School Bonds Make the Grade

A wave of school bond measures won voter approval in Tuesday’s California primary election, bolstering the hopes of education advocates that decades of lean times for school construction may be ending.

Voters approved 50 of 57 local school construction bond measures for kindergarten through 12th-grade districts and 13 of 14 for community college districts, according to School Services of California, a company that provides information to school systems. All told, the K-12 bonds represented $3.5 billion, and the community colleges’ totaled $2.3 billion.

The lower threshold for school bond measures enacted by the state’s voters in 2000 provided the decisive edge in dozens of districts, but aggressive campaigning also made a difference.

The measures were largely successful despite backers’ initial concerns that a strong Republican turnout would dampen their chances. The measures faced blanket opposition from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn.

“This is just dynamite,” said Scott Plotkin, executive director of the California School Boards Assn. “It sure seems to have brought out a lot of people, conservative or not, who wanted to support the schools.”

Tuesday’s results continued a string of victories that began in November, when all 25 school bond measures on the ballot were successful. The November election was the first test of Proposition 39, the 2000 initiative that reduced the state’s long-standing requirement for a two-thirds majority to approve property tax assessments. Under Proposition 39, school districts can submit measures to the voters for 55% approval by setting up community oversight and limiting the tax increase.

In the two decades before November, just over half of the school bond measures passed, said Ron Bennett, president of School Services of California.

“To have 100% pass at the 55% level, that’s amazing,” Bennett said of the November results.

Still, school advocates had worried the November results were an aberration.

“Patriotism was high,” Bennett said. “People were thinking about their kids and their communities.”

Tuesday’s results prove the trend is not fleeting.

“I think folks were persuaded by the arguments and could see for themselves that some of the schools in their own communities needed this kind of help,” said Plotkin of the California School Boards Assn.

The impact of Proposition 39 was felt strongly in largely conservative Orange County, where all six school districts and the North Orange County Community College District passed their bond measures thanks to the 55% threshold.

From the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District measure, which garnered 65.7%, to the community college district’s, which received 57.4%, none would have made it under the old standards.

“Prop. 39 is certainly making it more doable,” said Gary Rutherford, superintendent of the Huntington Beach City School District, which passed a $30-million measure. “To have to reach some supermajority, that was an unfair disadvantage for schools.”

Most striking was the success of community college districts, which often have more difficulty connecting with voters.

Of the 14 community college districts that proposed bond measures, only one--West Valley Mission Community College in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties--did not pass.

Ten of the 13 districts would not have passed without the lower limit.

“Without question the two-thirds voter requirement had become an insurmountable burden for many districts,” said Scott Lay, director of state budget issues for the Community College League of California, the statewide association of community college districts.

Glendale residents Tuesday passed a community college bond aimed at improving parking and buildings as well as updating technology, electrical systems and plumbing. Nearly 58% of the 21,819 voters approved Measure G, a $98-million bond.

“It’s a good day for education,” said Armine Hacopian, a member of the college’s Board of Trustees and co-chair of the measure. “We’re ready to put it to good use.”

Statewide, 18 school districts passed bond measures with more than two-thirds majorities, even though they didn’t need them.

In Beverly Hills, a concerted community effort resulted in a nearly 79% yes vote on a $90-million bond to renovate aging school buildings.

Supt. Gwen Gross said she put together a campaign that included community meetings, endorsements, phone banking, cable and television spots describing the projects that would be funded, and a Web site. Endorsements came from the City Council, homeowner groups and the Chamber of Commerce.

“It was just a huge, momentous effort for a lot of people,” Gross said.

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Times staff writers Kristina Sauerwein and Daniel Yi contributed to this report.