Bond Backers Hope Trend Holds

After a recent spate of local school bond victories, the question to be answered Tuesday is: Will voters in a notoriously tax-averse county continue to approve multimillion-dollar funding for renovation of aging campuses?

Newport-Mesa and La Habra hope to follow five other school districts since November 1998 and earn the two-thirds majority support for bond measures of $110 million and $16 million respectively. The approvals followed a two-decade-long drought for school funding measures.

“That [anti-tax] reputation is well-earned, but I think people are finally realizing that you can’t starve anything forever,” said John F. Dean, superintendent of the Orange County Department of Education. “I’m quite optimistic about the Newport-Mesa and La Habra measures.”

The two-thirds majority required for passage presents a large hurdle for bond supporters, and backers in both districts have spent the days before the elections passing out fliers and phoning voters. Opposition groups in Newport-Mesa have also stepped up their campaigning.

Bond advocates and opponents are contacting voters and delivering information about why the measures would help or hurt taxpayers.

They have not followed the tactics of previous school-funding campaigns, such as a recent Irvine parcel tax vote, when placards and banners lined city streets and students and teachers held public rallies. All camps cited a lack of money as the reason for limited campaigns.

Both districts would use the money, plus millions in state matching funds, for bringing outdated gas, electric and plumbing systems to modern standards, replacing portable classrooms and stabilizing buildings against earthquakes.

And don’t get Imperial Middle School teacher Adam Contreras started on the roof of the 30-year-old portable building he works in.

“Every time it rains, it leaks,” said the La Habra teacher. “I put buckets out and get different-colored water in each one. It’s like a science project.”

Termites ate the ramp to Contreras’ door long ago, and now students climb temporary metal steps to his class. His building would be carted away and replaced with a modernized portable if the bond measure passes, said Imperial’s principal, Betty Bidwell.

The $16 million La Habra seeks would cost $22.75 per $100,000 of assessed value and benefit all nine of the district’s schools, kindergarten through eighth grade. With $10 million in state matching funds available, the district is planning for a $26-million modernization effort.

Newport-Mesa’s proposed $110-million bond measure would cost property owners $22.35 per $100,000 of assessed valuation and would make the district eligible for $53 million from the state.

Like Imperial Middle School, national award-winning Newport Harbor High has leaky roofs.

“Our great dread was that the Blue Ribbon, Distinguished School and accreditation teams would come on a rainy day,” said Newport Harbor principal Bob Boies. “The roof leaks are just everywhere.”

The damp ocean air has speeded deterioration of the school’s 70-year-old facilities, Boies said.

“The first thing I do when I get to my office in the morning is open the windows to get the mildew smell out,” Boies said. “The students have that on a daily basis.”

Using bond money, roofs and carpets at Newport Harbor would be replaced and the gym would be renovated and expanded, Boies said.

While no opposition group has appeared in La Habra, two sets of anti-tax forces have surfaced in the Newport-Mesa district.

One group comprises residents from so-called Mello-Roos districts, neighborhoods in which property tax rates are higher to cover costs associated with spiraling development, such as new school construction and public works improvements.

Supporters of this group, led by Newport Coast resident Al Willinger, say they already pay more for public schools and shouldn’t have to ante up further. The $65-million measure approved by voters in Capistrano Unified School District in November exempted residents of Mello-Roos districts.

The Mello-Roos opponents and another group also question why Newport-Mesa hasn’t kept up with repairs over the years, which would have prevented Tuesday’s lump-sum request.

“They’re coming to the taxpayers and saying, basically, ‘We’ve managed your assets incompetently, and now we’re asking you to pay the bill,’ ” said Kurt English, a Newport Beach resident and past president of Orange County Young Republicans, which also opposes the bond measure.

But supporters say money hasn’t been available to pay for major infrastructure overhauls.

“The district has spent and will continue to spend annually on painting and patching roofs and fixing broken sprinklers. But they have never had the money it would take to transform 50-year-old buildings into ones that are adequate to serve today’s education needs,” said Mark Schultheis, a co-chairman of Citizens to Rebuild Our Schools.

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School Bonds in Vogue

In five local elections over the last two years, Orange County voters have given the required 66.7% approval to pass school bond measures, ending more than two decades of rejection. These new bonds will pay for renovations to campus buildings and infrastructure. The trend may continue Tuesday, when residents of the La Habra City and Newport-Mesa school districts vote on similar measures.*

PASSED

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Amount Rate per Vote School district Date (millions) $100,000 % Yes Buena Park 11/98 $13.8 $18 75% Brea Olinda Unified 6/99 $27 $28 79% Capistrano Unified 11/99 $65 $15 73% Santa Ana Unified 11/99 $145 $46 70% Magnolia 3/00 $9.7 $25.27 73%

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DEFEATED

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Amount Rate per Vote School district Date (millions) $100,000 % Yes Anaheim City 4/98 $48 $22 44.7% Huntington Beach Union High 11/99 $123 $27 61.3%

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Rate is tax annually per $100,000 of assessed home value

* This does not include two failed parcel tax elections in Irvine in the past year. Those measures would have levied a flat fee of $95 per property to raise about $3 million a year for educational programs.

Source: Times research; Orange County Registrar of Voters