Survey Finds Support for School Bond

A $3.3-billion Los Angeles Unified School District construction bond is likely to get overwhelming support from city residents in the Nov. 5 election, according to a new Los Angeles Times poll.

Sixty-four percent of poll respondents said it would be a good idea to pass the bond, which would fund construction of 120 new schools and the renovation of 79 existing ones. The proposition needs a 55% vote to pass.

The poll found that the school construction bond is favored by wide margins of voters throughout the city and in nearly all demographic groupings -- by age, ethnicity, gender and income. Among voter groups, the strongest backers of the bond are Latino men, 80% of whom said they wanted to vote for Measure K.

Under the district’s plan, Measure K funds would match funds provided by a statewide ballot measure, Proposition 47, if it also passes in November. That would give the district about $5 billion that it says it needs to build enough schools to get most students off buses and into neighborhood schools.

The Los Angeles Unified School District bond would raise property taxes by about $60 per $100,000 of assessed property value within the district.

The Times poll did not measure support for the state proposal.

Despite fears by district advocates that secession drives in the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood could derail the bond campaign, residents in those areas said they would pass the bond by wide margins.

Twenty-five percent of those polled were against the bonds and 11% were either undecided or unaware of the measure. Most opposed to the measure were Republicans, who split evenly for and against Measure K.

In follow-up interviews, those who were against the bond cited past mismanagement by the district, including problems with the downtown Belmont Learning Complex, which has not been completed because of toxic dangers discovered in the soil.

Others were critical of the district’s handling of the last local school facilities bond, Proposition BB, which provided $2.4 billion for the district in 1997. District officials have acknowledged that mismanagement caused their plans to fall $600 million short of completion.

Anthony Vela, a 73-year-old retired construction supervisor who lives in North Hollywood and describes himself as a conservative Democrat, said he is against the bond because “it’s a waste of money. The purpose might be right, but they won’t spend it right. Look at the bond a few years ago. What happened to the money from that?”

But supporters of the measure said in follow-up interviews that they saw the need for better physical conditions at schools.

“We definitely need more schools out here,” said a Gardena resident, Mark Hirano. “The schools look terrible and they’re spending too much money to bus the kids.”

Hirano, 44, a general contractor and father of three children in public schools, said that passing the bond would help schools attract better teachers and help students’ performance.

Doubert Rothenberg, 80, of West Los Angeles doesn’t have children in public school anymore but said he would still support the bond.

“I think the kids deserve a break, especially since we have so many immigrants and newcomers in the county and the state,” he said, noting that he was the son of an immigrant to the East Coast. “They deserve the chance to do something with their lives instead of just being laborers,” he said.

The poll, supervised by Times Poll Director Susan Pinkus, was conducted by telephone from Oct. 5 to Monday. It surveyed 970 likely voters. The poll has a margin of sampling error of 3 percentage points in either direction.