School Bond Breakthrough

Buoyed by the nearly 75% approval of a bond measure to refurbish campuses in Buena Park, educators throughout Orange County are measuring their own chances for money to fix up dilapidated schools.

“It shows something that didn’t exist before--the belief that it can be done,” said Supt. James A. Fleming of the Capistrano Unified School District, where four of the district’s 42 schools are at least three decades old. There was plenty of reason for earlier pessimism: Before the Buena Park measure, general-obligation school bonds had a seven-straight losing streak in the county.

Officials at other districts burdened by electrical, plumbing and other repair problems said they are heartened by Buena Park’s success. They also will be helped by Proposition 1A, the $9.2-billion state school bond issue that also passed Tuesday. It reimburses school districts for 80% of repairs and renovations.

“I think the whole public perception is changing because education is the No. 1 issue on everyone’s mind,” county schools Supt. John F. Dean said. “The message in Buena Park was ‘Look folks, these are your schools and we must keep them up,’ and the voters believed them.”

A number of previously ballot-shy districts--even in fiscally conservative Orange County--may attempt to duplicate Buena Park’s achievement. Many were calling the district Wednesday to find out more about how it fostered its success.

“The phone’s just been ringing off the hook,” said Supt. Carol Holmes Riley.

“There is an awareness, a threshold that develops when one district succeeds, then the neighbors try,” said Barbara Miller, the research director at EdSource, a nonprofit, nonpartisan education information clearinghouse.

It won’t be easy.

In the last 25 years, Orange County school districts put 17 bond measures on the ballot. Voters supported six of them, most recently in 1975. Then, in the next three years, six more measures went down to defeat.

At that point, discouraged Orange County school boards stopped holding referendums. Twenty years went by before voters in one of the county’s poorest and most overcrowded school districts, Anaheim City, were asked to approve a $48-million bond for campus construction. It failed in April 1998.

Anaheim City Supt. Roberta Thompson said her district must win the endorsement of the business community, as Buena Park did, for a victory at the polls. But she is undaunted. Schools use portable classrooms and operate year-round on staggered sessions to reduce overcrowding on the 22 campuses.

“We believe it’s doable and we plan on going again,” Thompson said, “most likely in the next year.”

This week proved a generally good one for school bonds, which require two-thirds approval. Statewide, 20 of 36 local school bonds rode Proposition 1A’s coattails to victory, including a $1.5-billion referendum to renovate existing schools and build new ones in the San Diego Unified School District, according to Sacramento-based School Services of California, which tracks bond issues.

“The results show an unprecedented willingness to consider bonds,” said Robert Whalen, a school board member in Laguna Beach.

The four campuses in Laguna Beach Unified are at least 30 years old, he said. None of the schools have adequate electrical wiring for computer use. Classrooms flood, roofs drip, faucets and showers stopped working long ago.

As a first step toward a referendum, the district expects to compile a list of repairs and cost estimates per school by Jan. 1, Whalen said.

Not all school officials believe Buena Park’s success will extend to their district.

“I’m heartened by that news,” said Susan Roper, superintendent of the Huntington Beach Union High School District. “But does that tell us that this high school community has a slam-dunk on a bond? No.”

The district’s eight schools need repairs and renovations totaling up to $140 million, but Roper said she is unsure whether the school community would back a tax hike. A decision on whether to go forward with a bond measure is expected sometime in January.

School officials in Buena Park trimmed their bond measure from $42 million to $13.8 million after a community survey disclosed that taxpayers wouldn’t support a tax increase of more than $20 a year. Supt. Riley directed a massive public-relations effort, garnering endorsements from elected officials, business groups and even the district’s largest taxpayer.

The cash infusion will replace faulty plumbing, electrical, and heating and cooling systems in the district’s six elementary schools and one middle school. There are studies to be done and bid specifications to be written before construction begins.

Right now, though, Buena Park is enjoying its glory.

* LITTLE CHANGE: Most incumbent City Council members and mayors in O.C. kept their seats. B4

* ELECTORAL YARNS: Political wrangling, family brawls and other-worldly behavior. Notebook, B5