School Bond Measures Lose in Low Turnout

In an election marked by “abysmally low” turnout, voters in Thousand Oaks and Moorpark rejected school bond measures Tuesday, six months after shooting down the same multimillion dollar plans to spruce up local campuses.

The Thousand Oaks $97-million measure received, in unofficial returns, 10,580 votes, compared to the 6,140 against it. That left it with 63.3% of the vote, shy of the two-third majority needed for approval.

Moorpark residents voted 1,984 to 1,272 for the $16-million package, unofficial returns showed. The 61% approval vote showed less support than the 65% level the bond received in November.

“That’s really unfortunate,” said Moorpark school board trustee David Pollock. “The campaign tried so hard, and we made sure everyone was informed. It means we’ll have to do with less. We won’t have top-notch schools in Moorpark.”

Despite failing to muster the needed two-thirds vote in November, the Conejo Valley Unified School District again asked voters to approve $97 million in bonds to renovate aging schools and build new facilities--the largest amount in county history.

Likewise, the Moorpark Unified School District sought permission a second time for $16 million to accommodate increased growth.

The bond campaigns drew little public debate--and little interest at the polls. Only 20% of Thousand Oaks’ 75,280 registered voters, and 18% of Moorpark’s 16,504 voters made their voices heard.

The elections come on the heels of several successful efforts, with nine Ventura County school districts winning support for long-term borrowing in the past three years.

Officials in the two eastern Ventura County districts said they worked hard not to repeat the mistakes they made last fall.

“We’ve given it our best effort, and whatever the vote is, you know you’ve given it your best,” said Conejo Valley Supt. Jerry Gross. “We’ve turned over every stone we could.”

After enduring criticism last fall for not releasing enough details about how the money would be spent, Conejo Valley bond supporters held six public hearings this time.

Most of the money--$63 million--was earmarked for renovation projects such as repairing worn-out pipes and roofs, the rest would be used to build new facilities like pools and gymnasiums.

Moorpark school officials, who released detailed lists of the projects likely to be funded, earmarked $9 million for improvements at Moorpark High School, including science labs, classrooms and a new gym. The rest would go toward improving school technology and renovating the district’s two oldest campuses, Chaparral Middle School and Such detailed disclosures did not stave off criticism of the measures, however. Some again questioned whether there was really a need for such expensive bond measures, as well as whether schools could find other ways to pay for the improvements.

But no organized groups came together to fight the measures. The opposing arguments on the ballot were written by the Ventura County Alliance of Taxpayers, which has never endorsed a bond measure in its five-year history.

A trickle of voters visited the various Thousand Oaks polling booths throughout the day Tuesday, hoping to make a difference.

“Most people don’t come out on the off-November elections,” said 67-year-old George Szulc of Thousand Oaks. “That’s why it’s so very important for us to come. Our vote counts that much more when voter turnout is low.”

Szulc and his wife, Beatrice, said they both voted yes on the Conejo Valley school bond measure.

“I thought the place [Weathersfield Elementary School] needed sprucing up when my son went here . . . and now he’s through college!” Beatrice said outside the polling station.

Her husband said he didn’t mind paying the extra taxes.

“It’s either pay now or pay later,” he said. “You either build schools or you build juvenile courts.”

Other taxpayers in tax-wary Thousand Oaks didn’t share that philosophy, however.

“I think they should submit another budget to cover the real emergency things,” said Barry Gabrielson, a father of two Conejo Valley students and financial analyst who has asked to review the school district’s financial books next week. “Maybe they have $20 or $22 million worth of stuff that they could fix . . . . But not $97 million. They just made up those numbers by backing into them.”

Meanwhile, school administrators spent the day anxiously awaiting the results.

“I’m as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof,” said Gary Mortimer, assistant superintendent for business services.

In Moorpark, 70-year-old Sylvia Scott cast her yes vote for the school bond despite having no children in the district. She said money was needed to maintain the quality of schools Moorpark has always provided.

“I think it would be a good use of taxpayer money,” Scott said. “The children need all the help they can get out here. It’s a good school district and [Supt. Tom] Duffy has done a wonderful job.”

On the other hand, Joseph Tormos, 46, who has two children attending Moorpark High School, voted against the bond measure. He said looking within the budget or trying harder for state funds were better alternatives.

“There is a need and I realize there are enhancements we need to provide,” Tormos said. But he added, “I think there are other ways to find the funding for the programs within the school.”

Waiting out the recession, Ventura County’s school districts only recently began asking voters for permission to take on more debt to spruce up aging or outgrown campuses.

School districts in Ventura, Oxnard, Fillmore, Port Hueneme and Hollywood Beach have secured voter approval to issue bonds in recent years. So have school systems in Camarillo, El Rio and Ojai, all of whom passed bond measures last year.

Times staff writer Chris Chi contributed to this story. Bustillo is a staff writer. Fernandez and Hong are correspondents.