Local school bond measures are met with different results

Neighborhood Focus

In a tale of two bond measures, it is the best of times for one school district and perhaps the worst of times for a neighboring district.

While Las Virgenes Unified is busy putting taxpayer money to work on plans for a pair of dazzling new high school performing arts centers and other renovations and improvements, the Oak Park district and its bond organizers have been left wondering where they went wrong.

Las Virgenes passed a $128-million bond measure in June. Oak Park also placed a pair of bond measures on the June ballot, but was successful in the passage of just one--Measure C6, which levies a tax of $24 per $100,000 of assessed home valuation. The C6 money is earmarked for school technology.

Both the Las Virgenes bond and the Oak Park Measure C6 required a simple majority to pass.

In Oak Park, there was a separate $89-million bond on the June ballot that required a two-thirds majority to pass, but only 60 percent of the voters supported the bond.

A follow-up measure, H6, was placed on the ballot in November and called for a $19-million reduction in spending, but like its predecessor the bond failed to receive a full 66 percent voter approval.

Critics said Oak Park rolled the dice on a bigger than necessary bond and lost, but school administrators say the large amount of spending was warranted.

"We wanted to put a single measure on the ballot that would be large enough to address the district's needs for the next 25 to 30 years," said Tony Knight, Oak Park superintendent. "In order to do this--to get to an amount like $71.1 million--you need to use the two-third-type measure."

Under California Proposition 39, the bonds that need only 55 percent approval contain certain tax rate stipulations that would have limited Oak Park's revenue to under $40 million.

"Proposition 39 bonds limit the amount you can go for based on your bonded indebtedness and the tax rate to the taxpayer," said Donald Zimring, deputy superintendent of LVUSD.

Oak Park's options became limited, Knight said.

"The reason that there is a problem in Oak Park is that we have a smaller overall assessed value because there is no commercial property to speak of as compared to our neighboring districts," Knight said.

Zimring said the limits placed on Prop 39 bonds were "not an issue" for Las Virgenes.

"The limit was far above what our needs were," Zimring said.

Something better than nothing?

Although a simple majority bond measure would have passed in Oak Park, the district eventually would have been forced to float additional financing to pay for all the necessary school improvements, H6 supporters said.

A project list developed by the Oak Park Facilities Planning Committee called for about $60 million to be spent over 10 years and $7 million carried over for unknown future projects.

Knight said he wanted the larger bond measure so projects would be completed on time and escalating construction costs avoided. School construction costs are rising by 10 percent each year, he said.

"In the long run this saves taxpayer dollars," Knight said.

The failed bond measure also allowed Oak Park to be eligible for $9 million in state matching funds, Knight said.

Voters weren't convinced the bond was fully needed and defeated it by a margin of 55 percent to 45 percent.

Try again?

The Oak Park district will not try to pass another two-thirds-type measure, Knight said.

He pointed out that a simple majority bond measure can only be placed on the ballot during a regular election.

"The next ones are the presidential primary in spring of 2008 and the presidential election in November 2008," Knight said. "Our problem is that we also have to renew the D4 Parcel Tax that year in one of those elections, and so we will have to contemplate the wisdom of having another bond election the same year."

The parcel tax was approved by 80 percent of Oak Park voters in 2004. Parcel taxes also require a two-thirds voter approval.

What's next?

Technology upgrades are coming to both Oak Park and Las Virgenes schools, but because of the defeat of the H6 bond, Oak Park must transfer its wiring projects to the spending approved under C6, Knight said.

The move will dilute the amount of money available for student equipment.

"We have no choice," Knight said.