Daily News of Los Angeles: Hart School District; Bond Vote Not Making Grade

Measure A Backers Say Last Ballots May Spell Win

By Bhavna Mistry & Angela M. Lemire

The Hart School District’s $ 52 million bond measure came up 179 votes short in ballots counted early Wednesday, but backers said they are clinging to the hope that the final tally will bring them a victory.

While carrying a solid majority in the ballots counted, the measure is short of the two-thirds margin necessary to approve a bond that would raise money needed to build new high schools and junior highs and renovate existing ones.

“It’s not over until the provisional ballots are counted,” said Teresa Todd, spokeswoman for the William S. Hart Union High School District. “There is a slim hope.”

Todd herself was successful on the ballot, winning a four-year term of the board of the Sulphur Springs School Distirct.

“It’s a bittersweet victory,” she said. “I was prepared to lose myself before I wanted to see Measure A fail.”

Election officials now have 20 days to verify and count the absentee ballots brought to the polls. It’s unknown how many of Los Angeles County’s thousands of uncounted ballots are from the Santa Clarita Valley, officials said.

Proponents estimate that up to 1,000 ballots still must be counted, and that tally could be the difference between a final yes or no.

“We would need to get at least two-thirds of those ballots that still have to be counted, plus make up the 179 (ballot) deficit,” said Measure A campaign manager Karl Frisch. “We’re still cautiously optimistic.”

The absentee ballot holders who cast their votes more than a month ago approved the measure by 55 percent, a positive sign considering the Measure A campaign had not yet heated up, he said. Those absentee ballots were tabulated along with the ballots cast Tuesday.

Frisch remains optimistic that provisional ballots may reveal additional support because pre-election telephone polls showed that 72 percent of informed registered voters favored the bond.

The challenge on Election Day was getting committed “yes” voters to the polls, Frisch said, noting that campaigners - mostly high school students - walked neighborhoods, provided rides to poll sites and continued calling undecided voters until voting booths closed at 8 p.m.

Measure A would qualify Santa Clarita junior high and high school systems for $ 114 million matching state funding to build five new campuses and renovate existing schools sites.

Overcrowding conditions, which school officials describe as extreme, are expected to worsen in the next few years when the swelling populations at the valley’s elementary schools enter area junior high schools.

If the measure passes, the average homeowner would pay about $ 35 a year for 20 years on property tax bills to build and renovate schools.

While trying to remain optimistic about Measure A, school officials said they must also weigh other options to ease overcrowding in case the measure fails.

Options currently being looked into include a new bond measure for the March ballot, year-round high schools, double sessions and community college-model school days.

“We’re still deciding when and if we should go for another bond,” said Mike von Buelow, Hart District’s assistant superintendent of personnel. “It’s something we have to consider.”

Officials said that failure of the bond measure will slow planned school construction.

“We’ll be using existing resources,” said von Buelow. “We do have developer fund money available.

“We’re not backing off,” he added. “We need to build schools. We need to find different ways to do it.”

New junior highs cost approximately $ 25 million; high schools can cost $ 50 million.

Saugus High School students who campaigned for Measure A until polls closed Tuesday say they dread upcoming school years if the initiative doesn’t pass.

“The overcrowding will only get worse,” said sophomore Jennifer Duffy, who awaited results with 15 other students at campaign headquarters in Saugus. “I feel so bad for kids in the future. Classes will be too big and they’ll have to have double-sessions or year-round classes.”

Added Saugus freshman Hotep Brown, “It’s bad now. I can’t even see the board because I’m back so far and there’s no room to rearrange desks. I can’t even use the bathroom between classes without being late to class or getting detention.”

Newly elected school board member Philip Ellis said schools must be built to relieve the overcrowding.

“We’re going to have to look at all the options,” said Ellis. “There’s no way we can sit back and forget about it. We must go forward.”

Steven Sturgeon, who also was recently elected to the school board, is hoping community support will help in a school rebuilding effort.

“We have to go back to the local community and businesses to see what we can do to form an alliance,” said Sturgeon.

Sturgeon said he hopes that a statewide effort to change the passing rate for school bond measure from a two-thirds vote to a simply majority will be passed.

November 4, 1999 | Filed Under News Mentions, School Bond 

Comments

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.