000 of assessed value, Thompson said.

But the board tonight will determine what the exact amount of assessment would be.

Officials said the tax revenue would be used to repay the bond debt.

Because Anaheim is an older city with little room for residential development, money for additional schools cannot be generated by assessments on new homes, officials said. State money is not available now to build classrooms or upgrade existing facilities.

School board member Betty Patterson said that expansion is critical.

“We desperately need it. We have done everything possible, and this is the next step forward,” she said. “I don’t see any other way. You can’t keep adding on and on with portables.”

The revenue proposal appears to have the support of residents. A district committee, including parents, that has been studying double sessions and other ways to deal with rising enrollment expressed interest in the bond proposal.

“The crisis with overcrowding in Anaheim is at a peak,” said parent Jacinth Cisneros, a panel member. “The committee felt that double sessions was really not the best long-term educational decision to make.”

The 80-member committee determined that additional funding is the best solution, Cisneros said.