6 Districts Savor Passage of School Improvement Bonds

Voters this week handed students in six school districts a sweet send-off for summer vacation: the promise of new roofs, new blacktop, fixed-up bathrooms, more classrooms, a new science wing--a wish list fulfilled.

The passage of six school improvement bonds Tuesday means that scores of aging schools will soon undergo major renovation. The work is so overdue that some districts began making construction plans even before the votes were tabulated.

“We were being optimistic,” said Ira Toibin, superintendent of Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District, where 79% of the voters approved a $46-million bond.

“We’ve got some projects already on schedule for this summer. It just seems like the whole state has been positively inclined to support education these days.”

Sheer jubilation could be heard in districts throughout the county.

Teachers, administrators and parents marveled at what they viewed as voter confidence in schools.

They rattled off the election results like proud parents recalling a child’s SAT score.

“We are absolutely elated,” said Ken Manning, who headed a successful campaign for a $100-million bond measure in the Hacienda-La Puente Unified School District. “This was won because our teachers, administrators and classified staff were willing to talk to parents about the needs of the school. It really started at the school and ended at the school.”

Voters in the Hacienda-La Puente district approved the bond by more than 79% of the ballots cast.

A number of factors determine whether a bond will succeed at the polls. The economy exerts a major influence, said Bob Blattner, director of legislative services for School Services of California, a private consulting and advocacy group that tracks school bonds.

In good times when people feel a sense of affluence, voters are more likely to approve a school bond. In communities with many school-age children, voters are also likely to be supportive of schools. And conservative areas are typically less likely to approve a bond, Blattner said.

The key is to personalize the campaign, he said, so that each voter can identify with a school and specific problems that the bond will solve.

But the failure--or success--of a bond is sometimes “a plebiscite” on the performance of local schools, Blattner said. Voters will not vote to spend more money if they are not pleased.

Many teachers and administrators viewed the passage of the bonds as a vote of confidence.

“I was surprised at how much it meant to the staff,” said Toibin of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District.

“They feel like the community has said to them, ‘You’ve done a good job and we support you.’ That was their take on what the election meant.

But even when needs are great and demographics favor passage of a bond, supporters need serious help in winning at the polls. “Districts are finding [that] to achieve that remarkably elusive two-thirds vote, you have to bring in a professional,” Blattner said. “It’s pretty tough to get a two-thirds vote with amateurs.”

Even with professionals, there are no guarantees. The campaign for a bond measure in the William S. Hart Union High School District in Santa Clarita hired a consultant, but the bond was narrowly defeated--unless that result is reversed with uncounted absentee votes.

In the Claremont Unified School District passage was nail-biting close; voters approved a $48.91 million bond 68.9% to 31.1%.

“We had 2.2% to spare,” said Jeanne Hamilton, co-chair of Yes for Claremont Schools, the committee that campaigned for the passage of the bond. “But we’re thrilled.”

The money will be used to build a new science wing at Claremont High School and a real theater for the school’s prize-winning thespians.