Wilson Lends Clout to School Bond Initiative

In an event that was equal parts show and substance, former Gov. Pete Wilson returned to the Capitol on Wednesday to throw his support behind a ballot initiative that would ease passage of local school bonds.

Wilson, looking relaxed and happy to be back in front of the media horde, said the measure is vital because California is “behind the curve” on school repair and construction.

“I can think of nothing that is a more urgent priority for California’s continued economic leadership,” Wilson said.

The Republican Wilson, who now works for a merchant banking firm in Los Angeles, will serve as honorary chairman of the campaign. His selection was announced by the campaign’s chairman, Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, who said that although he and his predecessor “don’t agree on everything,” they see eye to eye on this.

“Every governor knows that education is the passport to economic success,” Davis said. “If children don’t learn, they won’t earn. If we don’t graduate bright young people to take their place in our high-technology economy, the economy will no longer prosper and all of us wil be the losers.”

The measure, the School Improvement and Accountability Act, is all but certain to qualify for the November ballot next week. Backers say it is a new and improved version of Proposition 26, which voters defeated by a whisker--2.4%--in March.

Proposition 26 would have allowed local school districts to pass school bonds by a simple majority rather than a two-thirds vote. The new measure would drop that threshold to 55%.

Over the next 10 years, California will need to build 20,000 more classrooms and 544 new schools to accommodate enrollment growth--exclusive of class-size reduction, state officials say. Many districts are forced to convert cafeterias, libraries and gymnasiums into rooms where children can learn.

Since 1986, 40% of local school bonds have failed to achieve the two-thirds vote prescribed by the state Constitution. Success is particularly difficult in areas where the voter rolls are dominated by empty-nesters with no children in public schools.

Pressure on districts to raise money increased after voters passed Proposition 1A in 1998. That measure provided $6.7 billion in state school bonds, but requires local districts to ante up matching funds to qualify.

If the local threshold for passage had been 55%, as specified in the new initiative, about 80% of recent local school bond measures would have won approval.

Determined to reverse their fortunes and notch a victory in November, backers have assembled a broad coalition to promote the measure. The addition of Wilson, they say, will attract Republican voters and makes sense, given the former governor’s legacy as the father of class-size reduction.

Opponents, however, said Wilson would have little impact on the debate.

“This is the governor who gave us the biggest tax increase in the history of California,” said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. “What this shows is that not all Republicans are sensitive to taxpayers.”

The taxpayers association spent about $1 million on the campaign against Proposition 26, most of it on ads suggesting the initiative could cause a doubling of property taxes in communities on bond-spending sprees.

Even conservatives agree such a scenario is highly unlikely. But the message clearly resonated with some voters, and Wilson and Davis took pains Wednesday to highlight the “accountability” features of the new initiative.

Among them is a requirement that districts give voters a list of school construction projects to be financed by a proposed bond, so voters can judge the merit of investing in them.

The measure also would forbid the use of school bonds for salaries and require each district to conduct audits to ensure that projects are fiscally solvent and on track.

The audit feature is designed to ease voters’ anxiety about wasteful spending, particularly in Los Angeles, where the nearly complete Belmont Learning Complex was abandoned for environmental reasons.

Backers have until June 29 to submit the additional signatures needed to qualify the initiative for the ballot. A spokesman for Secretary of State Bill Jones said there was little doubt they would reach the goal.