Tax for Schools Fails Again in Irvine Vote

Teachers broke into tears Tuesday night as a tax to rescue the strapped Irvine schools failed, forcing the shutdown of arts, music and science enrichment programs and the swelling of class sizes in a premiere school district that has been the pride of the city.

The measure drew 63.9% of the vote, nearly 3 percentage points short of the two-thirds needed for passage. More than 42% of the Irvine electorate cast ballots on the measure, a heavy turnout especially for a special election.

Measure A, which would have assessed $95 a year on each residential and business property, would have generated $3 million annually for up to 16 years.

The measure’s failure will result in layoffs for about 120 full-time teachers, giving Irvine the sad distinction of reducing its work force more than any other school system in California this year, even as enrollments continue to grow. And Irvine has little choice but to slash cherished programs--the extras that have helped Irvine earn scores of state and national awards and send many graduates to Ivy League and UC campuses.

Faced with a $4-million hole in a $143-million budget, school trustees expected to make some program cuts regardless of Tuesday’s vote.

“We’re going to win, of course,” proclaimed anti-tax activist Eunice Cluck, president of Irvine Taxpayers for Better Education, as early returns showed the measure failing. “We won last time, the time before that and the time before that. We’ve got to make it four. Maybe then, they’ll learn to take ‘No’ for an answer. They don’t need the money. They’re not going to fire teachers. If they really want to keep the teachers, they’ll find a way.”

Early optimism about absentee results--which had the measure within a percentage point of victory--withered to despair at the clubhouse of the Woodbridge Village homeowners association. In the early evening, about 200 tax supporters, many clad in the campaign’s colors of red and white, gathered there. Children buzzed around while weary volunteers scarfed down pizza.

The worse the news became, the more people went home.

The room fell silent when results showed the measure slipping. Awaiting final numbers, many of the party-goers wore stunned expressions. Small clumps of instructors talked quietly. A few of them sobbed. Veteran fifth-grade teacher Lisa Friedberg, of Bonita Canyon Elementary School, described the anticipation as “gut-wrenching.”

“I feel like I’ve been on life support since September and today is the day when [voters] decide they’re either going to resuscitate me or pull the plug,” she said wearily. “I’m kind of gasping for oxygen right now. It’s not over ‘til it’s over, but I’m having trouble breathing.”

School trustee Margie Wakeham said she felt literally sick at the initial results. The cuts, she said, “are going to happen. There’s no alternative.”

Pro-tax forces had worked quickly and mightily to push for voter approval after a similar proposal fell four percentage points short of the needed two-thirds approval in November. This time--the fourth time that the district has tried for a tax since 1983--the measure included a clause allowing senior citizens to be exempted if they chose. Tax supporters held rallies and forums and papered the city with fliers and posters.

The district’s funding woes stem from Irvine’s devotion to enriched programs that other districts have long since abandoned and from a state funding formula set in the 1970s, when the city was but a drowsy agricultural area, district officials say. To compensate, trustees have cut $12 million, mostly in administration and maintenance, over the past decade.

This time, the budget ax will not spare the classroom and treasured services.

On the cutting board are high school counselors and nurses and health clerks and the elimination of the popular class-size reduction program in third grade that limits the number of students to 20. Class sizes for other grades would also increase, but not as dramatically.

While core programs in science, arts and music will be preserved, the district also will lose teachers who specialize in those subjects. Those teachers offer elementary students classes that are more involved than regular classroom teachers can offer.

While last year’s pro- and anti-tax campaign were relatively subdued, this year’s were intense.

On Tuesday, many Irvine streets were littered with parcel tax signs--some colored in Crayon by children. Tax supporters lined Irvine’s main thoroughfares during rush hour to remind voters to go to the polls. Both opponents and supporters dialed for votes Tuesday.

The outcome was crucial for this master-planned community, where the good schools draw in new residents, said Orange County Schools Supt. John F. Dean, a tax backer.

“Irvine, one of the state’s greatest school districts, could become garden-variety, mediocre, average” without the tax, Dean said. “That’s the crime.”

Concerned about property values, public education and the security of favorite instructors’ jobs, real estate agents, PTA groups and some homeowner associations lined up behind the measure. It drew the ire of some taxpayer advocates and those who doubted that the district was truly in a financial crisis.

At the polls Tuesday, both sides came out in force.

Outside Northwood Elementary School, father Rick Dennehey, 56, voiced his skepticism about the tax and wondered why the school district couldn’t live within its means.

“I think the measure has not been explained far enough to the satisfaction of taxpayers . . .” he said. “The amount of money [being sought] is nothing. I just feel that the answer is not to come screaming poverty, the answer is to live within your means.”

Staff writer Ann L. Kim contributed to this report.