Hoping Voters Are Stirred, Not Shaken, by School Bonds

The communities are different, but their educational straits are similar: campuses crammed with portable buildings, electrical wiring too feeble to support the latest technology, sagging infrastructure, and heating and cooling systems on the fritz.

It’s a lousy setting for teaching kids, school officials in the Capistrano, Huntington Beach and Santa Ana districts decided. So all three this month are seeking multimillion-dollar school bonds to repair aging campuses and build new ones. The Capistrano and Santa Ana measures are on Tuesday’s ballot; Huntington Beach’s election is a week later.

And in Irvine, residents on Tuesday will decide whether to tax themselves for schools. For this high-achieving district, the issue isn’t repairs and construction but sealing a deficit and preserving rich science, arts and music programs.

With four of Orange County’s largest districts asking for voter support, it’s going to be a bellwether November for local schools, said Supt. John F. Dean of the Orange County Department of Education.

“This will tell the entire county the degree that the public respects and appreciates public schools,” he said. “These boards of education are asking the public’s help to return our schools to first-class condition. The need is desperate.”

If the measures pass, they would continue a pro-bond trend in usually tax-wary Orange County. After an almost two-decade drought, two bonds have passed in the last year, and several other districts are eyeing their own measures.

While the requirement for two-thirds passage is daunting, good economic times and an emphasis on education have made voters favorable to bonds. And the 1998 passage of a $9.2-billion statewide measure makes local bonds all the more enticing because the state gives preferences to districts with local matching funds.

“When we have an opportunity locally to be able to get a . . . match from the state, it would be a tragedy for this school board not to bring this issue to the public to vote on,” said Capistrano Unified President Marlene Draper. “It’s too good for this community to miss this chance.”

The three bond measures enjoy support from a wide cross-section of their communities, from labor and business groups to PTAs and elected leaders. No opponents have emerged to the Capistrano Unified School District bond. A few critics have weighed in in Huntington Beach and Santa Ana, primarily opposed to new taxes or possible school district waste.

By state law, bond money cannot be used on salaries, but only on new facilities or improvements. To ensure that any bond money is well spent, citizen oversight panels would be formed in all three districts. Additionally, officials vow to set aside some bond money to pay for any future repairs.

As election day draws near, the campaigning is heating up. Volunteers will flood phone lines and knock on doors, coaxing bond-friendly voters to hit the polls.

In South County’s fast-growing Capistrano district, voters are considering a $65-million bond measure that could leverage another $101 million from the state.

The money would be used to build two elementary, one middle and one high school to accommodate enrollment growth. (New schools necessitated by burgeoning developments have been paid for by another funding mechanism.) The bond would also help add classrooms to replace portable ones, fix aging plumbing and heating systems, and add computer wiring.

“We’ve done quite a bit with absentee ballots, trying to encourage people to vote by absentee so we can count on their votes,” Draper said. “The massive effort will be on Election Day. We plan on over 200 volunteers calling for three hours to make sure people do get out to the polls and vote. It’s a real grass-roots effort, from moms and dads in PTA to staff to people with no children in the schools.”

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One of the district’s main goals, if the bond passes, will be shrinking crowded schools down to size. Enrollment would be trimmed from as high as 3,000 to a more manageable 2,000 at high schools, for example.

Santa Ana Unified similarly struggles with crowding and an enrollment that mushrooms faster than the district can build schools. Since 1979, the district has gained at least 1,400 students annually--a pace that has quickened in the last two years.

The district is seeking a $145-million bond, which could be matched by up to $185 million from the state, to build 11 elementary and two high schools, decrease class sizes, add electrical wiring and add libraries to some schools. Also planned are expansions of Valley High and Carr Intermediate schools.

“I think there is a very high awareness in Santa Ana of our facilities crisis,” said Mike Vail, the district’s assistant superintendent for facilities planning. “It’s just a question of whether people think this is the solution or not. I’m reminded of a quote from [former President] Reagan, ‘If not now, when? If not us, who?’ I think that’s the question before voters in Santa Ana.”

The passage of time and compacting soil are what vex the Huntington Beach Union High School District.

The district--which serves Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Westminster--has several sinking buildings, which has caused plumbing to collapse and walls to split from ceilings. One school, Huntington Beach High, was built more than 70 years ago.

At Fountain Valley High, the building housing the cafeteria and music rooms has sunk so far it must be demolished and rebuilt elsewhere at a cost of about $11 million, said district Supt. Susan J. Roper.

The district plans to fix cracked and sinking buildings, add classrooms to replace portables, fix aging plumbing and heating systems, and add computer wiring if its $123-million bond passes. Huntington Beach is eligible for $37 million from the state.

“Our kids need a better learning environment,” Roper said. “These schools . . . were designed for a different time. Our kids need technology and they need clean, well-lit classrooms in which to work, because learning is their work.”

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In Irvine, where residents will vote on an annual $95 parcel tax, supporters of the measure said they were mobilizing their constituents during the run-up to the election.

The district hopes to raise about $3.4 million annually over the four-year life of the parcel tax. The tax could be extended by voters in additional four-year periods. The district faces a $4-million budget deficit by next year should voters reject the flat tax.

“Our PTA members are making sure that every single parent will turn out for the vote,” said Marice White, the pro-parcel-tax committee’s spokeswoman.

The committee has raised more than $135,000 for direct mailings and telephone calls. White said that almost half of Irvine’s 62,000 registered voters have been contacted by phone over the last few weeks; of those called, sentiment was running 4 to 1 in favor of the parcel tax.

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Times correspondent Mathis Winkler contributed to this report.

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Extra for Education

Before the recent victories of school bond measures in the Buena Park and Brea Olinda Unified school districts, all but one Orange County school bond measure since 1975 had been rejected. Now four school boards are hoping pro-education sentiment and heady economic times will persuade voters to approve bonds or a parcel tax to improve schools. The elections will take place over the next two Tuesdays. All require a two-thirds majority to pass.

CAPISTRANO UNIFIED

Date: Nov. 2

Seeking: $65 million (or about $15 annually per $100,000 assessed home value in areas not already covered by Mello-Roos school facility assessments).

Eligible for state contribution of: $101 million.

How the money would be spent: Build two elementary, one middle and one high school; add classrooms to replace portables; fix aging plumbing and heating systems; add computer wiring.

HUNTINGTON BEACH UNION HIGH SCHOOL

Date: Nov. 9

Seeking: $123 million (or about $27 annually per $100,000 assessed home value).

Eligible for state contribution of: $37 million.

How the money would be spent: Fix cracked and sinking buildings; add classrooms to replace portables; fix aging plumbing and heating systems; add computer wiring.

IRVINE UNIFIED

Date: Nov. 2

Seeking: $3.4 million annually from a four-year parcel tax of $95.

Eligible for state contribution of: not applicable.

How the money will be spent: To close a budget gap and preserve arts, music, technology and science programs.

SANTA ANA UNIFIED

Date: Nov. 2

Seeking: $145 million (or about $46 annually per $100,000 assessed home value).

Eligible for state contribution of: $185 million.

How the money would be spent: Build 11 elementary and two high schools; decrease class sizes; add electrical wiring; add libraries to some schools.

Source: School districts

Los Angeles Times