Schools Win One, Lose One on Bonds

Voters in south Oxnard and Port Hueneme passed a school bond measure Tuesday that will pay to repair aging campuses, but a measure in Fillmore fell far short of the two-thirds majority needed.

Measure H, a $6.95-million bond that will go toward renovations in Hueneme Elementary School District, received 70.5% of the vote, with 1,341 voting in favor and 560 against.

“This was absolutely vital,” said Hueneme Associate Supt. Jeff Baarstad, who celebrated with his campaign committee at the county’s election headquarters. “Our schools are going to be ready for a new generation of kids.”

Measure G, a $7.5-million measure that would have helped pay for a new elementary school in the Fillmore Unified School District, received 58.6% of the vote, with 939 voting in favor and 664 against.

Fillmore Supt. Mario Contini said he was disappointed with the results, and didn’t know if the district would try again in November.

“I’m devastated and I really believe this was a tremendous loss to the community,” Contini said.

Only 10% of the registered voters in the Hueneme district and 23% in Fillmore went to the polls. Turnout had been projected to be 20% to 25% by county elections chief Bruce Bradley.

Of the Hueneme district turnout, Bradley said, “I’ve seen it at 5 or 6%, but it was dismal.”

The 8,400-student Hueneme Elementary district’s bond will finish modernizing all 11 of its schools. Officials plan to improve safety in the parking lots, renovate restrooms, expand libraries and replace worn floors and doors.

They also plan to modernize computer labs and technology centers by upgrading wiring and expanding Internet access.

The bond requires Hueneme district property owners to pay about $19.24 more per year per $100,000 of assessed value of their house. The average homeowner will pay about $32 more a year.

Port Hueneme Councilman Anthony Volante said he campaigned heavily for the bond.

“There’s no better way to spend our money--to make our schools safer,” Volante said. “It’s just a small amount, but we get a big bang for our buck.”

Hueneme district voters passed a bond in 1997 that paid for the first round of renovations at the schools, which are 35 to 75 years old.

Faced with overcrowding, Fillmore Unified officials proposed the $7.5-million bond measure to build a new elementary school. After the bond narrowly failed in March, district officials decided to go back to the voters with a similar measure.

Contini said the bond was critical, and would have allowed the district to open a new school in 2002. The elementary campuses are already overcrowded, with about 800 students enrolled in each.

The district expects about 1,000 more students to move into the area in the next six years because of new housing developments. The district passed its last bond in 1997, and used that $12 million to build a new middle school.

Without the new bond money, Contini said, the 3,700-student district will have to consider switching the schools to a year-round schedule or holding double sessions--one in the morning and one in the afternoon. District officials also will have to buy dozens of portable classrooms to house the incoming students.

The bond, along with developer fees, city contributions and state money, was designed to pay for repairs to the wiring and plumbing systems at existing campuses. The district also planned to fix the swimming pool and replace floors and roofs.

Several bond supporters, including Contini and school board member Virginia de la Piedra, spent Tuesday campaigning and urging registered voters to go to the polls. Contini said he knows residents don’t want to pay extra taxes, but the money would have made a tremendous difference to the students and teachers in the district.

The bond would have required Fillmore property owners to pay an average of an additional $44.50 per year per $100,000 of the assessed value of their house. That means the average homeowner would have paid about $82 more each year.

Although California voters passed a $6.7-billion state bond measure in 1998, districts have to come up with matching funds to receive their share. Fillmore is eligible for up to $10 million, and Hueneme could receive more than $12 million.

The race for state money is one of the reasons both districts decided to place the bond issues on the ballot in June rather than wait for the general election in November.

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Times staff writer Aaron Sanderford contributed to this story.