Clear Way for School Bond Issue

Perhaps the most critical decision the 1998 California Legislature will make is whether to put a $2-billion bond issue on the June 2 ballot to help rehabilitate the state’s aging public schools and build new ones.

Legislation to do so is being blocked by Assembly Republicans, who are putting their reverence for an 1879 constitutional provision ahead of the immediate needs of California’s children. The physical facilities of California’s schools are being overwhelmed by a booming birthrate, the popular class-size reduction program and the failure to maintain and repair existing schools. Experts say the state needs $30 billion over the next decade to fund adequate classrooms.

Gov. Pete Wilson has proposed a modest start toward that end with the $2-billion state bond issue, which requires a majority of 50% plus one to be approved. The state money would be matched by funds from local school districts, raised through their own bond issues.

The hitch is that Wilson and Democrats are insisting that the same measure propose that the threshold for passage of the local school bond measures be reduced to a simple majority from the two-thirds margin that has existed since the adoption of the 1879 Constitution. This is where the Republicans rebel, arguing that the two-thirds vote is needed to protect the rights of local property owners from being trampled by the majority. Local bonds are paid off with property tax collections.

Their argument ignores reality. Renters too pay property taxes, as part of their rent. Businesses recoup their taxes through the prices they charge. And the 1879 provision was adopted at a time when virtually all of state and local government was financed by property taxes. That is far from the case now, especially since Proposition 13 capped property taxes at 1% of assessed value.

The Republicans know California’s economy in the 21st century will depend on a well-educated work force. That work force cannot be created in leaky, overcrowded schools.