Massive School Bond Gains

The California Assembly approved the biggest bond package in state history Thursday, a $25-billion proposal to build and modernize school facilities, from elementary schools to community colleges to university campuses.

Gov. Gray Davis has not taken a position on the proposal, which would ask voters to approve two massive bond issues, a $13-billion measure in November and another for $12.3 billion in March 2004.

The package must clear the state Senate, where it may be amended.

Nonetheless, lawmakers hailed the Assembly’s bipartisan passage of the deal, which has been in the works for more than a year, as a bold return to the kind of large-scale public investment that California has not seen in decades.

“This is the biggest thing I’ll ever do. It’s the biggest thing since the days of Pat Brown,” said former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks), a co-author of the measure, referring to the former California governor who presided over a massive expansion of California’s higher-education system.

“It’s the largest school construction bond in state history and perhaps the largest capital outlay bond in American history,” said Assemblyman Bill Leonard (R-San Bernardino). “It was approved because the Assembly is convinced the need is that great in California.”

Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson (D-Culver City) acknowledged that passage of the bond package was held up in part by resentment from lawmakers who believed that urban areas, particularly Los Angeles, would get a disproportionate share of the money.

A little more than $4 billion in new construction money would be earmarked for so-called critically overcrowded schools, of which the Los Angeles Unified School District would be eligible for about $1.8 billion. The funds are a nod to the challenges that districts like Los Angeles Unified face in trying to find new school sites within their heavily developed boundaries.

Such districts would be able to claim bond money for as long as four years to give them time to secure land, with the possibility of a one-year extension.

“Early on, there were concerns from people that L.A. was going to get more than L.A. should get,” Wesson said. “But when you look at the number of urban schools and the amount of money, this is fair. That was a hurdle we were able to get over.”

Clearly, however, not everyone was pleased with the outcome.

“We have tremendous needs” in the Inland Empire, said Assemblyman Rod Pacheco (R-Riverside), who voted against the bond package. “Our schoolchildren need facilities more than any other county.”

Referring to the money that would head to Los Angeles, Pacheco called the deal “a complete rip-off.”

In addition to raising billions of dollars to build and modernize schools, the bond plan would set aside nearly $4.6 billion for community colleges and universities. Community colleges would receive 40% of that money, a large sum for a segment of the education system that serves a large portion of the state’s working class but has traditionally fared poorly in its fight for funding.

“This is a significant precedent, that the Legislature recognizes that community colleges serve two-thirds of the state’s higher-education students,” said Scott Lay of the Community College League of California.

The plan also earmarks up to $400 million for the state’s fewer than 400 charter schools. That reflects the wishes of the Silicon Valley business community, which in recent years has gotten deeply involved in the state’s public education debate.

Teachers and administrators expressed excitement over the Assembly’s action.

“This is one of those moments where people can say the Assembly earned their paper today,” said Kevin Gordon, executive director of the California Assn. of School Business Officials. “When you look at the daunting challenge that we have as the most overcrowded school system in the nation, this is probably the boldest effort to make a dent.”

“California schools are in dire need of repair and maintenance, and this will help,” said Fred Glass, a spokesman for the California Federation of Teachers. “We need to build seven new classrooms a day to meet the current rate of growth of the student population.”

Still unclear, however, is the fate of the school bond package in the Senate and in the hands of Davis, as well as the voting booth. The Democratic governor previously proposed placing a $10-billion bond on the ballot every two years starting in November, for a total of $30 billion.

Davis spokeswoman Hilary McLean said the governor is generally supportive of the bond proposal in concept, but he wants to look at the details before taking an official position.

Senate Republicans continue to have reservations about the school bond plan. The Senate is expected to take up the proposal when lawmakers return from their spring break in April. If all Democrats sign off on the plan, only one Republican vote is needed to send it to Davis.

Sen. Chuck Poochigian, a Fresno Republican who sat on a bipartisan committee that hashed out the deal, cited the inclusion of $650 million in lease-revenue bonds to pay for higher-education projects as a sticking point for some members of his caucus.

Republicans are also concerned that the plan favors Los Angeles over other overcrowded school districts.

“This is not a battle against Los Angeles,” Poochigian said. “The point is to make sure there is accountability and equity in terms of how we deal with the largest school bond in America’s history.”

Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. Roy Romer said his 735,000-student district is 150,000 seats short of a regular, two-semester, summer-free school system.

“I think this is a fair bond proposition because it’s aimed at those with the greatest need,” Romer said. “Urban school districts have more expense, it takes them longer to acquire property, and they need to have consideration that helps them make up for their severe backlog.”